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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 +-------------------------------------------------------------+ | Volume 0, number 2 April, 1993 ISSN: 1067-3040 | +-------------------------------------------------------------+
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
This file is: mto.93.0.2.tlk +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AUTHOR: Judd, Robert TITLE: Commentary on Neumeyer's MTO 0.1 article REFERENCE: mto.93.0.1.neumeyer.art
File: mto.93.0.2.judd.tlk
David's essay has a couple of "spikes" of its own at the end ([19-20]). Two things, somewhat distinct, struck me. 1) "I suppose it is no secret that [music theorists'] language or methods are not designed to facilitate judgments of value, but only to support them after they have been made. Perhaps the most far-reaching implication [of the essay] is that the link between the tools of technical musical criticism and the ideology of masterwork culture is not at all secure." If the first sentence is true, the second is also no secret at all. Surely it is axiomatic that one's direction at point of departure determines where one goes? Value judgements would seem to fall under the subject of aesthetics, and I wonder why DN didn't talk more about issues of aesthetics in the essay. (Or, for that matter, issues of cognition: how one sound is perceived to "mean" or be apt for some given dramatic event.)
2) I also wonder why DN didn't raise the issue of opera composition; I hope it's not too banal to draw attention to the close genre-relation of film music and opera music: indeed, opera seems even better suited to a discussion of how music supports a desired "physical" mood, or how music interacts with drama. Perhaps you could comment, David?
I agree with the final spike, "where's the real tinsel?" Indeed, it's not such a black-and-white, pop vs. masterwork culture, thing, as we all know. E.g., I may choose to study "pop" opera, e.g. Madame Butterfly; you may choose "masterwork" opera, e.g. Salome. Which is tinsel? obvious. Why? depends on your ideology. But we could also group Salome AND Madame Butterfly as "masterwork" compared to "Showboat", couldn't we?
Therefore, could perhaps a finer delineation of types of cultures and ideologies than DN's binary one be drawn up? If not, why not?
Thanks again for getting this stuff going. I found it most interesting, & hope others too will offer some reactions.
Bob Judd robert_judd@zimmer.csufresno.edu ======================================
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. =============================================
AUTHOR: Neumeyer, David TITLE: Reaction to comments on the MTO 0.1 essay REFERENCE: mto.93.0.1.neumeyer.art
File: mto.93.0.2.neumeyer.tlk
Many thanks to Bob Kosovsky and Steve Smoliar for the Schoenberg/film-music leads. NOSFERATU, like THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, do seem such obvious choices for Schoenberg's Op. 34 that I will indeed spend some time hunting up releases (or performances).
As to the Schoenberg/MGM story, this has been confused so many times over the years with a similar Stravinsky/MGM story (Stravinsky wanted $100,000 and a year to compose his score--the money was no problem; it was the schedule that killed the deal) that many skeptics--including myself--have assumed that only one of them is true. William Rosar (in Clifford McCarty's FILM MUSIC I) has documented the Stravinsky story very thoroughly, but, if Bob's statement about Schoenberg sketches for THE GOOD EARTH is correct, it would appear that perhaps BOTH stories are in fact true. Rosar does discuss MGM's motivations for approaching well-known "serious" composers--they were quite similar to Warners' reasons for hiring Erich Korngold: to bring in a prestige name (read "European concert composer") at a time when extensive symphonic underscoring was very fashionable. Which plays into the "tinsel" question, no?
And, a footnote/correction: David Broekman was music director for Universal and it's well known that he did not write some of the music that is credited to him (this was quite common in the early 30's--and at some studios (including Paramount and 20th Century Fox) much later). The music for FRANKENSTEIN is not credited and I took the word of one usually reliable source that Broekman wrote the music for the main titles. But in fact he didn't--William Rosar again (quoted in Randall Larson's MUSIQUE FANTASTIQUE) has found that it was Bernard Kaun, who was the son of Hugo Kaun and is best known as an orchestrator (he worked with Max Steiner quite a bit).
David Neumeyer neumeyer@ucs.indiana.edu ========================================
AUTHOR: O'Donnell, Shaugn TITLE: Commentary on Neumeyer's MTO 0.1 essay REFERENCE: mto.93.0.1.neumeyer.art
File: mto.93.0.2.odonnell.tlk
Just a quick reaction to Robert Judd's comments about David Neumeyer's "Schoenberg at the Movies." While several of his points are pertinent (e.g., on aesthetics and cognition), the issue of opera composition doesn't seem particularly relevant. I find a rather substantial genre-gap between opera music and film music (a notable exception being musicals). A film score generally acts as a gloss on the drama, hence the possibility of Neumeyer's commutation tests, while an opera score is a musical version of the drama. (Just listen to Schoenberg's Op. 34 on your headphones next time you enjoy a performance of Salome to test this.) I don't mean to downplay the significance of the relationship between drama and music in either genre, but the two perspectives are remarkably different and therefore merit distinct treatment regarding aesthetic, cognitive, and analytic issues. The contrast between the performance orientation of opera music and the artificial soundspace (created by modern recording technology) of more recent film music further separates these two genres.
In reference to the "tinsel" question: I say it's all music, from MTV to the concert hall, whether it's Bartok's Fourth Quartet, Coltrane's "Giant Steps," Lennon's "Imagine," or anything else you care to name (Baroque fugue, rap song, etc.). I may be laughably naive, but is there really any need for the continual segregation of the musical world into "cultivated" and "vernacular" traditions?
Shaugn O'Donnell Queens College/CUNY odonnell@aaron.music.qc.edu =============================================
AUTHOR: Smoliar, Stephen TITLE: Commentary on Neumeyer's MTO 0.1 essay REFERENCE: mto.93.0.1.neumeyer.art
File: mto.93.0.2.smoliar.tlk
I have one comment to offer about David's article in response to his request for information about films which used the music of Schoenberg's Opus 34. There was an Ojai Festival somewhere around the summer of 1980 at which Lukas Foss conducted a program on the theme of music and cinema. During his performance of Opus 34, he had an excerpt from the original (silent) NOSFERATU projected on a screen behind the orchestra. Unfortunately, I do not have the resources out here in Singapore to provide an accurate reconstruction of the event; but I shall supply what my memory can. I am almost certain that Foss conducted all three movements, without interruption, just letting the film run, without changing shots for the different movements. I also believe that the portion of the film he used was the one in which we see the Count entering the bedroom with the camera looking over his shoulder, allowing us to see that he is not reflected in the mirror. The also includes a few cuts to close-up shots of his face. That is the best I can recall without sitting down with my videotape of the film.
Stephen W. Smoliar; Institute of Systems Science National University of Singapore; Heng Mui Keng Terrace Kent Ridge, SINGAPORE 0511 Internet: smoliar@iss.nus.sg +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
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