Sounding the Shofar in Hollywood Film Scores

Qol Tamid ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 247-266
Author(s):  
Aaron Fruchtman
Keyword(s):  
Film Scores ◽  
Hollywood Film

Korngold and His World

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Chamber Music ◽  
Musical Theater ◽  
Musical Language ◽  
American Film ◽  
Popular Song ◽  
Film Scores ◽  
Hollywood Film ◽  
English Translations ◽  
Erich Wolfgang Korngold ◽  
American Popular Song

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897–1957) was the last compositional prodigy to emerge from the Austro-German tradition of Mozart and Mendelssohn. He was lauded in his youth by everyone from Mahler to Puccini and his auspicious career in the early 1900s spanned chamber music, opera, and musical theater. Today, he is best known for his Hollywood film scores, composed between 1935 and 1947. From his prewar operas in Vienna to his pathbreaking contributions to American film, this book provides a substantial reassessment of Korngold's life and accomplishments. Korngold struggled to reconcile the musical language of his Viennese upbringing with American popular song and cinema, and was forced to adapt to a new life after wartime emigration to Hollywood. The book examines Korngold's operas and film scores, the critical reception of his music, and his place in the milieus of both the Old and New Worlds. It also features numerous historical documents—many previously unpublished and in first-ever English translations—including essays by the composer as well as memoirs by his wife, Luzi Korngold, and his father, the renowned music critic Julius Korngold.

scholarly journals Remote Control: Collaborative Scoring and the Question of Authorship

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Nicholas Kmet
Keyword(s):  
Remote Control ◽  
Joint Venture ◽  
Film Scores ◽  
Film Score ◽  
Hollywood Film ◽  
Music Department ◽  
Santa Monica ◽  
Pass Through ◽  
Selling Point ◽  
Controversial Aspect

Perhaps the most interesting – and controversial – aspect of Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control Productions is the collaborative workflow that many of the film scores that pass through the Santa Monica studio are produced under. While Zimmer and business partner Steven Kofsky have taken great pains in interviews to emphasize the independence of composers working at the Santa Monica studio – Kofsky has said that “these composers are independent, have their own businesses, and secure their own movies” – the reality is one of frequent collaboration. The website for the studio’s parent company – a joint venture between Zimmer, Kofsky, and Lorne Balfe – advertises that “clients have access to over a dozen composers and music editors;” composer collaboration is clearly a prime selling point of Zimmer’s business. An important side-effect of this process is that it has often become difficult – if not impossible – for scholars and enthusiasts to determine the authorship of individual cues within scores. It is not uncommon for as many as five composers – including some of the more prominent names at the studio – to be credited as providing additional music or filling other roles in the music department. This article examines the collaborative process practiced at Zimmer’s Remote Control Productions, and how it challenges traditional notions of authorship in relation to the Hollywood film score.

The Caucasian Connection: National Identity in the Ballets of Aram Khachaturian

2007 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-438
Author(s):  
Harlow Robinson
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Sergei Prokofiev ◽  
Romeo And Juliet ◽  
Film Scores ◽  
Hollywood Film ◽  
Dmitri Shostakovich ◽  
Special Place ◽  
History Of ◽  
Bolshoi Ballet ◽  
Soviet Music

The ballets of Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978) occupy a special place in the history of Soviet ballet and of Soviet music. Considered along with Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev as one of the leaders of Soviet music, Khachaturian devoted many years to the creation of ballet, although in the end he produced only three ballet scores: Schast'e [Happiness], completed in 1939; Gayane, completed in 1942; and Spartak [Spartacus], completed in 1954. Of these three, Gayane and Spartacus (both repeatedly revised) were notably successful, both immediately acclaimed as important new achievements in the development of an identifiably Soviet ballet style. Taken on tour abroad by the Bolshoi Ballet in a revised version, Spartacus also became one of the most internationally successful ballets written by a Soviet composer, although it never came close to equaling the international recognition eventually achieved by Prokofiev's Soviet ballets Romeo and Juliet or Cinderella. Gayane was not widely staged outside the USSR, but some of the music from the ballet, arranged into three orchestral suites by the composer, became very popular internationally—particularly the “Sabre Dance,” which became the single most recognized piece of Khachaturian, recycled repeatedly in Hollywood film scores.

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