The Master Score of Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was published by Disney Music Legacy Libraries, Hal Leonard Corporation in August 2015 in a limited edition of 400 copies. (ISBN : 978-1-4950-0872-6). “Music by Frank E. Churchill, Lyrics by Larry Morey and additional underscore by Leigh Harline and Paul J. Smith. A further three lettered copies were produced for private distribution.
Besides a prologue written by “friends of theDisney Music Legacy Libraries” Hans Perk, Alexander Rannie and Russell Schroeder on November 11, 2014, an epilogue by Roger L. Bent, with Gena R. Downey, Lisa M. Janacua and Karen M. Smith, and acknowledgments, this volume reproduces scans of the actual handwritten master score of Snow White, as written by the Disney staff, broken down into production sequences. For some of them (3C, 6A, 7A, 8B, 10A, 13A), the master score was replaced by the piano conductor score, because the master score was missing.
That master score is a work document that documents, for each sequence, the various sound tracks that will compose the final mix. So on musical staves, each sound effect, line of dialogue, music note is carefully timed, giving precious indications such as the number of the take, the required intensity of the volume, and even specific indications regarding the first language adaptation made since the word “Spanish” appears several times throughout to indicate a change in that version (and presumably all subsequent foreign versions).
Some deleted scenes are still present on them, meaning that they were deleted late in the process, and sometimes, deleted music cues on still extant scenes are also visible. For example, the “mickey-mousing” when Dopey tiptoes up the stairs was to be dialed out in the original mix (the indication “music out” appears on the score). A 1938 copy would indeed be missing the music in that moment. However current copies include the music which must have been restored in a recent restoration.
