STORY IN SONG

Exploring the Narrative Possibilities of Music and Film

Name: Emily Brownlee

Introduction

Through gestures, topics, symbols, themes, and cultural associations, music has the ability to tell

a story. While some argue that almost all music has narrative potential whether intended by the

composer or not, certain genres of music are written specifically to be associated with a story. In this

paper, I will explore two such genres: program music and film music.

Program music is a very broadly defined genre of music but for the purposes of this paper I am

defining program music as Western art music written in the 18 th to 20th century that is explicitly based on

a story, or is written to tell a specific story.

Film music is an equally broad category of music. Within this paper I will be referring only to film

scores that are written exclusively for orchestra and may include choir. While this definition does exclude

important genres such as musicals, I believe this distinction will make my points clearer.

I will explore the narrative potential of program music and film music both in and out of their

intended settings, with the intention of demonstrating that music’s ability to tell a story may be both

enhanced and limited by combining it with the visual media of film.

Literature Review

My work involving narrative analysis is informed by the writings of Byron Almen and Michael

Klein. In A Theory of Musical Narrative, Almen describes a holistic method of musical analysis that takes

into account several facets of the music, such as register, harmony, rhythm, melody, contour, and

accompaniment, and uses the information they provide to derive a story from the music. This story may

include elements such as dialogue, relationships between characters, and settings. The only caveat

Almen provides is that music must contain elements of opposition and conflict in order to be considered

“narrative music”, or music with narrative potential. 1

1
Byron Almen, A Theory of Musical Narrative (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2017), 68-92.
2

Michael Klein provides an intriguing and entertaining discussion of narrative in music in his first

chapter in Music and Narrative Since 1900, entitled “Musical Story”. He creates what he calls a “map of

narrative discourse” that outlines four categories for classifying music, from “narrative” to “anti-

narrative” to “neo-narrative” to “non-narrative”.2 The broader scope that Klein takes on this issue

provides a thought-provoking context to my work and has interesting implications for film music.

A couple writers on film music have influenced my thinking on this topic as well. Mark Richards’

article “Film Music Themes: Analysis and Corpus Study” proposes an expansion to Caplin’s method of

phrase analysis that allows for film music themes to be understood in relation to the forms and

structures that we as classical musician are more familiar with. 3

In her contribution to the Oxford Handbook of Cinematic Listening, entitled “Hearing Film Music

Topics Outside the Movie Theater: Listening Cinematically to Pastorals”, Janet Bourne demonstrates how

the film industry has strongly impacted how we listen to and visualize classical music, which has

fascinating implications for my work on narrative in program and film music.

Methodology

In my work, I will be performing narrative analyses on both program music and film music to

explain how they have varying degrees of narrative potential both in and out of their intended settings.

To organize my thinking on this topic, I have created the following diagram, inspired by the

aforementioned “map of narrative discourse” in Michael Klein’s book chapter “Musical Story”. 4

2
Michael Klein, “Musical Story”, in Music and Narrative Since 1900, ed. Michael Klein and Nicholas Reyland
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013), 5-9.
3
Mark Richards, “Film Music Themes: Analysis and Corpus Study”, Music Theory Online 22, no. 1 (2016): 1-13.
4
Michael Klein, “Musical Story”, in Music and Narrative Since 1900, ed. Michael Klein and Nicholas Reyland
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013), 5-9.
3

In the top left corner we have program music in its intended setting of the concert hall. Here it is

free to tell its story purely through the medium of sound and has the potential to be interpreted slightly

differently by different listeners.

Below this we have film music in its intended setting, accompanying the film it was written for.

Themes in the music are clearly associated with the characters and settings appearing on the screen, and

gestures that might be ambiguous in the concert hall are given context and explicit interpretation

through the accompanying visual events in the film.

On the other side of the map we have taken these two genres out of their intended settings. In

the top right corner we have film music that is stripped of its film and performed or heard only in its

auditory form. This provides listeners with the opportunity to find new meaning in the music and

interpret it in a different way than what was intended.

For this category, I must provide a caveat: in order to discover alternative narrative

interpretations in film music, it must be relatively unfamiliar to the listener. It is an undeniable fact,

backed by evidence in the aforementioned article by Janet Bourne, that when we watch a movie we

make a strong mental association between the soundtrack and the events/characters/images in the

movie. Once this association is formed, anytime we hear the same soundtrack we will automatically see

the same characters, events, and images from the film and it will be extremely difficult, perhaps

impossible, to interpret the music in any other way. Therefore my argument only works if we consider

film music for which the listener has not made any previous strong visual association with a film. This will

be explained and demonstrated in greater depth later in the paper.

Finally, in the bottom right corner we have program music that has been appropriated for use in

film. An example of this would be use of Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A

Space Odyssey.

The use of pre-existing program music in a film has very interesting implications for the

interpretation of that music. For example, since film is the predominant form of narrative that we

consume as a society, the everyday listener is more likely to associate the music they hear in a film with

the film, regardless of whether it was originally written for a different purpose. An obvious example of

this is the ubiquitous cultural association of Rossini’s William Tell Overture with the Lone Ranger

franchise.

Outside of reforming cultural associations, appropriating pre-existing music for film also imposes

a narrative on the music that may or may not have been intended by the original composer. This

simultaneously makes it easier to follow the music while limiting the possibilities for interpretation.

In my work, I do not intend to simply state and describe four categories of music as I have just

done here. My diagram as it exists now is rather simplistic and does not effectively explain the varying

degrees of narrative

potential that program

music and film music can

attain. Therefore I

propose the following

update to the diagram,

which hopefully makes my intentions clearer.

Now the diagram clearly outlines a spectrum of narrative and interpretive possibilities rather

than simply describing how two genres of music can alternate between two different settings. Each

corner represents an extreme of narrative/interpretive possibility, while the arrows indicate that music

can be categorized at any point between these extremes.

For the remainder of my paper, I will provide an example of music that fits into each of these

four extremes, leaving the reader to imagine how other pieces of music might be categorized within the

full spectrum of narrative possibility.

Examples

Program Music in the Concert Hall

As an example that falls into the first category of “lesser narrative clarity”, which I feel is best

expressed as program music performed in the concert hall, I will discuss Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie

Fantastique.

The story behind this intriguing piece of music is one of an unrequited yet unreciprocated love.

The main character, representing Berlioz himself, falls in love with someone who does not return his

affections and is driven mad by it, to the point of overdosing on opium and having crazed visions/dreams

because of it.
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Throughout the piece we hear this evolving motive known as the idée fixe that is meant to

symbolize the main character’s love interest. Here is an example of this motive in the sweet and pastoral

first movement, played by the flutes and violins in unison:

By the fourth movement of the symphony, the main character is having visions where he has

murdered the woman he fell in love with and is executed by the guillotine for his crime. In the fifth

movement he sees himself in hell during a witches’ sabbath and is presented with a final, distorted

image of his beloved. The soaring romantic theme we heard in the first movement is presented here

again but now has been assigned to the Eb clarinet and metrically altered to a 6/8 time signature rather

than cut time. In addition, grace notes and trills have been added in many places which adds to the

unhinged, creepy nature of this theme.

5
Hector Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique, ed. Charles Malherbe and Felix Weingartner (Leipzig, Germany: Breitkopf
& Härtel, 1900), accessed April 10 2023, https://s9.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/6/60/IMSLP38328-PMLP03653-
Berlioz-SymFantastique.Flute.pdf , 2, 11 after [5] to 2 before [6].
6
Hector Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique, ed. Charles Malherbe and Felix Weingartner (Leipzig, Germany: Breitkopf
& Härtel, 1900), accessed April 10 2023, https://s9.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/9/96/IMSLP38330-PMLP03653-
Berlioz-SymFantastique.Clarinet.pdf , 10, [63] to 4 after [64].
7

While the overarching story of Symphonie Fantastique is not really up for debate, certain aspects

of the work, like the evolution of the idée fixe, can be interpreted differently by different listeners. One

might hear the transformation of this motive as a physical change in the main character’s love interest,

or might interpret it as the shifting perspective of the main character himself as he descends into

madness, or it could represent the same character simply existing in different settings. However, if this

piece were the soundtrack for a movie, the actors, directors, camera people, writers, and editors would

make those interpretive decisions for us, imposing a specific version of this narrative on the music.

Film Music with its Film

My second category boasts the “highest narrative clarity” and is exemplified by film music

performed alongside its film. This category is arguably the simplest to understand. For the sake of my

limited space I will not go into too much detail, but I propose a thought experiment. Imagine an iconic

soundtrack, such as John Williams’ music for Star Wars.

The majority of readers will be able to instantly hear one or more of the main themes from this

soundtrack and see images of the characters and situations they accompany. For example, we hear

fragments of the dark, foreboding Imperial March nearly any time Darth Vader appears or is about to

appear on screen. This provides so much narrative clarity to the situation that it is almost comical. We

know from hearing this theme in previous scenes with Darth Vader that it is associated with his presence

and the evil feats of the Empire. When we hear the menacing brass perform this aggressive, minor-mode
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march we instantly feel the magnitude of the threat at hand to our heroes and we understand the

balance of power and the direction of the narrative at that point in the story.

Film music, like program music, is written to fit a narrative. However, when presented in

conjunction with their film, film soundtracks inarguably possess more narrative clarity than program

music. This is due, at least in part, to the regular visual association with characters and events in the film,

engaging our sense of sight as well as our sense of hearing. Our imagination, which is let loose when we

listen to program music, is guided along a particular narrative path in this scenario, providing a more

narrow but far less ambiguous interpretation of the music.

Film Music Outside its Film

The third category in my diagram, labelled as having the “least narrative clarity” and exemplified

by unfamiliar film music performed outside of its film, is the point where my argument may be the most

strongly disputed. Therefore I will try to explain my reasoning as clearly as possible. I recently attended a

concert of music from various spy films, many of which I was unfamiliar with. The music from these films

was quite perplexing to me as I had no point of reference from which to make visual or narrative

associations. I could easily listen to this music and form my own narrative from gestural or topical

elements that I perceive, and this narrative may or may not line up at all with the film the music was

intended to accompany.

While film composers are most often trained in the same way as classical composers and employ

the same basic rules of tonality/atonality and form, they are writing music as an accompaniment to

visual events rather than music that is intended to itself be the main event. As such, the music written

for the film will often depend on the film to make sense of it.

Explaining this portion of my diagram is easier to do with an auditory example rather than a

score example. I have chosen an example from a movie that is likely unfamiliar to most: the 1999 action
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movie The Mummy. Here is a YouTube link to a piece from the soundtrack entitled “Camel Race”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzcFDc7rS-8

Some elements that we can easily discern from this excerpt are the upbeat rhythm and racing

strings we hear near the beginning. This indicates some sort of excitement or motion, possibly a race or

a fight or even just a busy public area such as a marketplace. We might also hear elements of Exoticism

in the instrumentation and modal melodies of this excerpt, indicating that the setting of our story is a

non-Western or non-European location.

The latter half of the excerpt opens up into a soaring string melody, still underpinned by this

racing ostinato of sixteenths. The melodic contour of this string motive generally rises rather than falling

and only increases in height and intensity as it continues. While the melody itself utilizes expressive

modal chromaticism, the underlying harmony is triumphantly major. This portion of the music is

definitely depicting a positive emotion or event, potentially a victory or a romance.

As you can see, even a small excerpt of this film music without its film for context lends itself to a

variety of different narrative interpretations. The narrative conclusions we draw from listening to this

excerpt of music may be true to the original intention of the music, but it would be easy to dive deeper

into analysis and come up with a story that is entirely different from the movie plot. Listening to just the

soundtrack without knowing the context of the movie opens up the music for further interpretation

instead of limiting it to what appears on the screen.

Program Music Appropriated for Film

The final example I will discuss fits into my fourth category, where program music that has been

appropriate for film provides “more narrative clarity”. This example comes from Disney’s 1940 movie
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Fantasia. Fantasia is an anthology of short, silent animations that were created to accompany prominent

pieces of classical music. One such piece is The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky.

The Rite of Spring was originally written to accompany a ballet that tells the story of an ancient

pagan ritual and the sacrifice of a young girl. What Disney does in Fantasia is take a slightly shortened

version of the piece and play it underneath a dramatic animation depicting the life and eventual

extinction of the dinosaurs.

Even though the subject of the animation is very different from that of the ballet, the animators

still create a narrative of the cycle of birth/renewal, life, and death. It begins by depicting the emergence

of life on earth through microorganisms that eventually evolve into dinosaurs, then shows the life and

interactions of the dinosaurs, leading up to a terrifying battle between a tyrannosaurus rex and a

stegosaurus! Following that it shows the extinction of the dinosaurs through a terrible drought and ends

with the Earth reforming itself with dramatic earthquakes and storms, ending in the same place we

started.

At numerous points in the animation, events line up perfectly with rhythmic shots or high points

in the music. Near the beginning, muted flashes of lightning match the violins’ pizzicato sixteenth notes

after rehearsal number 12:

7
Igor Stravinsky, Rite of Spring (Moscow, Russia: Muzyka, 1965), accessed April 10 2023,
https://s9.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/7/78/IMSLP541998-PMLP179425-PMLUS00899-2651-PMLP179425-
riteofspring.pdf , 11, 4 after [12] to 5 after [12]
11

This highlights the motive and helps guide our ears into the aggressive pounding rhythm of the

next movement, The Augurs of Spring, which is now accompanied by images of erupting volcanoes. Here

again, the animation helps us make sense of the music. Eruptions from the volcanoes line up exactly with

the accented eighth notes, and we know we have undeniably reached the climax of this section at 2 bars

before rehearsal number 22 when the entire screen is filled with an enormous explosion of fire and

rubble.

8,9

Despite the fact that The Rite of Spring was not

written specifically for this animation about the evolution of the dinosaurs, a similar effect to my second

category (film music alongside its film) is produced. As demonstrated, the precise matching of events in

the film, such as volcanic eruptions, to certain motives and accented passages in the music highlights

those passages and guides our ears to hear the music in a specific way. In a complicated, layered piece

such as The Rite of Spring, this absolutely provides more clarity to the listener as it is essentially telling

you which instrument or which theme is meant to be prominent at any given time. However, while this
8
Igor Stravinsky, Rite of Spring (Moscow, Russia: Muzyka, 1965), accessed April 10 2023,
https://s9.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/7/78/IMSLP541998-PMLP179425-PMLUS00899-2651-PMLP179425-
riteofspring.pdf , 17, 2 after [21].
9
Fantasia, directed by Joe Grant and Dick Huemer (1940, New York, NY: Walt Disney Productions, 1940), accessed
through DisneyPlus.
12

aural clarity is beneficial, the animation does impose a narrative on the music rather than allowing for

the listener to interpret it for themselves.

Conclusion

The ability of music to tell a story has long confused, intrigued, excited, and frustrated

theoreticians and philosophers. While there is still no clear consensus on precisely how or even if music

can truly express a story, I believe that given the prevalence of film in the 21 st century it is important to

consider film music as part of this debate and study the role of visual stimuli in how we interpret and

analyze music. Program music provides an interesting counterweight to film music in this scenario but

other genres would be fascinating to consider in future research. Thank you for reading.

Bibliography

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Germany: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1900. Accessed April 10 2023.
13

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