Hailey .M.

Coutu (0360444)
Due: April 15th, 2020

Musc 2046 EL-01: Soundtrack – Music in Movies (2020WF)

Part I: Identification (3% for each clip)

ID #1

Composer: Elliot Goldenthal

Title: “Burn It Blue” Frida

ID #2

Composer: Igor Stravinsky

Title: “Le Sacre de Printempts Part 1: L’adoration de la Terre”

ID #3

Composer: Alexander Courage

Title: “Main Theme/Intro from Star Trek: The Original Series”

ID #4

Composer 1: Niccolò Paganini

Title 1: “Paganini Caprice no. 24” (Accardo)

Composer 2: Sergei Rachmaninoff

Title 2: “ Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini-Variation 18”

ID #5
Composer: Max Steiner

Title: “Theme from A Summer Place”

ID #6

Composer: Bernard Herrmann

Title: “Vertigo: Suite -prelude”

ID #7

Composer: John Corigliano

Title: “Oxford, Pope’s Concert” from The Red Violin

ID #8

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Title: “Piano Concerto in D minor, K. 466

ID #9

Composer: Ennio Morricone

Title: “The Legend of 1900: Playing Love”

ID #10

Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Title: “Die Tote Stadt: Marietta’s Lied”

(1) How is Richard Wagner important to film music? Elaborate with TWO examples from our

listening list.

- Wagner’s revolutionary ways of thinking about music-merging it with narrative and

visual elements-influenced many great composers, such as Strauss, Steiner, Korngold, Williams

etc, and in turn, shaped cinema and film music to what is it today. Wagner introduced new

ideas in harmony, melodic processes and operatic structure, advancing musical language

through the elaborate use of leitmotifs, chromaticism and quick shifting tonal centres. Wagners

imbedded use of leitmotifs-using musical phrases to create association with individual

characters, places, ideas, or plot elements-is linked to the start of “drama” through its

embodiment of theatrical principles. Wagnerian music has shown film music how to tell to a

dramatic story over a long period of time; and how music should be used to describe

correlations to natural events and emotional states, aimed to create or deepen our emotional

reactions. John Williams impressively adopts Wagnerian music into the first trilogy of Star Wars

(Williams, “Across the Stars”). Williams wrote eighteen leitmotifs for this trilogy, retaining the

works orchestral score while depicting harmonic dread and association, as is the Wagnerian

way. The combined literature and consistent dramatic music allows us to know who is on the

screen, or where they are specifically based on the use of leitmotifs in the music. Wagners

flexible way of using musical themes, as well as associations, created a structure for organizing

musical material. His tactics anticipated cinemas fusion of the visual and aural arts, and helped

resolve many problems that arose when film begun to include sound. Though the music works
 of Steiner (Steiner, “A Summer Place”) and Williams differ greatly in initial sound, they carry

many similar characteristics influenced by Wagner, with both projecting a great use of leitmotifs

to guide their works, structurally telling their story, while creating opposing psychological

effects felt through the use of major and minor keys. Both pieces slowly build to a climax,

following a theme of a narrative and working around many short tonal centres.

(2) What is the difference between a music cue and a film cue? Elaborate with TWO examples

from our listening list.

- The music cue utilizes preselected music to dictate how the film clip is filmed and edited.

By using emotion to build the music as it relates to the plot, the structure and timing to which

the film clip should meet is established. Doing so provides a better understanding of rhythm for

a film before the camera ever starts rolling, and in turn, may help get the actors into character.

The personalized touch of a composer ensures all musical associations make sense and are not

duplicated, aiming for the desired sound for the film. On the other hand, film cue relies on the

finished film clip to dictate how the music works in the film. The benefits of such allow the

music to be experimented with early in editing, and provide a greater variety to test different

pieces to see what works best with the scene. As Kubrick touches on, there is no point in hiring

a composer with all these incredible works of art, from composers as talented and revolutionary

as Mozart. While each have their advantages and disadvantages, both serve a purpose

specialized to the film. John Williams composed all of the music in Star Wars’ first trilogy series.

Williams provided eighteen motifs establishing key associations and telling stories immediately

through the sounds of the music, extending to present day. The scores for all three films are

composed as one overarching composition, utilizing such motifs to identify specific and
 consistent associations with characters and situations throughout. Although Korngold has

composed music specifically for a film-most notably in Robin Hood-some compositions such as

“Marietta’s Lied” have trickled its way from the opera into starring in films such as La Paloma

(1974), Slaves of New York (1989), A Late Cortet (2012), etc. Though it was not written

specifically for each film, the music beautifully fulfills a theme that uniquely fits into each in a

way that makes sense to the plot.

(3) How did the arrival of the television affect the composition of film music? Elaborate by

contrasting TWO works by a composer who wrote music for both the classical era and the

television era.

- Music has always served to evoke or portray a certain emotion, or telling a greater story

that is reflective of the theme the composer is fulfilling. Many film-scores prior to the arrival of

the Tv, utilized an avante-garde, orchestral “classical” style. During the time of Classic

Hollywood Cinema, most studios kept their own composer and full-time orchestras. Problems

of synchronization at this time benefitted greatly from this approach, as it helped drown out

loud and unwanted noises from shifting or movement. It also helped define a specific mood,

theme, and rhythm to clarify context in film’s during the silent era, as well as during the time of

the restrictive Hays Code (1930-1968). The early leitmotif work of Wagner began the use of

music to convey emotion, setting, theme and meaning. Music in Film’s during the CHC period,

usually supported a more universal quality, linked with long melodies, big percussions, and

harmony. During this time, the music/sound in film served as its greatest attribute. Composers

were hired to write specifically for the film, and given freedom to produce great, artistic

uniqueness. The arrival of the TV replaced this priority with one in favour of dialogue. The
uprise of preference for “easy listening” gained speed for underscoring to become widely

adopted. The underscore involves a recorded score, mixed under a film’s dialogue and sound

effects. In this way, music was used to set a “mood” or “tempo” that follows the scene, while

incorporating “fillers” to extinguish moments of silence between the dialogue. An important

constraint composers felt was the difficulty of introducing music without calling conscious

attention to it. Therefore, conventions for accompanying the dialogue, or underscoring,

developed to bring the expressivity of music to the human voice. In Tv, composers must be

creative, yet subtle, with melodic material so that its theme may be spread across multiple

episodes. Tv composers write the score specific to each episode, and it is usually comprised of

short, discrete pieces-making it hard to incorporate their own personal stamp. While one good

melody can carry the theme of a film, multiple non-linear storylines are embedded in Tv to

allow quick and numerous transitions that highlight specific moments. The goal is to create a

piece that is not busy, or loud, as to not draw attention away from the dialogue. The “tv style” is

fast-paced and ever changing. The impact of experimental film; repressed political regimes;

diminishing audiences, and changing demographics were all guiding factors into the transition

from CHC to the television era. The proliferation of the arrival of the Tv, greatly took its toll on

the budgets for musicianship, with most directors opting for synthesized sounds. Composers

were sparse and orchestras were most non-existent in film’s, quickly being replaced with

electronic experimentation, pre-recorded “sample” music from music libraries and licensed

music cues and themes. Steiner synchronized the music, narrative action, and the leitmotifs as a

structural framework for his compositions. Steiner had a keen sense for mirroring action

unfolding on the screen through the act of “mickey-mousing”. His “operatic underscoring” is a

combination of symphonic orchestral works and extra-diegetic standards, while continuing to

film. There are a few characteristics that seem to define Steiner’s musical works: the lifting

loping patriotic melodies, the epic inspiring scores (mammoth sounds), and most religiously,

the “tear jerking” late-romantic European style. Steiner's composition of “Scarlet’s theme” from

Gone With the Wind, follows a sweeping tune theme (or rather, sixteen of them), and is

reminiscent of the renaissance year for CHC this original composition was entailed for. Scarlet’s

theme utilizes leitmotifs extensively through loud tones, long melodies and multiple themes. In

contrast, a mere two years later Steiner's “A Summer Place” was released and, while staying

true to Steiner’s symphonic and meaningful values, portrays the subtle changes that begun to

occur in Hollywood Cinema in the television era. A summer place is a relaxed and borrowed

theme in 6/8 time, to a pre-recorded pop standard. The bright and cheerful composition is filled

with youthful romance, and is reflective of cultural biases-favouring visual over aural

sensations, through his avoidance of loud volumed extremes, and reliance on simpler rhythms

and slow tempos that serve as background scoring for film.

(4) What is the correlation between the two works identified in Clip 04 of Part I? Explain.

- The two works identified in clip 04 belong to those of Paganini’s Caprice no. 24 and

Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini v. 18. Paganini belonged to the Early-

Romantics (1782-1840) classical era of music. Oftentimes, his works were so hard and complex,

only he could play them (virtuoso). Of Paganini’s 24 Caprices, the last one, titled “theme and

variations”, utilizes a simple tune that soon became a symbol of the virtuoso technique, and

inspired generations of composers to use it as the basis of their own fiendishly difficult
 variations. Paganini’s Caprice was written for a solo violin and orchestral style. His use of

melodic figurations, rapid display of scales and arpeggios, pizzicate, rapid shifting and string

crossings elucidate his defiant and rebellious attitude to the “rules” of the era that he felt kept

artists confined. These techniques and overt attitude is also reflective of Rachmaninov's use of

abstract music-writing solely for musical expression, and never for or like anyone else.

Rachmaninov is founded in the Late-Romantic to Modernist era (1873-1943). Rachmaninov's

themes and variations resemble the stylings of Paganini's original composition, that is until we

reach the 18th variation. This variation portrays the theme of love, similar to that in Paganini’s

theme, but instead, emerges as a solo for the piano creeping from a dark and mysterious

variation. This love theme is closely derived from an inversion of Paganini’s original melody,

where the minor theme is now shifted to major-key. The variation takes on a similar slowed

tempo and style, whose slow movement builds speed and excitement leading into the virtuosic

display of the finale, reminiscent of Paganini's own legendary skill. Rachmaninov’s tightly

focused structure allows the same tenderness of the eighteenth variation, even though the rising

steps have been transformed into equivalent falling steps.

(5) How does “motivic” film music work? Exemplify with a work from the listening list.

- Motivic film music supports a commitment to thematic structures, functioning almost

like punctuation and serving as one, complete compositional unit, rimmed with meaningful

devices. Motive in music generally supplies recurring elements, that clarify the process of

narrative comprehension and intention. Motivic music is most often rich in theme, portraying

some extramusical meaning. The themes usually undergo various modifications that are

influenced by a dramatic content of the film plot. The flexibility in the repetitive and simple
motivic patterns allow adjustments to be made to the music to fit the scene, while maintaining

the musical logic. A sense of momentum or succession allows the story to unfold while

applying functional expectations to the film. The transformations are linked in various ways by

the use of the same modular material, and applying recurring rhythmic patterns and structures.

Changes in the time signature may also be done seamlessly with extended phrases created by

an extra beat. All serving to attach or enhance meaning in intermedial contexts, and implicit

feeling and emotion. The content of the music between these scenes is seemingly sparse,

lacking anything super intellectual or complex. Ultimately clearing a palette as to highlight and

contrast between something specific-providing more dense information where the heightening

of emotions are intended. In this way, clear associations are unobtrusively made, whilst

remaining conservative to the plot. The transcendence of melody serves as a basic structural

and semiotic building block. These building blocks allows a hierarchal organization for the film

based on function, structure, mood, theme, and rhythm. Motivic music has allowed an

increasingly personalized nature for music consumption and composition, that opens a variety

of interpretive possibilities. Although Goldenthal, Korngold or even Wagner would be suffice in

demonstrating motivic film music, I have chosen John Williams again for the incredible

soundtracks of the Star Wars films. The thematic material is skillfully thought out through

eighteen different motifs, highlighting and contrasting specific ideas (ie. “imperial march”,

“Han and Leia”) while maintaining the integrity of the musical and thematic logic through the

liquidation of motives. For Williams, the harmony plays both a motivic and ideological role in

the scores of Star Wars. We notice the diatonicism and modality associated with the heroes,

while the non-functional, yet centric, chromaticism is linked rigidly to the villains. This clear,

thematic association allows a fascinating interpretation of the structural and expressive roles of
 the theme and motif. In the manner of the motif in literature, and the motive in music; music

supplies recurring elements that help clarify the processes of narrative comprehension and

intention.

(6) The unidentified piece of music in Clip 11 is composed by one of the film composers on the

listening list. Speculate who that composer is based on the musical style. Elaborate.

- The chaotic, unmelodic and intensified music make it notable this piece belongs to the

works of composer Ben Herrmann. Herrmann differs from older Hollywood composers with

the playing of ambiguous cords used freely (mostly picked up from his previous years with

“radio-scoring”). Herrmanns music builds; serving a narrative effect. The short and nervously

fast, creeping sound alludes the audience to the intended or unspoken emotion related to the

plot. Hermann opposes the “tight corporation” of music composers and the rules they bestow

that confine artists away from their full passions and creative abilities. This opposition, most

cleverly portrayed through the erratic, syncopated rhythms, hints to these deep emotions

through the rebellious and purposeful foundation of his music. These acquisitions, in unison

with the expanded percussion section, paint what would essentially be romantic music, into a

conservative modernism perfect for the time.

(7) The unidentified piece of music in Clip 12 belongs to a specific period in music history.

Speculate what period it was.

- The music score in clip 12 consists mainly of the chaconne genre. The chaconne is heavily

associated within the period of Baroque music (late 16th century-mid 17th century). The

Baroque style is intense, overly ornate and galant. The cyclical repetition of harmonies
exemplifies the relationship each person in the depicted-era has with the red violin, and

portrays a story with the depictions of music style from that era. A post-Romani, yet pre-

Classical era carries some characteristics of each in its evolution. The variabilities allow the

music of this period to fit well into the story being told. The Baroque era demonstrates operatic

passions, extravagant emotions and distinct rhythmic motives, usually spotlighting violinists.

The series of runs and sequences that fit with accompanying harmonies is typical of Baroque

style. The musics capability of causing mournfulness, fearfulness, or longing in the listener

created the ideal vehicle that unfolds the destiny of the instrument and the music history

attached with it.