Metropolis: Music Score for the Film Directed by Fritz Lang
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University of Huddersfield Repository Ahn, Soo H. Metropolis: music score for the film directed by Fritz Lang Original Citation Ahn, Soo H. (2017) Metropolis: music score for the film directed by Fritz Lang. Doctoral thesis, University of Huddersfield. This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/31449/ The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of the University, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the items on this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners. 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For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at: [email protected]. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/ Scoring Metropolis: The Development of My Compositional Practice Soo Hwan Ahn, B.M., M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Huddersfield in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Music, Humanities and Media The University of Huddersfield February 2017 The Dissertation Committee for Soo Hwan Ahn certificates that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Scoring Metropolis: The Development of My Compositional Practice Committee: Dr. Julio D’Escrivan Supervisor Prof. Monty Adkins Internal examiner Mr. Brian Lock External examiner Copyright by Soo Hwan Ahn 2017 Scoring Metropolis: The Development of My Compositional Practice Soo Hwan Ahn The University of Huddersfield Supervisor: Dr. Julio D’Escrivan Abstract This commentary documents the compositional process of writing film music for the classic expressionist silent film Metropolis (Lang, 1927), using MIDI-based orchestral sound resources. Metropolis was chosen from within other possibilities, such as Battleship Potemkin or Nosferatu, not only due to the belief that the film’s surreal eerie mood and machine-like characters could be represented well by the Second Viennese School’s musical style that I intended to adopt, but also due to a judgment that leitmotivic transformation and use of themes as character links fit into a work so rich with characters’ showing subtle psychological states. I set out to compose an original orchestral score for Metropolis with the idea in mind, that film music should contribute to the audience’s integration with the drama and reinforcement of dramatic tensions by strategically supporting the film’s plot and narrative, and that an agreeable conceptual blending between film and music would be crucial to a successful composition. For this task, a thorough review of the leitmotif and related literature about music semiotics and meanings, together with a brief discussion of the MIDI sampler orchestra, proved to be necessary. Metropolis, a pioneering masterpiece of sci-fi, which contains a gloomy portrait of the futuristic world, encouraged me to experiment with the diverse possibilities not only of the leitmotif, but also of kaleidoscopic sound originating from various combinations of virtual instruments of the MIDI sampler orchestra and ultimately to show my musical process. The document traces the leitmotif as a primary compositional device for thematic manoeuvre in both film composers’ scores and major scholars’ discussions; it also incorporates current scholarly research about music semiotics and meanings, which has guided choices in each stage of my compositional process. I have revealed how I applied such lessons as Ennio Morricone’s microcell technique, Danny Elfman’s transformation approaches to thematic material, Howard Shore’s reflection of meaning onto music, and Ilan Eshkeri’s use of themes as character links to my Metropolis. I organized the main character’s associate themes using microcell and transformation techniques and contextualised them as character links. For instance, I produced tunes for cold-hearted characters, such as Rotwang, robot Maria, and high buildings, with the twelve-tone technique, poignant dissonances through interval-classes 1 and 6, recursive rhythmic patterns, or their combinations; I also adopted two distinct types of an octatonic scale to describe contrasting personalities of the two characters and a chord based on 2nd intervals to express the moment when Rotwang’s evil reaches its zenith. Metropolis serves not only as an artistic repository for numerous symbols, but also as a web of leitmotifs towards musical and filmic unity. iv Content Submitted work ............................................................................................................................ v List of figures ............................................................................................................................... vi Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 1. Main relevant approaches to film music composition ............................................................. 3 1.1. Leitmotif as a symbolic device ensuring unity ................................................................. 3 1.2. Compositional guides obtained from recent scholarly contribution .............................. 13 1.3. The MIDI sample orchestra ........................................................................................... 18 1.4. Compositional techniques as seen in primary film-music repertoires ......................... 20 1.4.1. Morricone’s micro-cell technique ...................................................................... 20 1.4.2. Elfman’s transformation of thematic material .................................................. 23 1.4.3. Eshkeri’s handling of themes as character links ............................................... 26 1.4.4. Shore’s signification of music in a social and cultural context ......................... 30 1.4.5. Morricone’s use of iconic music for the protagonist ......................................... 32 2. Metropolis .............................................................................................................................. 35 2.1. Leitmotif as a device for thematic manoeuvre ............................................................... 36 2.1.1. Freder music ....................................................................................................... 37 2.1.2. Twelve-tone themes: Maria’s music and Rotwang’s experimental theme ....... 45 2.1.3. Interval classes 1 and 6 ...................................................................................... 54 2.2. Other musical expressions for emotions and movements ............................................ 63 2.2.1. Two different octatonic scales to represent contrasting characters ................. 63 2.2.2. Secundal chord for Rotwang ............................................................................. 64 2.2.3. Contrabass and trombone for electric mechanic sound ................................... 64 2.2.4. Lightning and orchestral sound ........................................................................ 65 2.3. Longitudinal analysis as a strategy map ........................................................................ 66 2.3.1. Relationship between the film’s narrative and musical organization .............. 66 2.3.2. Counterpoint between themes ........................................................................... 71 2.4. Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 78 Appendix. Analysis of emotional status and instrumentation .................................................. 86 Submitted work Metropolis (Lang, 1927) 1:17:52 v List of figures Fig. 1. 1 Freder themes from Metropolis by Huppertz Fig. 1. 2 Opening theme, The Planet of the Apes, bar 1 Fig. 1. 3 Second motif, The Planet of the Apes, bar 8 Fig. 1. 4 Graphs for emotions a) Russell’s direct circular scaling of coordinates for 28 affect words b) Juslin-Russel model (2010) c) Thayer’s two-dimensional emotion space model Fig. 1. 5 Acoustic Pressure Waveforms of A440Hz (A4) Fig. 1. 6 Schematic representation of formant locations for double-reed instruments Fig. 1. 7 Morricone, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, bars 1-8 Fig. 1. 8 Workers’ theme 2 from my Metropolis, No. 6, bars 1-2 Fig. 1. 9 Fredersen theme from my Metropolis, No. 7, bars 18-22 Fig. 1. 10 Batman theme and tranformed melodies a) Bat-theme, bars 4-7 b) Denied dominant tail, bars 9-10 c) Modulation to falling major second, sharpened sixth tail, bars 19-20 d) Modulation to falling minor second, arpeggiated, bars 24-28 Fig. 1. 11 Freder theme, Metropolis, No. 3, bars 7-10 Fig. 1. 12 Variation 3 on Freder theme, Metropolis, No. 6, bars 70-72 Fig. 1. 13 Variation 5 on Freder theme, Metropolis, No. 8, bars 34-36 Fig. 1. 14 The web of leitmotifs for Eshkeri’s score to Stardust Fig. 1. 15 The web of themes in Metropolis Fig. 1. 16 Music for Yoshiwara club in my Metropolis, No. 10, bars 12-17 Fig. 1. 17 Morricone, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly a) Section B of the main title, bars 12-27 b)