THE UNIVERSITY of HULL Contextualising Music at A
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THE UNIVERSITY OF HULL Contextualising Music at a Cinematic Tudor Court being a Thesis submitted for the Degree of Ph.D. in the University of Hull by Daniela Gisela Fountain September 2014 For my parents, Manfred and Gisela Schwark, my husband Timothy and daughter Leonora ABSTRACT Contextualising Music at the Cinematic Tudor Court Music plays an important function in the production of meaning in sound films. In particular, its role in the construction of historical sensibilities and musico-historical identities in film narratives is significant, capitalising on the underscore’s dependency on dominant referential clichés and generic categories. Taking this stance as the point of departure, this thesis examines the deployment of sixteenth-century music in film with the aim of developing both an enriched theory of film music, but also a theory that involves the idea of musico-historical constructs as a crucial ideological property. The five chapters centralise the three components in this construct – film, history and music – as well as their textual interplay. By critically engaging with film music literature on the subject of music and anteriority in history films, issues of musico- historical awareness in film soundtracks are examined and inconsistencies revealed. History is presented as a dialogical construct of narrative and nostalgia and by drawing on hermeneutics and psychoanalysis the notion of the musico-historical feel is deconstructed. The functional and categorical status of sixteenth-century music and the idea of early music in mass-entertainment period films form the focus of investigation together with a critical consideration of early music’s relation to media in order to understand the cinematic representation of Tudor history in a twenty-first century context. The central theoretical premise of this thesis draws on interdisciplinary approaches proposed by, among others, Butt (2002); Flinn (1992); Gadamer (1960); Gorbman (1987); Kassabian (2001) and Clarke (2005). Among other history films, this thesis focuses on the following in more detail to demonstrate the theoretical approach adopted by this thesis: Young Bess (1953); A Man For All Seasons (1963); Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) and Elizabeth (1998). CONTENTS Acknowledgements [i] List of Illustrations [ii] Introduction [1] History, Film and Popular Culture [4] The Methodology [9] Context [12] Music [13] Cinematic [15] Tudor Court [17] CHAPTER 1: EXAMINING ISSUES OF FILM, MUSIC AND THE ‘MUSICO-HISTORICAL FEEL’ [22] The Classical Hollywood Paradigm and Thoughts on Film Realism [23] The Problem of Pre-existent Music [30] Pre-existent or Pastiche? The Problem with Music-historical Awareness, Misconceptions and Inconsistencies? [39] Issues of Identification and Levels of Attention [44] Deconstructing the Notion of the ‘Musico-historical Feel’ [52] CHAPTER 2: NOTIONS OF HISTORY – CONSTRUCTING CONTEXT AND MEANING [59] The (Hi)Story Behind [61] Nostalgia – The Driving Force [69] Context and Meaning I: Signs, Symbols, Semeiotics [74] Context and Meaning II: Cognitive, Ecological and Psychoanalytic Deliberations [78] Context and Meaning III: Hermeneutic Considerations [82] Music, History, Film: A Complex Web of Meaning [86] CHAPTER 3: SIXTEENTH-CENTURY MUSIC IN FILM - A CONTEXTUALISATION [89] The Period, the Music and Re-interpretation in Film [90] Characteristics of Sixteenth-century Music and Cinematic Application [100] Plucking and Strumming Sensations: The Lute [106] Flauto Dolce and Wind Instruments [112] Social Life and Continuity Signifiers: The Drums [117] Court Identity: Ensembles and Dances - 'Pastime with Good Companye' [119] Passamezzo and Romanesca - Echoes of 'Greensleeves' [124] CHAPTER 4: EXPLORING H.I.P., IDEOLOGY AND FILM NARRATIVE [128] Early Music within Cultural Changes [129] Ideological Considerations and Early Music and the Media [133] Period Music as Narrative Language [144] Narrative in Film [146] Establishing a Narrative Language with Period Music [156] CHAPTER 5: FILM READINGS [165] Young Bess (1953) [165] A Man for All Seasons (1963) [171] Contextualising Music at a Cinematic Tudor Court – A Conclusion [179] Pastime with Good Companye – Cinematic Perspectives On Sixteenth-century Music [182] The Music’s Narrative Engagement [185] Hermeneutic and Ecological Considerations – Impact on Historical Feel [188] A Historical Film’s Educational Mission [190] Bibliography [193] Filmography [208] Appendix Complete Lyrics of ‘A Sheppard to His Love’ as used in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) [209] Interview with Lutenist Jacob Heringman [210] French Transcript and English Translation of an Interview with Composer Georges Delerue [212] ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my thanks to my supervisor Dr. Alexander Binns for his support, understanding and thought-provoking ideas and my second supervisor Dr. Lee tsang for a long meeting that initiated a breakthrough in more structural concerns. I would also like to thank the Music Department for the opportunity to prepare and deliver some lectures as well as provide undergraduate teaching and support in my time of study. Special thanks go to Jacob Heringman, who read a chapter of this thesis, answered my questions and provided behind-the-scenes knowledge about the lute and performing for films. I owe particular gratitude to Janine Kopp and Professor Marina Mozzon-McPherson who encourage and provided me with the necessary part-time jobs that only initiated and developed my academic teaching experience but also helped to fund life and this Phd project. Further thanks include Dr. Iris Kleinecke-Bates, Dr. Marion Joassin and Lewis Kennedy for their academic support and Hannah Lees for being a good friend and for providing a flexible and most rewarding childminding service. Thanks to my daughter Leonora who demonstrated a lot of patience for a three year old to allow mummy to ‘do her writing‘ and Grandmum Shirley for stepping in when nobody else could entertain a little girl. Last but not least, I owe heartfelt gratitude to my husband Timothy, who suffered the most yet offered the most valuable support and critique at every stage of the research and writing process. i LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1.1; 1.2 and 1.3: King: “Margret, do you like music?” Margret: “Yes, your grace.” King: “They’ll play for you.” 2.1: The melody of ‘A Sheppard to His Love’, the song performed for Queen Elizabeth in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), composed in a classical or early romantic idiom. [66] 2.2: The Ladies Margret and Penelope performing the ‘Sheppard’ song. The lute is strummed with the right hand thumb only. [66] 3.1: Elizabeth (1998) A Spanish pirates dance [91] 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4: Lute music in Queen Katherine’s chamber in Anne of the Thousand Days (1998) [111, 112] 3.5 and 3.6: Elizabeth (1998) The Duke of Anjou arrives playing the recorder. [113, 114] 3.7: Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) King Henry VIII’s and Anne Boleyn’s first dance ‘A Galliard’: King Henry VIII asks Anne Boleyn how they dance at the court of France. She answers: “This is nothing that France could teach England” “Well said” replies the King. [116] 3.8: ‘La Volta’ rhythm motif in Elizabeth (1998) [117] 3.9 and 3.10: Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) – The ‘first dance’ and archetypal musicians [121] 3.11: ‘La Volta’ in Elizabeth (1998) - melodic motif [123] 3.12 and 3.13: ‘La Volta’ dance in Elizabeth (1998) of characters Queen Elizabeth I (Cate Blanchett) and Robert Dudley (Joseph Fiennes) [123] 3.14 and 3.15: ‘Farewell’ Theme in Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) and Accompanying ground [124] 3.16: Passamezzo antico and passamezzo moderno [125] 4.1: ‘Farewell’ – theme and lyrics [160] 5.1: ‘Hatfield House’ theme or the ‘See-Saw-Song’ [167] 5.2: Packington’s Pownde (extract from FVB, 1979, Dover Publications) [169] 5.3; 5.4 and 5.5: King: “Margret, do you like music?” Margret: “Yes, your grace.” King: “They’ll play for you.” [174] ii 5.6: The King and Thomas More in discussion – about the King’s music. [175] 5.7; 5.8: The King talks about music whilst ‘Consort XV’ by Henry VIII can be heard in the background and asks for More’s opinion. [176] 5.9: The musical themes of Thomas More’s time in the tower together with the change of seasons outside. [177] iii A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS (1963) 1.1; 1.2; 1.3: King: “Margret, do you like music?” Margret: “Yes, your grace.” King: “They’ll play for you.” Blockbuster history films, mini-series, documentaries, docu-dramas – all these genres are increasingly important in our relationship to the past and to our understanding of history. To leave them out of the equation when we think of the meaning of the past is to condemn ourselves to ignore the way a huge segment of the population has come to understand the events and people that comprise history. (Rosenstone, 2006, p. 4) The experience of film becomes in some sense ‘organic’ because style is tied to the story with natural, thoughtful, humanistic terms of intention that make film forms dramatic rather than technical. (Frampton, 2010, p. 8) INTRODUCTION A Tudor Court scene: period costumes, a group of women and men exchanging formal courtesies and picking up a period group dance; musicians depicted with lute, recorder, tambourine and sackbuts and from an elevated position this colourful ado is looked upon by the monarch - what music can be heard? If period appropriate mannerisms are reflected in the scene's accompanying score it would be most likely a galliard or pavane – the most common courtly dances in the sixteenth century according to Renaissance dance scholar Mabel Dolmetsch (1916). What elements of this visual description of an arbitrary, yet stylistically representative, film scene nurture the assumption that a particular type of period music is needed to complete the historical picture or historical impression of this scene? The described onscreen event exploits a number of widely accepted distinct symbols that trigger the illusion of a would-be Tudor world.