The Violinist's Composers Spent Two Months on One Opening

The composer of The Violinist, an animated film about a woman searching for her long-lost love after the two are separated during the Second World War, spent two months on the opening of its signature piece. Ricky Ho told Deadline that the work involved writing, setting aside, taking back and changing notes until the opening came right.

The score is credited to Ho and Isabel Latorre. The signature piece is called "Sunset Sonata", and Ho said the final four notes he found were the perfect ones for the film. That moment, he said, was the end of a long search rather than a single flash of inspiration.

Ho spoke on a panel at Deadline's Contenders Film Los Angeles event, joined by the film's co-directors, Ervin Han and Raul Garcia. Garcia said some scenes show characters writing out the notes of the sonata themselves, so the music is part of the story as well as its soundtrack.

Much of the film takes place during the Japanese occupation of Singapore, the setting that gives the separation at the centre of the story its backdrop. Ho said "Sunset Sonata" carries the connection between the two lead characters and the love they share. He described the piece as the thread that ties them together across the years they are apart.

For a general viewer, the detail is a useful way into how an animated film gets made. A score like this is not written in one sitting. It is built phrase by phrase, with many notes tried and dropped before the right ones appear. Ho's account shows how much of that work happens before a single frame is finished.

No release date or distribution details were given in the interview, so the film's path to cinemas and streaming remains open. The music was shaped over a long period, and its central melody was meant to hold the love story together.