Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Chapter One Setting the Standard: Hollywood’s Studio System
- Chapter Two Breaking with Tradition: Copland’s Theories on Film Music
- Chapter Three Scoring Morality: Of Mice and Men (1939)
- Chapter Four Keeping It Simple: Our Town (1940)
- Chapter Five “Doing His Bit”: The North Star (1943)
- Chapter Six Sophisticated Simplicity: The Red Pony (1949)
- Chapter Seven Silence and Sound: The Heiress (1949)
- Chapter Eight Hearing the Shift: Copland’s Lasting Impact on Hollywood
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter Two - Breaking with Tradition: Copland’s Theories on Film Music
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 May 2022
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Chapter One Setting the Standard: Hollywood’s Studio System
- Chapter Two Breaking with Tradition: Copland’s Theories on Film Music
- Chapter Three Scoring Morality: Of Mice and Men (1939)
- Chapter Four Keeping It Simple: Our Town (1940)
- Chapter Five “Doing His Bit”: The North Star (1943)
- Chapter Six Sophisticated Simplicity: The Red Pony (1949)
- Chapter Seven Silence and Sound: The Heiress (1949)
- Chapter Eight Hearing the Shift: Copland’s Lasting Impact on Hollywood
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Speaking to an enthusiastic audience at the Museum of Modern Art on January 10, 1940, Copland shared his thoughts on music's role in film. He had just returned to New York after composing the score for Lewis Milestone's Of Mice and Men (1939), and he spoke candidly to the crowd:
As a matter of fact, I told Miss Abbott I would speak on film music before I had any idea I was going to Hollywood. It was last August, and now I am amazed at my own temerity, because I cannot imagine what I was going to say. My ideas after having been there were so changed, were so freshened, I got so different a glimpse what the whole thing was about, that I have a feeling I may give you a slightly cockeyed view of the whole thing just because I am so fresh from the center of activity.
It is noteworthy that Copland, well trained in the art music tradition, could also now speak knowledgeably about the world of film composition. Few composers during this time had an intimate understanding of both fields, making Copland's experiences and theories quite valuable as one investigates the development of film music throughout the 1940s. What's more, due to his stature in the art music space, Copland's fresh theories on film music held a significant amount of weight, which potentially granted him greater influence in the industry than his contemporaries.
Offering his first piece of advice regarding “the proper function for film music,” Copland explained, “Film music only makes sense if it helps the picture. In other words, film music is not concert music, and listening to film music is not like listening to a concert.” Although this was a guideline in which he believed, as a concert hall composer first, he occasionally struggled with balancing the prominence of music in a film. In fact, in a 1940 New York Times article, Copland openly objected to the argument that a film score should be judged by its invisibility, saying, “I cannot bring myself to believe that the moment one becomes aware of the ‘background music’ in a motion picture it has automatically ceased to fulfill its function.”
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- Information
- Aaron Copland's Hollywood Film Scores , pp. 24 - 39Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2020