At the end of an email exchange I had with Linda Aronson, author of The 21st Century Screenplay, Linda asked, "BTW, since you're a musician, have you ever noticed that three act structure resembles classical sonata form?"
In fact, I had. Linda was referring to the musical form most often used in the symphonic first movements of composers like Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms. It's in three distinct sequences, which could be related to Acts. More than that, though, Classical Sonata Form describes the sort of rising conflict we expect in drama. It can be shown diagrametically, like this:
The conflict is expressed not really in themes (which I
suppose could be likened to characters), but in the 'play of tonality',
the movement of keys away from and around the tonic, or home key.
Let me see if I can explain: The form's First Act, or 'Exposition' in musical terminology, sees what Linda would call 'the disturbance', the first sign of conflict as the music modulates for the first time. If you started in C, say, you would normally end up in G. In really intense music, like Beethoven's 'Eroica', this disturbance occurs, or is at least foreshadowed, before the end of the first phrase. A composer like Haydn might use one theme to express this disturbance; others might mark the change of key with a new theme. (Would it be stretching things to think of this secondary theme as an antagonist? Perhaps, since further disturbances can be carried by any other sub-theme, even the principal theme itself; but you get my point?)
Once this principal disturbance is introduced and cannot be dislodged (and the principal themes have been sounded), the Exposition comes to an end and we are into the Development section, the musical equivalent of the 'barriers, reversals and complications' Linda describes the protagonist of a drama facing, until they reach a point of maximum danger to their goal and decide to fight back. In music, the Development is turbulent, the themes are tossed around through changing keys getting further and further from the tonic and heightening the listener's anxiety for 'home'. In a symphony in C, the furthest 'out' would be the key of F-sharp. In a symphony in G, D-sharp the most alien. (Classical composers rarely went this far out of bounds, but Beethoven's E minor in the middle of the Eroica's first movement is a long way from home.)
Finally, at a moment that often sounds like 'seizing the sword' (screeenwriting students will be familiar with the term), the music returns to the principal theme in the tonic key (home base). Thus begins the Recapitulation, our Third Act wrap-up. The themes first sounded in the Exposition will now be re-stated, but all in the tonic key. Unlike drama perhaps, this 'return' compounds the sense of home by the repeat of the secondary subject matter in the home key but there are composers, like Schubert, who leave this sense of return till quite late by approaching the Recapitulation under the tonic and only getting home close to the end. (Beethoven extended Classical Sonata Form, in music like the Eroica, by suddenly launching into another Development just at this point where the listener thought s/he was safely back. It's no wonder he often had to ground his first movements at the end with such forceful, if not brutal, strokes.)
But why mention any of this? Is it any more than a parlour game? Yes, I think it is. If there is any criticism I would make of Hollywood (and I haven't many) it's that screenwriting technique has become too prescriptive. I totally agree we're hard-wired to appreciate Three-Act Structures (or Five Acts, if you want to elongate the drama's wave). But must we always reach the end of Act I at page 30 or make Act II last 60 pages...? If not, Classical Sonata Form could stand as a model of the fluidity that's possible. Haydn and Mozart sometimes wrote quite short Developments with no lessening of tension; Beethoven could launch another Development just when the listener thought s/he'd gotten to the end. Shostakovich and Prokofiev in the 20th Century rethought Sonata Form. Stravinsky wrote 'symphonies' where, in Robert Craft's analogy, Mozart's squares and rectangles became trapezoids and rhomboids.
This, then, is a lesson that I reckon Hollywood might learn from classical music. But before anyone at the philharmonic breaks out the champagne, I honestly think classical music in its present state has more to learn from Hollywood. And that will be the subject of a future piece of writing.
Thinking of readily-available examples, the first movements of Beethoven's 3rd and 5th symphonies would fit. The first movement of his Eighth is a nice, nuggety example.
For more of my blogs on classical music, you might like to visit:
Sousa and the Sioux, 19 August 2011
@ http://gordonkaltonwilliams.blogspot.com/2011/08/sousa-and-sioux-i-am-reminded.html
Doors slamming shut - where to for American opera, published 23 Oct 2012
@ http://gordonkaltonwilliams.blogspot.com/2012/10/doors-slamming-shut-where-to-for.html
Noblesse oblige - arts philanthropy in the US, published 26 October 2012
@ http://gordonkaltonwilliams.blogspot.com/2012/10/noblesse-oblige-arts-philanthropy-in-us.html
Walking with Stars, published 10 Apr 2012
@ http://gordonkaltonwilliams.blogspot.com/2012/04/walking-with.html
A Culture in Exile - European classical musicians in Hollywood in the 1930s and 40s, 25 Apr 2013
@ http://gordonkaltonwilliams.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-culture-in-exile.html
'Traditional terms?' - an interview with John Adams, published 5 Sep 2013
@ http://gordonkaltonwilliams.blogspot.com/2013/09/traditional-terms-interview-with-john.html
Experimental city - Los Angeles' operatic dimensions, published 22 Sep 2013
@ http://gordonkaltonwilliams.blogspot.com/2013/09/experimental-city-los-angeles.html
On my website, you could also click on "USA blog" to scroll down the full range.
In fact, I had. Linda was referring to the musical form most often used in the symphonic first movements of composers like Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms. It's in three distinct sequences, which could be related to Acts. More than that, though, Classical Sonata Form describes the sort of rising conflict we expect in drama. It can be shown diagrametically, like this:
 |
| "Early examples of sonata form resemble two-reprise continuous ternary form." Posted on Wikipedia by Hyacinth |
Let me see if I can explain: The form's First Act, or 'Exposition' in musical terminology, sees what Linda would call 'the disturbance', the first sign of conflict as the music modulates for the first time. If you started in C, say, you would normally end up in G. In really intense music, like Beethoven's 'Eroica', this disturbance occurs, or is at least foreshadowed, before the end of the first phrase. A composer like Haydn might use one theme to express this disturbance; others might mark the change of key with a new theme. (Would it be stretching things to think of this secondary theme as an antagonist? Perhaps, since further disturbances can be carried by any other sub-theme, even the principal theme itself; but you get my point?)
Once this principal disturbance is introduced and cannot be dislodged (and the principal themes have been sounded), the Exposition comes to an end and we are into the Development section, the musical equivalent of the 'barriers, reversals and complications' Linda describes the protagonist of a drama facing, until they reach a point of maximum danger to their goal and decide to fight back. In music, the Development is turbulent, the themes are tossed around through changing keys getting further and further from the tonic and heightening the listener's anxiety for 'home'. In a symphony in C, the furthest 'out' would be the key of F-sharp. In a symphony in G, D-sharp the most alien. (Classical composers rarely went this far out of bounds, but Beethoven's E minor in the middle of the Eroica's first movement is a long way from home.)
Finally, at a moment that often sounds like 'seizing the sword' (screeenwriting students will be familiar with the term), the music returns to the principal theme in the tonic key (home base). Thus begins the Recapitulation, our Third Act wrap-up. The themes first sounded in the Exposition will now be re-stated, but all in the tonic key. Unlike drama perhaps, this 'return' compounds the sense of home by the repeat of the secondary subject matter in the home key but there are composers, like Schubert, who leave this sense of return till quite late by approaching the Recapitulation under the tonic and only getting home close to the end. (Beethoven extended Classical Sonata Form, in music like the Eroica, by suddenly launching into another Development just at this point where the listener thought s/he was safely back. It's no wonder he often had to ground his first movements at the end with such forceful, if not brutal, strokes.)
But why mention any of this? Is it any more than a parlour game? Yes, I think it is. If there is any criticism I would make of Hollywood (and I haven't many) it's that screenwriting technique has become too prescriptive. I totally agree we're hard-wired to appreciate Three-Act Structures (or Five Acts, if you want to elongate the drama's wave). But must we always reach the end of Act I at page 30 or make Act II last 60 pages...? If not, Classical Sonata Form could stand as a model of the fluidity that's possible. Haydn and Mozart sometimes wrote quite short Developments with no lessening of tension; Beethoven could launch another Development just when the listener thought s/he'd gotten to the end. Shostakovich and Prokofiev in the 20th Century rethought Sonata Form. Stravinsky wrote 'symphonies' where, in Robert Craft's analogy, Mozart's squares and rectangles became trapezoids and rhomboids.
This, then, is a lesson that I reckon Hollywood might learn from classical music. But before anyone at the philharmonic breaks out the champagne, I honestly think classical music in its present state has more to learn from Hollywood. And that will be the subject of a future piece of writing.
Thinking of readily-available examples, the first movements of Beethoven's 3rd and 5th symphonies would fit. The first movement of his Eighth is a nice, nuggety example.
For more of my blogs on classical music, you might like to visit:
Sousa and the Sioux, 19 August 2011
@ http://gordonkaltonwilliams.blogspot.com/2011/08/sousa-and-sioux-i-am-reminded.html
Doors slamming shut - where to for American opera, published 23 Oct 2012
@ http://gordonkaltonwilliams.blogspot.com/2012/10/doors-slamming-shut-where-to-for.html
Noblesse oblige - arts philanthropy in the US, published 26 October 2012
@ http://gordonkaltonwilliams.blogspot.com/2012/10/noblesse-oblige-arts-philanthropy-in-us.html
Walking with Stars, published 10 Apr 2012
@ http://gordonkaltonwilliams.blogspot.com/2012/04/walking-with.html
A Culture in Exile - European classical musicians in Hollywood in the 1930s and 40s, 25 Apr 2013
@ http://gordonkaltonwilliams.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-culture-in-exile.html
'Traditional terms?' - an interview with John Adams, published 5 Sep 2013
@ http://gordonkaltonwilliams.blogspot.com/2013/09/traditional-terms-interview-with-john.html
Experimental city - Los Angeles' operatic dimensions, published 22 Sep 2013
@ http://gordonkaltonwilliams.blogspot.com/2013/09/experimental-city-los-angeles.html
On my website, you could also click on "USA blog" to scroll down the full range.
No comments:
Post a Comment