Film Music Is Bad Bruckner

Film music has its roots in European symphonic composers. Anton Bruckner was, to my mind, one of the worst composers who ever lived. Yet he is revered by some as a late romantic master. Bombastic and vastly grandiose, his works are a tempest in a teapot, all signifying nothing.

If you are forced to listen to a Bruckner symphony you'll be subjected to the trumpets going "Ta Da Da Da Da Da" every ten seconds.

It's as if the cavalry had finally come to save John Wayne. It all sounds like music, surely. But it never adds up to anything worthy of the name "masterpiece." Thus Bruckner was insecure, to say the least. Musicians constantly joke about his revisions to his symphonies.

Bruckner Caved Under Criticism

When friends made criticisms of his work, however gentle, he would brood and sulk. Then he would make the change that the friend wanted. You think the trumpets should play that tune more often? You think the last part is too long?

Okay, I changed it. Given the fact that Bruckner's music was so bad in the first place, it is only possible to make it worse with changes offered by anyone.

Like A Cheap Boris Karloff Film

Thus Bruckner's work takes on a Frankenstein-like, stitched together motley quilt quality with lurching, endless transitions. What bothers me about film music is the same thing that bothers me about Bruckner's music. There may be a single composer, but everyone weighs in on what the music to the film or show should be, from the producer, director, star and editor.

The Effect Of Music By Committee

This dilution of creative force makes the music into less than what it could be. This quasi-music is sort of like Velveeta, which is and isn't cheese. And this is true of pop music, where you can hear the composer trying to make something that sounds "commercial," killing any originality they had in the first place.

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Music History

What Killed the Golden Age of the Piano

Carl Tausig Cooks His Cat

I Meet Aaron Copland

George Sand Killed Chopin

Why Brahms Must Have Been Fat

Artur Rubinstein Was A Vampire

Igor Stravinsky Loses His Cool

Vladimir Horowitz Goes To The Racetrack

Beethoven Was No Beauty

The World’s Largest Blue Danube Waltz

Was Mozart Murdered?

Beethoven’s Rage Over A Lost Penny

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Hector Berlioz and the Orchestral Train Wreck

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