Overtones and Undertones: Reading Film Music

Out of stock at the UK distributor

You may order it now but please be aware that it may be six weeks or more before it can be despatched

Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 Narrative/Film/Music
2 Actions/Interactions: "Classical" Music
3 Actions/Interactions: Historical Overview
4 Actions/Interactions:
The Source Beyond the Source
5 Styles and Interactions: Beyond the Diegesis
Interlude I: Erich Wolfgang Komgold: The Sea Hawk (1940)
Interlude II: Miklos Rozsa: Double Indemnity (1944)
Interlude III: The Eisenstein/Prokofiev Phenomenon
6 Herrmann, Hitchcock, and the Music of the Irrational
7 New Styles, New Genres, New Interactions
Interlude IV: Jean-Luc Godard: Vivre sa vie (1962)
Interlude V: Jean-Luc Godard: Pierrot lefou (1965)
8 Music as Image as Music: A Postmodern Perspective
A Brief (Postmodern) Conclusion
lnterviews
Miklos Rozsa
David Raksin
Bernard Herrmann
Henry Mancini
Maurice Jarre
Lalo Schifrin
John Barry
Howard Shore
Appendix: How to Hear a Movie: An Outline
Notes
Discography
Bibliography
Index

About
Reviews
Explore

About

Since the days of silent films, music has been integral to the cinematic experience, serving, variously, to allay audiences' fears of the dark and to heighten a film's emotional impact. Yet viewers are often unaware of its presence. In this bold, insightful book, film and music scholar and critic Royal S. Brown invites readers not only to 'hear' the film score, but to understand it in relation to what they 'see'. Unlike earlier books, which offered historical, technical, and socio political analysis, "Overtones and Undertones" draws on film, music, and narrative theory to provide the first comprehensive aesthetics of film music. Focusing on how the film/score interaction influences our response to cinematic situations, Brown traces the history of film music from its beginnings, covering both American and European cinema. At the heart of his book are close readings of several of the best film/score interactions, including "Psycho", "Laura", "The Sea Hawk", "Double Indemnity", and "Pierrot le Fou". In revealing interviews with Bernard Herrmann, Miklos Rosza, Henry Mancini, and others, Brown also allows the composers to speak for themselves. A complete discography and bibliography conclude the volume.

Reviews

What distinguishes this groundbreaking work is the thorouhness with which Brown develops his philosophical and theoretical framework to explain the effectiveness and theoretical framework to explain the effectiveness of music in film

Book

Contents

Download queue