The Music

Composer

The piece is composed by Ludwig Göransson, a Swedish musician who previously collaborated with Christopher Nolan on the film Tenet in 2020. He is also known for composing music for films like Black Panther, Creed, or The Mandalorian.

The Piece

The piece lasts about 8 minutes and is divided into three parts:

• The first part is an orchestral introduction, evoking Oppenheimer's scientific genius and his ambition to create the atomic bomb. Strings, brass, and percussion create a solemn and majestic atmosphere.
• The second part is a build-up, illustrating the development of the Manhattan Project and the political and moral tensions surrounding it. Electronic sounds, synthesizers, and sound effects create an anxious and oppressive atmosphere.
• The third part is a climax, corresponding to the explosion of the atomic bomb and its consequences. Female voices, Eastern chants, and traditional instruments like sitar or oud create a melancholic and tragic atmosphere.

The piece ends with silence, symbolizing the void left by nuclear destruction.

The piece doesn't have lyrics per se, but it uses excerpts from speeches or texts related to Oppenheimer or the atomic bomb. Recognizable excerpts include:

• The Bhagavad-Gita quote uttered by Oppenheimer after the first nuclear test: "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."
• President Truman's speech announcing the attack on Hiroshima: "A single bomb of this type carried by boat and exploded in a port might very well destroy the whole port together with some of the surrounding territory."
• Arthur Rimbaud's poem titled "Ophelia," which depicts the death of a young woman drowned in a river: "On the dark azure where the black fountain leaps / White Ophelia floats like a great lily / Slowly floating, lying in her long veils."
• Oppenheimer's speech before a security committee in 1954: "I have been loyal to the United States and I have done no wrong."

The piece is thus an original and ambitious musical work, perfectly accompanying the Oppenheimer film. It expresses the contradictory feelings evoked by the atomic bomb: admiration, terror, guilt, or regret.