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M U S I C T H E O R Y O N L I N E
A Publication of the
Society for Music Theory
Copyright (c) 1993 Society for Music Theory
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| Volume 0, number 2 April, 1993 ISSN: 1067-3040 |
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General Editor Lee Rothfarb
Co-Editors David Butler
Justin London
Elizabeth West Marvin
David Neumeyer
Gregory Proctor
Reviews Editor Claire Boge
Consulting Editors
Bo Alphonce Thomas Mathiesen
Jonathan Bernard Benito Rivera
John Clough John Rothgeb
Nicholas Cook Arvid Vollsnes
Allen Forte Robert Wason
Stephen Hinton Gary Wittlich
Editorial Assistants Natalie Boisvert
Cynthia Gonzales
All queries to: mto-editor@husc.harvard.edu
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AUTHOR: Kosovsky, Bob
TITLE: Commentary on Neumeyer's MTO 0.1 essay
REFERENCE: mto.93.0.1.neumeyer.art
File: mto.93.0.2.kosovsky.tlk
I believe that the derivations of film music stem not so much from opera
or "serious music" (or "classical music" - whatever you want to call it --
the stuff you go to a concert hall to hear) but from more of the popular
idioms of the time. Now granted, operatic and symphonic music were used
in abundance to accompany silent films (Ride of the Valkyries accompanied
the ride of the KKK in Griffith's BIRTH OF A NATION (1915) -- but so
were popular tunes of the day. (Momentary excursis: part of the problem
I'm having in separating classical from popular music genres stems occurs
from a time -- prior to WW I -- when such distinctions are not as clear
as they would later become.)
And I think that it's also not a question
of what was used, but HOW it was used. Basing my understanding of silent
film music mostly on early sound films (those in which there was a
syncronized soundtrack without dialogue -- and such films dating from the late
1920s and early 1930s, must represent an advanced stage of silent film
music compositional art -- e.g. DON JUAN (1926), SUNRISE (1927), even
CITY LIGHTS (1931)), I would say that the use of music is not really like
what you find in opera. In fact, I would say that the use of music in
silent films probably bears a closer resemblance to music that was used
in Broadway shows. When I first heard that recent recording of SHOW BOAT, I
was amazed to hear the unsung music ("background music" -- not in the
Schenkerian sense!) because it worked in the same way as does the silent
films with music that I've seen. Though the opera-to-movies path seems
tempting, I think the available evidence does not follow it.
One additional tangential note. The usually-heard story about Schoenberg
and movies is based on the one from the biography by Willi Reich. In
brief, it states that the head of MGM was considering Schoenberg as a
composer for THE GOOD EARTH. Schoenberg stated his conditions: "I want
$50,000, and a guarantee that not one note will be changed" -- "Thus ends
the relationship of Schoenberg to the movies" says Reich. But in fact
there must be more. According to the catalogs of the Arnold Schoenberg
institute, there exists quite a bit of music written for THE GOOD EARTH
and for another film (of which I don't remember the title). It would be
interesting to examine these sketches as evidence of how Schoenberg
envisioned the relationship of music to film, and to see how it relates
to the Begleitungsmusik, Op. 34.
Bob Kosovsky
Graduate Center -- Ph.D. Program in Music(student)/ City University of New York
New York Public Library -- Music Division
bitnet: kos@cunyvms1.bitnet internet: kos@cunyvms1.gc.cuny.edu
Disclaimer: My opinions do not necessarily represent those of my
institutions.
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END OF MTO ITEMS