How Musical Accompaniment Tells a Story
Music can affect one’s emotions. Not only the music itself but especially when combined with images or illustrations. When moving pictures were first created they were thought remarkable due to the technology involved. They were not really popular until movie theatres brought in organs or pianos to be played simultaneously while the images were being shown. The musician was responsible to play music to engage the emotions of the audience in the action being presented. Through the emotions experienced the story was told.
In Classical Music there are several examples of music telling a story. I will introduce two different compositions to you in this post. Franz Schubert, (1797 – 1828) an Austrian composer during the last Classical and early Romantic periods, was best know for his lieder or art songs and chamber music. In 1815 he wrote “The Erlking” – a song for a baritone soloist and piano based on a poem by Goethe. His piano accompaniment replicates the pounding of horses hooves and the soloist portrays four different characters: the narrator, a father, his son and the Erlking or Death. The voice and accompaniment combine to create an uneasy feeling that increases until Death triumphs.
Charles Gounod wrote originally wrote “The Funeral March of the Marionette” in 1872 as a solo composition for piano before transcribing it for orchestra in 1879. A television show during the 1950’s entitled, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, used it as a theme song. The storyline of this composition has the marionette dying in a duel, a funeral procession passing by and mourners taking refreshments before returning to the procession.
The French composer Camille Saint Saens wrote a tone poem entitled “Danse Macabre Opus 40” in 1874. He was inspired by visiting the ossuary underneath the city of Paris to write a composition about the Dance of Death. The ossuary contains the bones of thousands of individuals and are artistically arranged throughout the tunnel that run underneath the city. Saint Saens could imagine the bones parading around in the dark tunnels. Watch the listening guide as it tells the story of the Dance of Death.
I also thought of how musical accompaniment can also affect picture books. This short video of the story of “Creepy Carrots” written by Aaron Reynolds, uses music to build tension and cause anxiety for its viewers. It is not too scary and has a humorous ending that is once again enhanced by not only the narration but the musical accompaniment.
The sequel to “Creepy Carrots” – “Creepy Pain of Underwear” uses more subtle forms of musical accompaniment. You have to listen carefully to be able to hear the persistent chromatic notes in the upper register that build in volume when joined by lower sustained notes to underline the tension of the story.
All of these examples show how much musical accompaniment can affect the telling of a story. As these videos imply music is especially effective when trying to promote fear or anxiety. But better time of year to explore this topic but close to Halloween. Feel free to explore other scary classical compositions as available online.