Towards “Film Opera”. Kurt Weil’s Musical Experiments In Fritz Lang’s “You and Me”

Towards “Film Opera”. Kurt Weil’s Musical Experiments In Fritz Lang’s “You and Me”Fritz Lang’s film You and Me was billed as a “musical revolution”. But it never became one. Anno Mungen describes Kurt Weill’s struggles to reshape the film as a genre. Both in his theoretical reflections and his (not successful) practical attempts as a film composer, Weill was preoccupied with the idea of music as a crucial element of the film/theatre dramaturgy. This idea – as Mungen tried to show,  analyzing three examples taken from Lang’s film – could direct the artist straight towards the category of film-opera. Fritz Lang’s film You and Me was billed as a “musical revolution”. But it never became one. Anno Mungen describes Kurt Weill’s struggles to reshape the film as a genre. Both in his theoretical reflections and his (not successful) practical attempts as a film composer, Weill was preoccupied with the idea of music as a crucial element of the film/theatre dramaturgy. This idea – as Mungen tried to show,  analyzing three examples taken from Lang’s film – could direct the artist straight towards the category of film-opera

Filmy dla muzyki. Egar Varèse i Bill Viola

Anno Mungen focuses on “films made for music” and on the rare phenomenon of ‘music depicted by picture’ (S. Kracauer). The narration about historical metamorphoses of varied forms of coexistence between music and picture is accompanied by a reflection on the laws of audiovisual perception. The main examples are discussed, these concentrating on the artistic ideas of Walt Disney’s animated film Fantasia and – first of all – on Edgard Varèse’s bold ideal of spatial music, attained post mortem in Bill Viola’s Déserts (1994). After a detailed analysis of Viola’s film the author admits that the movie pictures deduced from music are able to render the latter its own substantial visual power

W drodze do "opery filmowej". Muzyczne eksperymenty Kurta Weilla w "You and Me" Fritza Langa

Fritz Lang’s film You and Me was billed as a “musical revolution”. But it never became one. Anno Mungen describes Kurt Weill’s struggles to reshape the film as a genre. Both in his theoretical reflections and his (not successful) practical attempts as a film composer, Weill was preoccupied with the idea of music as a crucial element of the film/theatre dramaturgy. This idea – as Mungen tried to show, analyzing three examples taken from Lang’s film – could direct the artist straight towards the category of film-opera

Films for Music. Edgard Varèse and Bill Viola

Films for Music. Edgard Varèse and Bill ViolaAnno Mungen focuses on “films made for music” and on the rare phenomenon of ‘music depicted by picture’ (S. Kracauer). The narration about historical metamorphoses of varied forms of coexistence between music and picture is accompanied by a reflection on the laws of audiovisual perception. The main examples are discussed, these concentrating on the artistic ideas of Walt Disney’s animated film Fantasia and – first of all – on Edgard Varèse’s bold ideal of spatial music, attained post mortem in Bill Viola’s Déserts (1994). After a detailed analysis of Viola’s film the author admits that the movie pictures deduced from music are able to render the latter its own substantial visual power.Anno Mungen focuses on “films made for music” and on the rare phenomenon of ‘music depicted by picture’ (S. Kracauer). The narration about historical metamorphoses of varied forms of coexistence between music and picture is accompanied by a reflection on the laws of audiovisual perception. The main examples are discussed, these concentrating on the artistic ideas of Walt Disney’s animated film Fantasia and – first of all – on Edgard Varèse’s bold ideal of spatial music, attained post mortem in Bill Viola’s Déserts (1994). After a detailed analysis of Viola’s film the author admits that the movie pictures deduced from music are able to render the latter its own substantial visual power