Charms that Soothe: Classical Music and the Narrative Film (Communications and Media Studies, No. 9.)

From Chaplin's brilliant use of Wagner in The Gold Rush to the Bach chorale closing Scorsese's Casino, classical music has played a fascinating role in movies. Dean Duncan provides a fresh critical survey of the aesthetics of classical music in film. Exploring tensions between high art and commercial culture, Duncan examines how directors quote themes and classical passages in genres ranging from the Soviet avant garde to Hollywood romances. Drawing on film theory, musicology, and cultural criticism, he clarifies the connections between two very different art forms. From Chaplin's brilliant use of Wagner in The Gold Rush to the Bach chorale closing Scorsese's Casino, classical music has played a fascinating role in movies. This book provides a fresh critical survey of the aesthetics of classical music in film. Exploring tensions between high art and commercial culture, the author examines how directors quote themes and classical passages in genres ranging from the Soviet avant garde to Hollywood romances. This book explores two major areas of interset. First, the author examines the historical, social, and critical contexts of the debates between music advocates and the music establishment over the uses of serious music in cinema. Next, he elaborates a model for understanding the relationship of film to film music: as film-musical counterpoint, expressed in the Soviet cinematic avant-garde, and as an essential programmatic component to the narrative film. Drawing on a wide range of approaches--in film theory, musicology, and cultural and literary criticism--the author offers a sophisticated critical toolkit for understanding the interaction of classical music with film and film culture "[Book title] explores two major areas of interest. First, [author] examines the historical, social, and critical contexts of the debates between music advocates and the music establishment over the uses of serious music in cinema. Next, he elaborates a model for understanding the relationship of film to film music: as film-musical counterpoint, expressed in the Soviet cinematic avant-garde, and as an essential programmatic component to the narrative film."--Back cover