Art Music in Movies and Video Games Part I

In the modern world of classical music there has long been a lament that modern composers cannot get their music played. If you are like me and enjoy going to symphony concerts and operas, you will know that the repertoire of every major orchestra is about one hundred years and older. Every now and then I’ve see small community orchestras play pieces by members of their ranks who are also composers, but composing art music just for live orchestras is all but impossible. To some extent I agree with the lamenters, it is sad that most live concerts are the same music over and over, but I disagree about the idea that modern composers no longer have work, because they do: in video games and movies.

The problem is, many people do not consider video game and movie soundtracks artistic music; and this greatly saddens me. Historically speaking, video game and movie music evolved quite closely from the Romantic Era music of the eighteen and early nineteen hundreds (as well as the slightly later 20th century music). The same chords and theory that the Romantic Era composers used is the same template that modern composers use. Before this, the Classical era of music focused on order, patterns, and structure. That isn’t to say they weren’t trying to express emotion, but the ways they composed it were very different. With the switch to the Romantic Era (think Beethoven) the emphasis changed to direct methods of expressing emotion (extended chords, ending on notes not belonging to the cadence, purposeful dissonance). Unlike the early music, what the Romantics considered sad, happy, dramatic, depressing, etc. in their music, is what every one in the western world today still thinks of. And video game and movie soundtracks are written with the same theory today. Because this is still what is considered dramatic, composing it requires extensive education and training in classical art music. As well, in many movies (and some video games) they directly use Romantic and 20th century music.

I’m sure everyone has heard Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana at some point, even if they don’t attend concerts; it’s a very popular piece for battle scenes. The music was written in the early 20th century, and is considered part of the ‘classical’ repertoire, but it is the perfect example of how the two frequently overlap (as an interesting side note, the music may be modern, but the lyrics are actually medieval goliard songs—wandering drunken scholarly monks—and if you translated it, is actually quite bawdy).

But let me go one step further with an example. Take The Imperial March from Star Wars. Where did Mr. Williams get the idea? According to my musicology professor, directly from Gustav Holst’s Mars from The Planets. In fact, before the score itself had been finished, ‘Mars’ is what they used in the background while they were editing.

That’s a long enough rant for now and I’ve only touched on specific movie soundtracks. Part II I’ll be looking more at video game music.