Aztec

"Aztec" theme from DD120055

Aztec is Delia's name for a suite of pieces she created for a 1969 episode of the BBC series Chronicle entitled "The Realms of Gold" about the Spanish conquest and destruction of the Aztec and Mayan civilizations, written and presented by John Julius Norwich and produced/directed by Kenneth Shepheard.

It often happens that my music is used without my knowledge. [...] a few years ago I heard my music on The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy. I wrote to the Producer who said 'Yeah, it's called Dreaming'. I've never done anything called that. They had picked out a piece which I wrote for a programme about the Aztec and Mayan civilisations. They put a new title on it and used it behind Peter Jones' voice.

In fact Dreaming is her music for the closing titles of Travelling in Winter so either

• Delia can be wrong about which programme she wrote what music for (which is improbable) or
• the producer was mistaken or lying about which of her music they had lifted for the Guide (after all, Dreaming was already on issue on a BBC record.) HHGTTG fans, can you spot where Dreaming or any of her Aztec music is used in the Guide?

Credits

The end credits include:

• Electronic Music by Delia Derbyshire, Radiophonic Workshop

Papers

• 

  DD120055: "Pseudo Folk", "Harm" and "Aztec"

Track list

No  Seconds        What
--  -------        ----
01  000.00-020.00  Chronicle Title Theme
02  141.37-240.59  Mayan architecture
03  481.62-527.42  The Aztec Empire
04  572.49-633.42  Aztec Culture at Tenochtitlan
05  674.57-718.95  Human Sacrifice and Aztec Gods
06  764.08-804.52  Portents of Doom
07 1035.50-1048.09 Running Red with Human Blood
08 1419.51-1453.33 Between Two Great Volcanoes
09 1833.28-1879.23 Five human hearts, still warm and steaming
10 1901.82-1925.64 Skull racks
11 2010.00-2050.15 Exquisite featherwork
12 2083.33-2117.78 The Smoking Mirror
13 2330.48-2359.48 La Noche Triste
14 2580.81-2707.69 The Final Assault, Impaled heads and the Defeat of the Aztecs
15 2745.11-2782.93 The Fall of Tenochtitlan
16 2887.28-2910.12 What Remains is Regret

• 01. Chronicle Title Theme

• 02. Mayan architecture

• 03. The Aztec Empire

• 04. Aztec Culture at Tenochtitlan

• 05. Human Sacrifice and Aztec Gods

• 06. Portents of Doom

• 07. Running Red with Human Blood

• 08. Between Two Great Volcanoes

• 09. Five human hearts, still warm and steaming

• 10. Skull racks

• 11. Exquisite featherwork

• 12. The Smoking Mirror

• 13. La Noche Triste

• 14. The Final Assault, Impaled heads and the Defeat of the Aztecs

• 15. The Fall of Tenochtitlan

• 16. What Remains is Regret

Availability

• Broadcast on the 8th February 1969.
• In the BBC Sound Archive on tape TRW 6955: "Cortez and the Conquest of Mexico"
• On Attic Tape DD222.
• The episode is included as an extra on Doctor Who: The Aztecs Special Edition DVD, available at bbcshop.com
• The episode is also available as a torrent Chronicle - The Realms of Gold, Cortez and the Conquest of Mexico (BBC, 8 Feb 1969, John Julius Norwich, electronic music by Delia Derbyshire).avi