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The Historical Relationship of Musical Form and the Moving Image in the Current Context of the Digitisation of Media

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The Historical Relationship of Musical Form and the Moving Image in the Current Context of the Digitisation of Media The historical relationship of musical form and the moving image in the current context of the digitisation of media John Davey A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Monash University in 2017 School of Media, Film and Journalism Copyright notice © The author (2017). I certify that I have made all reasonable efforts to secure copyright permissions for third-party content included in this thesis and have not knowingly added copyright content to my work without the owner's permission. Abstract Contemporary developments in the medium of the moving picture, particularly in relation to the general digitisation of media, are bringing about substantial changes to long-held conceptions of both its theory and its practice. This thesis asserts that a significant factor in these, both historically and in terms of potential development, is the influence of musical form. Currently underappreciated, the strong interrelationship of musical form and film goes back to the very early days of cinema. The consideration of information in multidirectional form (mosaic; rhizomatic; database), rather than linearly, is directly relatable to concepts in seminal media-studies that equate multilinearity to the acoustic, and linearity to the visual (sound coming to us from all around, and vision from one direction only). The traditional role of music, the art of sound, as the quintessential expression of multiplicity, is an important subject for consideration in this context, and in terms of its ongoing formal relationship to the moving image. Taking a long historical view of this relationship, the research aims to provide a useful perspective on the 'pre-history' of current multimedia/intermedia, thereby indicating certain nascent directions of innovation. Declaration This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at any university or equivalent institution and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, this thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference is made in the text of the thesis. Signature: … ………………… Print Name: John Davey Date: 20th December, 2017 Thanks to Deane Williams for generously encouraging me to back my hunch. Contents Introduction...................................................................................................................... 1 1. Historical overview – music and culture ..................................................................... 12 2. Polyphony & Counterpoint ........................................................................................ 43 3. Atonality & Serialism ................................................................................................. 76 4. Improvisation, Indeterminacy, and the Aleatoric ....................................................... 107 5. Background to ‘New’ Media ..................................................................................... 156 6. The Contemporary Context ...................................................................................... 188 Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 216 1 Introduction This thesis focuses on several historical aspects of the musical form/moving image relationship, in order to trace their influence in the current context. The term form is used here in the most general, overarching way possible. It intends to refer not only to the sequence of sections in a given piece of work, but to the various ways in which all the elements are combined: the manner in which it is composed. The 'music theory' employed here is deliberately at the simplest, most generally accessible possible level without distorting the accuracy of the descriptions attempted; this is sometimes a rather challenging relation. The thesis as a whole is concerned with the relationship of database and narrative; through examination of the work of important theorists and artists at each stage, a version is assembled of the story of how musical form has consistently provided a central model for the moving image, even as the general recognition of this historical relationship has dwindled. In general, the emphasis is deliberately steered away from examination of the direct relationship of film scores to their corresponding imagery, so as to focus as sharply as possible on the broader compositional influence of musical form whereby the actual music employed in a soundtrack is one element among many in the compositional texture of a moving-image work. (This is not to deny that the two things may often be intertwined.) The one substantial exception to this is the case of 'visual music' animation, in which of course the musical influence on the visual form is generally overt and often absolute. The 'musical analogy', whereby the formal characteristics of music are compared to those of film, the other most pervasive temporal art form in modernity, originated at almost the very beginning of cinema's existence. In addition to the inherent dealing with the playing out of 2 specific lengths of time, among the most significant characteristics that can be identified in this respect are: the capacity for several separate elements (voices) to combine, enabling coherent multiplicity; rhythmic patterning as a primary structuring device; the representation of movement. These characteristics are of course interrelated. The term ‘analogy’ can be somewhat misleading in this context. Much of the time, the musical influence functioned through various degrees of formal inspiration, and even direct modelling. This can be seen in the 1920s milieu of early French cinema where musical form was widely compared to film’s structural patterns and emotional effects, but where also filmmakers themselves, particularly the Impressionists and early Surrealists, described their very practical applications of musical inspiration. Thus, in many cases, ideas drawn from music regarding patterns of movement and combinations of elements were directly applied to the filmmaking process rather than an ‘analogy’ being posited after the fact. While the use of terms such as polyphony and counterpoint suggests analogy (since the musical and cinematic versions are clearly not identical), the results of the practical application of such inspirational techniques are entirely concrete. For Dziga Vertov and Sergei Eisenstein also, musical influence played a large part in practice. Eisenstein continued to refine his theoretical ideas throughout his life, with musical form consistently the primary reference in developments of the conception of the audiovisual. In fact, perhaps the central employment of musical reference in certain theoretical works can tend to somewhat obscure the use of musical form as a practical model in the early cinematic period. In cases where serialism has been seen to be significant to particular films there is also a dichotomy of theoretical and practical influence. In general, this influence can be seen as coming about through its permeation of the zeitgeist of, particularly, the ’50s and ’60s (although Noël Burch, especially, sees it also in aspects of much earlier films). Also, though, there are examples of quite detailed applications of serialist-influenced methodology to the filmmaking process. In the milieu in which improvisation, indeterminacy, and aleatoricism were predominant, the innovative films of the time tended to be part of an artistic atmosphere 3 particularly inclined to the cross-fertilisation of forms. The borders between artforms were being deliberately relaxed, largely through the expansion of the traditional notion of musical composition, resulting in the advent of performance art and ‘events’/’happenings’. While this was most overtly seen in live performance forms, it was felt in film also, particularly where theatrical influence was strong. The strong connection of musical form to certain fundamental issues in seminal media studies is useful in highlighting aspects of the current media environment. In tracing the moving image/musical form relationship as above, a complex and longstanding, even ancient, interrelationship is formed. The particular relevance of this to the current context of digital media can be briefly outlined by reference to certain aspects which were touched on above from a historical perspective, and which also can be seen as having renewed relevance in the contemporary context: a direct musicality applied to moving-pictures; concern with structural factors as related to altering the conventional approach to narrative; audiovisuality and the hybridity of artforms (as inherent to conceptions of multimedia/intermedia). Chapter One briefly outlines aspects of the historical relationship of musical form to Western culture generally, in order to provide context for the discussion to follow. While the musical character of moving imagery was widely recognised in early writing on film, this recognition became much less general as time went on. Certain studies in subsequent periods, and recent ones also, when taken together demonstrate that this has always been a significant dynamic. We see that in fact music’s connection to a kind of ‘multimedia’ – a hybrid artform - has ancient origins, and that this is a core element of our social history. Over time, the capacity of music for expression without denotation – without the need to refer to anything beyond itself – comes to be inspirational both philosophically and
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