"Who was that masked man?" It was, of course, the Lone Ranger. But what was the music that accompanied him as he rode into and out of each TV episode?

The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend, Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture.

The theme music was primarily taken from the "March of the Swiss Soldiers" finale of Gioachino Rossini's Overture "Guillaume Tell", now inseparably associated with the series. The theme was conducted by Daniel Pérez Castañeda, with the softer parts excerpted from Die Moldau, composed by Bedřich Smetana.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

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44 Comments

Fred Zeb Fudpucker

Started with The Lone Ranger, Sgt Preston of the Yukon, B bar B Riders, Sky King on the radio. Had to have some imagination with radio. Loved coming home from Jr High and listening to those programs.

Gene Payne

Guillaume is William in Italian. In English the William Tell Overture.

lls

...Jay Silverheels was the coolest!

Carl Belken

The next time my cats start racing through the house, I'll try to film it, and have the William Tell Overture as the sound track. I call their racing " The Catnip 500".

✨KRISTA✨

Gene Payne, That is what I know it as. It is now playing in my head!🎶

Helga U. Williams

I clearly heard the melody in my head, but could not remember the composer. Thanks for the question and refresher course LOL! 👍

Marianne Frederick Halterman

That's not fair, while I got it correctly because I speak French, most people would not know that Guillaume is "William"!

Howard Groopman

There was a funny comic strip years ago. I think it was "The Far Side." An aged Lone Ranger is sitting in his rocking chair and reading a dictionary of Indian words. He sees that "Kemo Sabe" translates to "horse's rear end."

Howard Groopman

Gene Payne, Guillaume is French. Guglielmo is Italian.

earlepg

44% got this wrong. It should have been far lower. It looks the name "Tell" was overshadowed by the name "Guillaume" and the telltale fact that Rossini wrote the piece was not remembered. The gist of the comments sort of indicate that many of us know about The Lone Ranger.

earlepg

Darlene Davidson, I never realized that we were enjoying and reacting to classical music until well after college.

earlepg

Fred Zeb Fudpucker, I was about years old in those days and remember the long winter days listening to those shows (Lone Ranger, Sgt. Preston, and Sky King for me), along with The Shadow (my favorite, never-miss shows), visualizing what the scenes and the characters looked like. When they transferred to television, the differences in the appearance were in some cases, quite jarring.

Mr.LaFaye

The famous theme song from the Lone Ranger was written by Gioacchino Antonio Rossini (1792–1868)… an Italian musical composer whose most known works include The Barber of Seville and William Tell. The Theme from the Lone Ranger is actually the fourth and final part of Rossini's William Tell Overture.