Roger Hillman. Unsettling Scores: German Film, Music, and Ideology. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005. xi + 219 pp. $50.00, cloth, ISBN 978-0-253-34537-0.

Reviewed by Barbara Eichner

Published on H-German (August, 2006)

From the cover readers of this book are greet‐ musical works acquired during the Third Reich ed by a Hitler doppelganger, wrapped in a Ro‐ and how the directors of the New German Cinema man-style toga (or bath towel?) and emerging used and redefned such associations. Thus, Hill‐ from Richard Wagner's grave. This image, taken man's book is part of the ongoing investigation of from Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's Hitler. Ein Film aus the unsettled German national identity in the Deutschland (1977) sets the scene for the scope nineteenth and twentieth centuries. and focus of Richard Hillman's book. The author, The opening of the frst chapter, "Establishing who heads the Film Studies Program and con‐ a Tonal Center," emphasizes again the greater venes the German Studies Program at the Aus‐ narrative weight of preexisting flm music. In or‐ tralian National University in Canberra, explores der to demonstrate his strategies, Hillman discuss‐ the use of classical music in the New German Cin‐ es the use of classical music in non-German flms: ema during the 1970s and early 1980s. as drama/mood music with and without national In the introduction, Hillman highlights the signifcance, as marker of the "other" and as em‐ great extent to which originally composed and blem of Western culture as such. Examples range preexisting music function diferently within the from the prominent to the obscure and their brief context of images and narrative. While an origi‐ interpretations are a particular strength of the nal score tends to serve solely as "mood music" book. Instead of providing lengthy synopses, Hill‐ (think soaring strings), pre-existing pieces func‐ man focuses on one relevant scene, contextualizes tion as a "cultural marker" (p. 4) and evoke "a it with some swift brush-strokes, characterizes the world beyond the flm we are watching" (p. 3). musical piece in refreshingly non-technical lan‐ This efect applies even more to classical music guage and explains their combined cultural signif‐ with its long and--in the special case of the Ger‐ icance. Thus the scope and method of the book man tradition--fraught reception history. The au‐ are convincingly outlined; indeed, the limitations thor is particularly interested in the overtones of the printed format when conveying the intrica‐ H-Net Reviews cies of multimedia art forms are elegantly over‐ flms is confned to the decades from the 1930s come. A similar study across national boundaries onwards, cutting short the rich and diverse layers would be highly desirable. of meaning the Ninth Symphony had accumulated The second chapter turns to "Music as Cultur‐ during the nineteenth century (the 1872 Bayreuth al Marker in German Film." Hillman successfully performance only foreshadows the reopening of transfers the concept of "polyphony" (p. 27) to the festival in 1951). The preoccupation with the characterize the simultaneous processes of signif‐ fate of Beethoven's music during the Third Reich cation in flm. Elsewhere he uses the term "coun‐ is of course crucial to postwar cinema, since its di‐ terpoint" in a similar vein, particularly when im‐ rectors play with these Nazi associations. Howev‐ age and sound seem to contradict each other. er, it would have been helpful if the author had Again he draws attention to the national-identity openly acknowledged that this emphasis is a con‐ quest, although the opposition of the New German scious decision, both on his own part and among Cinema with "Hollywood" probably applies to the directors he investigates. most European artflm traditions. The short intro‐ Chapters 4 to 8 then focus on one director ductions to the German cultural tradition and the each and in several cases on one flm only. Again 1970s and 1980s touch on many interesting events the "thick descriptions" of selected scenes are and movements, but their kaleidoscopic presenta‐ most convincing, and the patient disentangling of tion requires an in-depth familiarity with German the various strands of meaning are often fascinat‐ history (from Schopenhauer to the RAF and reuni‐ ing to read. Although Hillman claims that his fcation). A similar level of expertise is necessary main concern is reception (p. 44), his case studies to make the most of the frequent references Ger‐ foreground authorial intent: they ask how the di‐ man flms. The second part of this chapter con‐ rectors (and presumably their intended audi‐ tains a brief and not wholly connected discussion ences) received German classical music, not how of theoretical perspectives such as psychomusicol‐ this music was received when accompanied by ogy and musical semiotics. The latter does not the moving images. Since each chapter explores a contribute much, since the author has already in multitude of facets, some indications have to suf‐ chapter 1 neatly sidestepped the issue of repre‐ fce here. sentation in and through non-vocal music (p. 9). Despite its heading "A Wagnerian German Re‐ The third chapter, "History on the Sound‐ quiem" the fourth chapter explores not only how track: The Example of Beethoven's Ninth," follows Syberberg reclaims Wagner's music from both the various messages the famous "Ode to Joy" can Hitler's and Hollywood's appropriation, but also convey through four case studies. Apart from the "occupied territories" (p. 78) Liszt, Mozart and Helke Sander's Redupers (1977)--which also fea‐ Haydn. The case of Liszt's Les Préludes, which tures a thought-provoking but not wholly con‐ was associated with news from the Eastern front, vincing excursion into gender studies--the other is quite convincing, while Mozart's tune "Üb im‐ examples are again drawn from non-German cin‐ mer Treu und Redlichkeit" and Haydn's "Deutsch‐ ema (Tarkovsky: Nostalghia [1983] and Stalker landlied" raise the question of whether audiences [1979]; Makavejev: Covek nije tika [1965]). They really perceive(d) them as instances of Viennese map out the tension between the tune's German, classical music gone astray.[1] The discussion of pan-German, European or all-embracing associa‐ "Alexander Kluge's Songs without Words: Die Pa‐ tions and its potential to symbolize a utopian vi‐ triotin (1979)" in chapter 5 benefts from a de‐ sion of humanity. Unfortunately the reception his‐ tailed list of musical extracts and provides anoth‐ tory of Beethoven's music leading up to these er example for the ambiguous messages of

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Beethoven's "Ode to Joy." Sibelius's Swan of be hoped that this book will inspire many similar Tuonela is convincingly contextualized with the studies. German Sibelius reception during the Third Re‐ Note ich, but I doubt whether Skryabin's piano music [1]. This irksome detail recurs throughout the really invites a "meditation on what was, and book: Hillman does not always make clear what still is, 'German' and "Germany'" (p. 102), whether by "Deutschlandlied" he means the slow only by virtue of sounding somehow "romantic." movement of Haydn's Emperor quartet op. 76 no. "Fassbinder's Compromised Request Concert: Lili 3, or the German national anthem. The former Marleen (1980)" opens new vistas by contrasting would be an instance of classical music, while for "U-Musik" (entertaining, popular music), associat‐ the latter it is difcult to see how the use of the ed throughout the flm with the German charac‐ tune (with words and possibly a brass band) dif‐ ters, with German "E-Musik" (serious, classical fers in principle from a quotation of "Dixie" or the music), associated in an ironic inversion with the Marseillaise. Information about the genesis and Jewish conductor Mendelssohn. Chapter 7 pro‐ reception of the string quartet/anthem is scattered vides a similar inversion when "The Great Eclecti‐ throughout the book (Hofmann von Fallersleben, cism of the Filmmaker Werner Herzog" is investi‐ the author of the text, fnally enters in chapter 5) gated. Herzog's soundtracks eschew the historical and partly hidden away in the notes. concerns of his colleagues and employ classical music primarily for its emotional value. Finally, yet another angle is taken in "Pivot Chords: Aus‐ trian Music and Visconti's Senso (1954)." Hillman's intricate discussion of the signifcance of Bruckn‐ er's music made me once more wish that the au‐ thor had focused less persistently on the German identity issue but had tackled this particular prob‐ lem within a wider array of signifcation strate‐ gies. The bibliography is divided according to sub‐ ject matter (flm music, music and culture, Ger‐ man cinema, history, and so on), which makes it a highly useful tool for the reader who wants to ex‐ plore the many avenues opened in the book. How‐ ever, the division also indicates that ideal readers for this book might be few and far between. They should have a strong interest in German (art) cin‐ ema, should be aware of the events and issues of German history during the past two hundred years and they should have the canon of classical music (not just the German tradition) at their fn‐ gertips. Nevertheless Hillman's study will be high‐ ly instructive for historians, musicologists, cinema lovers and Kulturwissenschaftler in general. De‐ spite some shortcomings on the local level, it is to

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Citation: Barbara Eichner. Review of Hillman, Roger. Unsettling Scores: German Film, Music, and Ideology. H-German, H-Net Reviews. August, 2006.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=12178

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