Invisible Art of Film Music: A Comprehensive History

By Laurence E. MacDonald

Book Overview

A comprehensive introduction to film music for the general student, the film historian, and the aspiring cinematographer. It is a historically structured account of the evolution of music in films. The book is arranged as a chronological survey and includes biographical sketches on many important film composers in addition to the development of the films themselves.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 188015756X
• ISBN13: 9781880157565
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Scarecrow Press
• Length: 431 Pages
• Weight: 1.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 7.5" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

What an attractive book!

THE INVISIBLE ART OF FILM MUSIC may be the easiest to enjoy of all books on the subject. It's an inviting chronological survey of scores and trends. Year by year summaries are combined to form eight chapters, each one opening with an overview and covering a single decade: Chapter One is the 1920s, Chapter Two the 30s and so on through Chapter Eight which is 1990-97. So, pick a decade or go straight to a specific year. For example, this is what MacDonald has for these five years: 1938 - a mention of Dmitri Shostakovich, a feature on Prokofiev's ALEXANDER NEVSKY, then Steiner's JEZEBEL, Korngold's THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, Honegger's PYGMALION and Kosma's GRAND ILLUSION. 1945 - a long feature on Miklos Rozsa and the theremin which covers SPELLBOUND and THE LOST WEEKEND, then Herrmann's HANGOVER SQUARE, Stothart and Castelnuovo-Tedesco's THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, Chopin as arranged by Rozsa for A SONG TO REMEMBER and Gershwin as arranged by Steiner and Heindorf for RHAPSODY IN BLUE. 1960 - a long feature on Elmer Bernstein's THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, then "Historical Epics" (Tiomkin's THE ALAMO and North's SPARTACUS), Previn's ELMER GANTRY, Gold's EXODUS, Deutsch's THE APARTMENT, Herrmann's PSYCHO and Hadjidakis's NEVER ON SUNDAY. 1975 - a feature on David Shire for FAREWELL MY LOVELY and THE HINDENBURG, then Williams's JAWS, Nitzsche's ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, Goldsmith's THE WIND AND THE LION, North's BITE THE BULLET and Rosenman's BARRY LYNDON. 1992 - a feature on Jerry Goldsmith for BASIC INSTINCT, MEDICINE MAN and FOREVER YOUNG, followed by Jones and Edelman's LAST OF THE MOHICANS and short mentions of Menken's ALADDIN, Isham's A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT, Robbins's HOWARDS END, Zimmer's THE POWER OF ONE and "Women in Film Music" (Rachel Portman's USED PEOPLE, Anne Dudley's THE CRYING GAME and Shirley Walker's MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN). Mr. MacDonald has closed the book with a 13-page, 570-film "Filmography" of the titles mentioned in the book. Under each title, we get the film's year, director, composer and studio. Also, info on recordings of the score and video for the film.

great reference guide on film music

For one who collects, listens and enjoys film music, this tome is the best available in the market. It is a wonderfully comprehensive reference guide to the best film scores from the early twenties up to almost the nineties. Eminent composers are given adequate biographies. The salient highlights of the scores are reviewed by decade. The golden age of hollywood is represented by Korngold, Steiner, Tiomkin, Newman, Waxman. One can actually feel the development of film music techniques from the silents to the talkies and the sophistication of today`s electronic scores. The rise, decline and revival of this art form is well documented and one can compare different periods in terms of orchestration, styles, audience tastes and composer standards. The composer, arranger, conductor, songwriter were sometimes one person for example, Alfred Newman. The death of the studio system also spelt the end of the road for studio orchestras which employed hundreds of emigrants from Europe. Also, the predominance of Jewish composers and musicians is keenly felt even today. A good investment for any film music lover, it will pay dividends many times over. High readable and highly recommended.