Music and the Media, with particular attention to the film

Dvadeseto stoljeće, u skladu s velikim kulturnim i socijalnim promjenama, svjedoči širenju novih oblika predstava, namijenjenih bijegu i zabavi, novih glazbenih oblika. Mijenja se, modificira čak i likovna umjetnost. U odnosu na širenje masovnih medija, multipliciraju se mjesta i prigode glazbene potrošnje te glazbenici preuzimaju nove kompetencije, a sve u ime kulture. No, ako kultura pretpostavlja informaciju i sredstva javnog priopćavanja, znači da je informacija, u odnosu prema društvenom čovjeku, uvjet opstanka. Stoga je borba za opstanak, u doba masovnih medija, borba za medije mase. U tom je smislu dovoljno pratiti odnos između GLAZBE I FILMA koji postoji s obzirom na povijesni razvoj: od zvuka nijemoga filma do glazbe zvučnoga filma. Može se, ipak, reći da su odnosi između glazbe i filma, možda zbog same prirode njihovoga izražavanja, izričito progresivne i ritmičke, uvijek bili vrlo bliski. Glazbeni motiv, sa svim svojim mogućim nijansama, može izraziti događaje, osjećaje i unutarnje misli; tišine popraćene glazbom otkrivaju raspoloženja lika puno dublje nego sat dijaloga ili sat bez glasa. Nasuprot tome, slike filma uzrokuju osjećaje koji se mogu u potpunosti izraziti samo kroz glazbu koja ponekad postaje sastavnim dijelom radnje filma. Izlaganje završavam jednim svojim hommageom nedavno preminulom Kenu Russellu, jednom od najoriginalnijih režisera, najfinijem \u27maestru\u27 u umijeću skandaliziranja tupoglavih, onom koji je doveo klasičnu glazbu do potpuno nove i šire publike: velikom ikonoklastu sposobnom preobraziti mramorna poprsja u meso i krv.This report has originated from the need to synthesize, without any claims, the big love between these two forms of art, music and the cinema, which together conceive a unique sublime art. The 20th century, attuned with the great cultural and social changes, witnesses the spreading of new forms of show, aimed to escape and entertainment, as well as new forms of music, while figurative art is changing, too. With reference to the spread of the media, the places and occasions of musical consumption are multiplied while musicians are acquiring new professional abilities. All this in the name of culture. But if we assume that culture is information and the media, then, for the social being, information becomes the very condition of survival. Thus, in this age dominated by the media, the struggle for survival is the struggle for mass information. On this point, it is sufficient to follow the relationship between MUSIC and the CINEMA in their historical evolution: from the soundtrack of silent films, to the music of talking films. However, it must be said that the relationship between music and the cinema, maybe because of the very nature of both, the languages, intrinsically progressive and rhythmic, have always been very close. A musical pattern, with all its possible nuances, can express events, feelings and intimate thoughts; silences accompanied by music reveal a character\u27s state of mind much deeper than an hour of dialogues or voice off can do. On the other hand, the images of the film generate sensations that can express themselves completely only through music, which sometimes becomes an integral part of the plot of the film. The present report ends with my personal homage to recently died Ken Russell, one of the most original film directors, first rate «master» in the art of shocking dull minds, the artist who brought classical music to a completely new and large public: a big iconoclast able to transform marble busts into flesh and blood