The “Soundtrack” For The Robber Barons
Robber Barons is set in the wilds of North Central Alaska, along the Yukon River, and the quiet rainforest of Southeast Alaska. The frontier towns of Sitka and Juneau hold a special place in the story and there are scenes in the hustle and bustle of major cities like Seattle, Montreal, and Washington DC. Still, the overall story line is set in the remote wilderness at the moment that industrial development begins. Henry Mancini's The Molly Maguires soundtrack was what I played most when writing this story. That movie dealt with Irish coal miners fighting against industrial exploitation in 1870s Pennsylvania, the same era and themes as this book. The songs reveal the tension between working people and robber barons, with a mix of folk melodies and darker industrial undertones. Work Montage fit the scenes of resource extraction, while Fiddle and Fife and Pennywhistle Jig is folk sound that miners, loggers, and gold prospectors might have known.
When writing the wilderness and transition scenes and scenes depicting violence and chaos, I could not shift completely from my natural sounds, which I feel really catches the transitions from peaceful wilderness to the chaos of nature. There is a beauty in the chaos of nature, that is never duplicated by the chaos created by man. Max Richter's "On The Nature Of Daylight" depicts a sense of loss and melancholy like the story of Alaska's exploitation - the slow, inevitable draining away of resources and traditional ways of life. This musical piece is known for depicting irreversible change and heartbreak, which is central to the broader narrative of what happened to Alaska.
These two selections emphasize the human struggle against exploitation (Mancini) and the deeper environmental/cultural tragedy (Richter). The contrast between the folk-rooted, human-scale music and the sweeping orchestral lament mirrors this story’s scope, from individual characters like Chad Gritt and Bev to the larger historical forces reshaping Alaska.
Selections From The Molly Maguires by Henry Mancini
Max Richter’s On The Nature Of Daylight
