Chapter 19 � Film Music

							Chapter 19 – Film Music

   The rise of the symphonic film
    score began in what decade?
        1930s
   Most film music was written first
    by European composers writing in
    the European-symphonic tradition.
A Realistic Film of the American
West

   An early example of an American
    composer writing for film can be found in
    The Plow That Broke the Plains (1936).
          a documentary film on drought-stricken farm
           families and the aid of the federal government
          filmmaker: Pare Lorentz
          composer: Virgil Thomson (1896-1989)
          musical Americanisms:
               a Calvinist psalm tune
               cowboy songs
               African American blues
               World War I songs
Two films about small town and big city

   Aaron Copland’s music for Our Town

   Leonard Bernstein’s music for On
    the Waterfront
Three Career Film Composers
   Max Steiner (1888-1971)
       European
            born in Vienna, Austria
            worked in musical theater (frequently in Paris and London)
       America (New York)
            on and off Broadway
            1924: worked on George Gershwin’s Lady Be Good! And
             Jerome Kern’s Sitting Pretty
       Hollywood
            1929-1936: composed music for more than 130 films at RKO
             Radio Pictures
                  King Kong (1933)
                       his first celebrated full-length film score

            1936-1950s: worked mostly for Warner Brothers
                  Gone With the Wind (1939)
                      one of his most memorable film scores
Steiner’s musical style
   - “romantic,” broad, sweeping melodies
   - rooted firmly in classical principles
   - largely derived from nineteenth-
    century, central European models
   - Richard Wagner-influenced style of
    music’s dramatic functions
   - use of melodies that are tied to
    specific characters and themes
Bernard Hermann (1911-1975)
       born in New York
       studied at New York University and the Juilliard School
       1934-1940: arranger and composer for CBS Radio
            music for radio dramas
            collaborated with Orson Wells (1915-1985) on War of the
             Worlds (1938)
       1941: music for Wells’ Citizen Kane
       c.1955-c.1964: collaborated with Alfred Hitchcock (1899-
        1980)
            The Trouble with Harry (1955)
            Marnie (1964)
            Psycho (1960)
            many others
   “The Murder” Psycho score
       use of glissando in the “screaming strings”
            short, repeated melodic fragments
Hermann’s musical style
   “modernist”
    frequent use of short melodic
    fragments

   What is a “cue”?
    a passage of music that is written
    for a specific moment in a film
    Example: “The Murder” music in
    Psycho
John Williams (b. 1932)
     born in New York; soon moved to Los Angeles
     Education
          classical and jazz lessons
          Juilliard School
          UCLA
     1951-1954: conducted and wrote music for the Air Force
      Band
     1950s: composed music for television
     1960s: music for comedy films
     1970s: began long musical collaboration with Steven
      Spielberg
          Jaws
          Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
          Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
          E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
          Schindler’s List (1993)
     1977: first of the Star Wars movies (George Lucas)
Williams’ musical style

     more in the style of Steiner than
      Hermann
     broad, lush, nineteenth-century
      approach
     Wagner-like musical motives
         melodies reflect characters
         melodies can also change in order to
          reflect character development
The Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme)
Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back


   an example of how music can
    project a character.
       Listen for
           march style
           dark musical key (minor)
           blaring brass instruments over
            “shuddering” strings