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Midnight Media Cafe - Confutatis Maledictis
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 10:29 pm.
Tonight's clip is technically not a music vid, but it's about music:
Confutatis Maledictis - from the film Amadeus
A short class on the construction of orchestral music
Amadeus was a revelation for many, many people, of whom I am one. It wasn't just that it was sumptuously made, confidently helmed, wonderfully acted, from a script that (while not always historically accurate) was erudite and witty in an adult way. It also had something that is rare in film, and that is a soundtrack that appears as a full-fledged character in the film, as present as any of the other actors. The film consists of a triangle: there is Mozart, there is Salieri, and between them, there is Mozart's music.
The exquisite pieces are consistently present as part of the story, not just in the background. Whenever Salieri talks about a piece of music, you hear the very phrases he is describing. Since he is so educated in the subject, he is slowly teaching the audience, as the film goes along, exactly why Mozart is regarded as a genius. Films that teach beautifully on any subject are rare, but those that do so on classical music are true gems.
In tonight's clip, you'll see the apex of this technique in the film, the Confutatis Maledictis. Salieri has brought Mozart home, deathly ill, and the sick man asks him for help with the writing of his Requiem Mass. There follows this scene, where the bedridden Mozart dictates a passage of the piece to Salieri, his rival. The rich and complex sequence is built before our eyes, or rather ears, because as Mozart dictates, we can hear the threads they are discussing as they are added one by one. Then comes the grand moment when it all falls into place, and we are shown what they were doing all along.
As you watch, keep in mind that although we can hear each instrument on the soundtrack as it plays its assigned part, they can't. There is no music playing in that room, except that which is in their heads. That's the reason for Salieri's confusion over doubling the voices - for a moment, he can't hear how it's supposed to go together. This scene literally requires the presence of the music as the third character, for none of the interaction would make sense to anyone but a musicologist without it.
This may be the best scene about classical music ever put on film.
( Confutatis Maledictis - Lyrics )
Tonight's clip is technically not a music vid, but it's about music:
Confutatis Maledictis - from the film Amadeus
A short class on the construction of orchestral music
Amadeus was a revelation for many, many people, of whom I am one. It wasn't just that it was sumptuously made, confidently helmed, wonderfully acted, from a script that (while not always historically accurate) was erudite and witty in an adult way. It also had something that is rare in film, and that is a soundtrack that appears as a full-fledged character in the film, as present as any of the other actors. The film consists of a triangle: there is Mozart, there is Salieri, and between them, there is Mozart's music.
The exquisite pieces are consistently present as part of the story, not just in the background. Whenever Salieri talks about a piece of music, you hear the very phrases he is describing. Since he is so educated in the subject, he is slowly teaching the audience, as the film goes along, exactly why Mozart is regarded as a genius. Films that teach beautifully on any subject are rare, but those that do so on classical music are true gems.
In tonight's clip, you'll see the apex of this technique in the film, the Confutatis Maledictis. Salieri has brought Mozart home, deathly ill, and the sick man asks him for help with the writing of his Requiem Mass. There follows this scene, where the bedridden Mozart dictates a passage of the piece to Salieri, his rival. The rich and complex sequence is built before our eyes, or rather ears, because as Mozart dictates, we can hear the threads they are discussing as they are added one by one. Then comes the grand moment when it all falls into place, and we are shown what they were doing all along.
As you watch, keep in mind that although we can hear each instrument on the soundtrack as it plays its assigned part, they can't. There is no music playing in that room, except that which is in their heads. That's the reason for Salieri's confusion over doubling the voices - for a moment, he can't hear how it's supposed to go together. This scene literally requires the presence of the music as the third character, for none of the interaction would make sense to anyone but a musicologist without it.
This may be the best scene about classical music ever put on film.
( Confutatis Maledictis - Lyrics )
