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If classical composers were film composers...

12K views 59 replies 33 participants last post by  Huilunsoittaja 
#1 ·
A fun little excercise :)

Imagine that classical composers were able to write film scores. My question is this: which genre would each composer be typecast for? By which I mean, the music of which composers would lend themselves to which of the genres listed below. These aren't the only genres so add ones you can think of. Here’s my list:

Action - Stravinsky
Adventure – Brahms / Mahler
Comedy – Poulenc / Satie
Crime – Schoenberg
Drama - Beethoven
Family - Mozart
Fantasy – Debussy / Szymanowski
Film-Noir – Morton Feldman
History - Palestrina
Horror - Xenakis
Mystery – Berg / Webern
Romance - Rachmaninov / Tchaikovsky
Sci-Fi – Holst / Sibelius
Thriller - Bartók
War - Shostakovitch
Western - Copland
 
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#5 ·
On reading the first post, I wondered if the poster was aware of just how many 'classical' composers have actually made a major contribution to the genre of film music.

Most obviously there is Shostakovich, who wrote more than 20 film scores between 1929 and 1971. His most famous are probably the scores for The Gadfly (from which comes the famous Romance) and the 1964 version of Hamlet.

Other composers who made a substantial contribution to film music include:

Arthur Bliss
Aaron Copland
John Corgliano
Benjamin Frankel
Arthur Honegger
Jacques Ibert
Aram Khachaturian
Wojciech Kilar
Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Sergei Prokofiev
Alan Rawsthorne
Miklós Rózsa
Camille Saint-Saëns (inasmuch as he wrote the very first score for a silent film in 1908)
Alfred Schnittke
Toru Takemitsu
Ralph Vaughan Williams
William Walton
 
#7 ·
On reading the first post, I wondered if the poster was aware of just how many 'classical' composers have actually made a major contribution to the genre of film music.
You do right to wonder. I do indeed recognise that many classical composers have written film scores.

However, my question is not; which classical composers wrote film scores? My question is; imagine all composers were given the oppertunity to compose for film and given that fictional premise, which genre of film would they most likley choose given their musical sensibilities.

I know it's difficult to explain, but I thought my example would have made it clear what I was trying to communicate. Anyone who can properly word my question gets bonus points! :D
 
#12 · (Edited)
Children's fantasy - Debussy, Tchaikovsky

Other children's/Family - Raymond Scott

Horror - Penderecki (if disturbing/graphic), Josquin, Dufay and Isaac (if gothic in theme)

War - Part, Gorecki

Myth/Tragedy (theatre adaptations) - Lully, Charpentier, Rameau

Germanic fantasy (sword & sorcery) - Weber, Bruckner, Nielsen

Greek/Roman/Old Testament epic - Handel

Romantic epic - Mendelssohn, Verdi

Film noir - Webern, Berg

Comedy - Rossini, Bizet

Drama - Schubert

Action - Beethoven

Adventure - Mozart, Haydn

Science fiction - Shostakovich

Documentary - unsure

Gay & Lesbian - Bernstein

Arthouse/experimental - Crumb, Varese, Berio
 
#17 ·
Rather twee English period romantic movies (e.g. Emma) - Vivaldi
Silly Hollywood romantic comedies (e.g. anything with Sandra Bullock in it) - Vivaldi
Preachy documentary-movies (e.g. anything by Michael Moore, Morgan Spurlock, etc) - Vivaldi
Brain dead Hollywood action movies with lots of explosions and beefcake lead actors (e.g. Bruce Willis, Steven Seagal, etc) - Vivaldi
Anything from Bollywood - Vivaldi
Annoying cartoons from Disney - Vivaldi

Ooops, noticing a pattern here? :) The movies I hate should have scores written by the one composer I hate the most ;)

(Yes the moderators can kick my **** because i'm not even pretending to answer the question seriously :) :) :) )
 
#28 ·
If I being asked,in a second I will say:

Haydn - culinary and traveling movie
Beethoven - Academy obsessed drama
Mozart - Box office action movie
Paganini - rock star bio
Chopin - korean drama
Liszt - racing
Bartok - vampire drama
Shostakovich - general horror
Schumann - softcore pxxx
Hovhannes - American fantasy
Vaughan Williams - UK fantasy
Wagner - WWII
Stravinsky - James Bond vs KGB
Ravel - Shanghai mafia
Tchaikovsky - Walt disney
Debussy - Europe indie
John Cage - quiz and puzzle
Ligetti - hardcore pxxx
 
#33 ·
Ah! That's when a director has used a composer who's music you wouldn't expect to be synonymous with that genre of film. That's certainly true of Kubrick's use of Strauss in a science fiction film.

He also uses the obvious choices, like Krzysztof Penderecki in The Shining.
 
#34 ·
Actually 4'33", what do you think of films like Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, Naqoyqatsi and Baraka? All these films have no spoken content - rather it is a series of videos with musical accompaniment. I would suggest that they would have far more scope for the composer to be creative than say, writing the soundtrack for Star Wars.
 
#35 ·
A fun little excercise :)

Imagine that classical composers were able to write film scores. My question is this: which genre would each composer be typecast for? By which I mean, the music of which composers would lend themselves to which of the genres listed below. These aren't the only genres so add ones you can think of. Here's my list:

Action - Stravinsky
Adventure - Brahms / Mahler
Comedy - Poulenc / Satie
Crime - Schoenberg
Drama - Beethoven
Family - Mozart
Fantasy - Debussy / Szymanowski
Film-Noir - Morton Feldman
History - Palestrina
Horror - Xenakis
Mystery - Berg / Webern
Romance - Rachmaninov / Tchaikovsky
Sci-Fi - Holst / Sibelius
Thriller - Bartók
War - Shostakovitch
Western - Copland
Excellent list and like most others i wouldn't change it. I would only extend it by saying maybe Wagner could cover ancient mythology (although apparently John Williams was heavily inspired by Wagner for his Star Wars scores), Vaughan Williams - period drama, Elgar - War/period dramas and possibly extend Tchaikovsky to cover childrens fantasy/general fantasy.
 
#36 ·
Film music is a joke

Although some great composers wrote for film, I can't imagine that having to subjugate your individuality and vision just to please some ridiculous director or producer would be very satisfying. Most film composers are just paid hacks, and that is all that they are required to be. Great art either stands alone or is a collaboration. Film music ranks with hair and makeup or lighting - paid artisan work.
 
#40 ·
This may not be a very original list, but here goes. "Resume" examples of why I chose the composer in parentheses.

Adventure: V. Williams (Symphony Nos. 1 and 7)
Comedy: Saint-Saens (Carnival of the Animals)
Mystery/Horror: Bartok (Miraculous Mandarin)
Sci-Fi: Holst (The Planets, the inspiration of the Star Wars scores)
Romance: Debussy (Clair de lune, Danses sacrée et profane)
Western: Copland (Rodeo, Appalachian Spring)
Thriller: Stravinsky (Firebird, The Rite of Spring)
Epic: Grieg (Peer Gynt, Sigurd Jorsalfar)
 
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