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From: reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.movies
Subject: Re: Music in films set in history
Message-ID: <5646@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 23-May-85 18:59:42 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucla-cs.5646
Posted: Thu May 23 18:59:42 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 26-May-85 23:49:04 EDT
References: <759@mtgzz.UUCP>
Reply-To: reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (Peter Reiher)
Organization: UCLA Computer Science Department
Lines: 55

In article <759@mtgzz.UUCP> leeper@mtgzz.UUCP (m.r.leeper) writes:
>The implication to me of what I myself am saying is that a more
>traditional score is more appropriate.  I really do believe that, but I
>am not sure why.  The score to a film like BECKET really does seem to
>have the feel of the period to me.  But intellectually I don't know how
>that could possibly be.  In the time of BECKET or LADYHAWKE music was,
>I believe, quite different than it is today.  
...
>The music of the age
>that LADYHAWKE is set in did not have music much like anything that we
>currently hear in films, -- why does certain music in films sound
>appropriate to the period and other music does not?  There seems to be
>something in the scores of some films that make them seem to fit into a
>period of history, but for the life of me I am not sure what there is
>in the music that makes it seem that way.
>
I would say that scores of people like Max Steiner and Korngold in the
old Hollywood films set in the Middle Ages/Renaissance periods sound
more appropriate because they are, in a sense, emulations of classical
music.  Almost everyone, even many of us who intellectually know better,
have a tendancy to associate classical music, in general, with the remote
past.  The fact that Beethovin's music would actually have been out of
place in the 13th century doesn't make a lot of difference to us.  For
Americans, at least, classical music seems to sound "right" for anything
between the fall of Rome and the twentieth century.  

Another point is that two of the most popular forms of classical music,
romantic and baroque, tend to conjure up particular feelings.  Much
romantic classical music tends to be heroic, making the style perfect for
swashbucklers.  Baroque music, with its cleverness and complexity, 
conjures up the image of a royal court, with its precisely polite manners
and decorum.  (Remember, we're talking popular perceptions here, not reality.)

Finally, there is the question of indoctrination.  Most of us grew up with
Hollywood romantic scores to back up adventure films, etc., so that's what
sounds right.  What I find especially interesting is composers who can work
against type, who can use a different type of music to get the proper feel.
A good instance was in a French desert imperialism film I saw recently,
"Fort Saganne".  The score was largely based on a theme originally introduced
on the cello, a theme that was rather thoughtful and a bit brooding.  Imagine
my surprise when it proved perfect for a desert battle between Bedouins and
French colonial troops.  In another instance, "Blanche", a French film set in
the Middle Ages, went back to authentic music of the period rather than
Romantic music in the style of the 19th century.  It contributed a rather
different feel to the film.  

One could say that the producers of "Ladyhawke" were hoping for something
of this kind from the rock score.  They didn't get it, in my opinion.  It
just sounded wrong.

-- 
        			Peter Reiher
        			reiher@ucla-cs.arpa
				soon to be reiher@LOCUS.UCLA.EDA
        			{...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher