Soundtracking the past: Early music and its representations in selected history films.

Feature films depicting historical events from the Classical period, Middle Ages and the Renaissance of Europe use many musical styles and works, including early music, to help viewers understand and interpret what they are seeing. Some of the same history films are also regularly cited in general film studies as outstanding examples of filmmaking and scoring. Yet few, if any, studies in film music seek to explain the role of music in this genre of film. This dissertation is a discussion of the use of early music in the depiction of history on film. Authentic early pieces and cues imitating early styles are identified and described in case studies of scores for selected history films. These analyses discuss ways in which this music is used to convey story information, establish timeframes, create mood and illustrate emotional states. The first chapter describes general scoring practices from the silent era to the coming of sound based on information found in indexes, cue sheets, and music collections from the period, together with articles from the trade magazine Moving Picture World. Chapter two includes a discussion of The Private Life of Henry VIII and The Seahawk and also offers theoretical background in support of the various approaches used in the case studies following; chapter three concentrates on films based on novels (Quo vadis?, The Agony and the Ecstasy); chapters four and five discuss films based on plays (Becket, A Man For All Seasons), and chapters six and seven focus upon the scores of two films frequently cited for excellence in scoring and filmmaking technique (Alexander Nevsky, Olivier's Henry V). Notated examples are taken from transcriptions, pre-existent works already in publication and used in film scores, and published excerpts of the scores themselves. Historical background (including interviews with composers) and theoretical support have been drawn from studies in a variety of academic disciplines.PhDCommunication and the ArtsFilm studiesMedieval historyMusicSocial SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/129664/2/9600819.pd