Composing for the Screen in Germany and the USSR

Cultural Politics and Propaganda

Robynn J. Stilwell, Phil Powrie, Robynn J. Stilwell, Phil Powrie

• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN: 9780253349767
• eBook ISBN: 9780253028679
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Film & Video

Despite the long history of music in film, its serious academic study is still a relatively recent development and therefore comprises a limited body of work. The contributors to this book, drawn from both film studies and musicology, attempt to rectify this oversight by investigating film music from the vibrant, productive, politically charged period before World War II. They apply a variety of methodologies—including archival work, close readings, political histories, and style comparison—to this under explored field.

PART

GERMANY

ONE

ONE

FILM MUSIC IN THE THIRD REICH

ROBERT E. PECK

Writing in 1995, Pamela Potter remarked on the paucity of writing on music in the Third Reich, especially as compared with that on the other arts of the period.¹ Such a comparison is especially striking in relation to work on Third Reich cinema, often referred to as “Nazi film.” Much of the musical scholarship is concerned with the more celebrated and controversial personalities of the period—such as Furtwängler, von Karajan, Schoenberg, Pfitzner, Hindemith, Richard Strauss, and others—and their relations with the political authorities. In Germany it has long been the practice to make a clear distinction between “serious” music, i.e., orchestral, choral, and operatic music, as represented by such composers—designated E-Musik (for ernst)—and popular and commercial music—U-Musik (for Unterhaltung, entertainment). Music historians dealing with this period have looked predominantly at the serious side, but considerable work has also been done on popular music. Within this body of literature the subject of film music is rarely mentioned. Similarly, in the scholarly literature concerned with film, rarely is there any reference to the music. Interest is normally focused on narrative concerns or the propaganda aspect, or on particular stars and directors. Film composers, if mentioned at all, are named merely in passing when listing the production crew of individual films. Although some attention has been paid to the film musical as a genre,² very little has been paid to music as a significant feature of the films of all genres.

Given the interest that both these areas of cultural life in the Third Reich have received separately, it seems curious that the area where they coincide has been largely overlooked by music historians and film researchers alike. This by no means reflects the importance ascribed to film music at the time. Film composers were—unlike, for example, cinematographers and production designers—recognized by the industry as of major importance to the production. This is indicated by the “league tables” published at the end of every calendar year, recognizing the output of screenwriters, directors, and composers, but no other contributors.³ Over 200 composers contributed to the films of this period, many of them already well known from their other activities, either as conductors and musical directors, or as composers of operas, operettas, and popular songs.

Second, virtually every feature film contained not only background or illustration music, but also diegetic music integrated into the narrative by way of dances, songs, choral pieces, or concerts. This extended beyond light entertainment and musical films to include melodramas, war, history, and adventure films. It would be extremely difficult to name a single film where this was not the case, which may well be unique within the filmic conventions of European cinema.

Third, cinema was—together with radio and the recording industry, with which it maintained close links—a principal source of hit songs and dance melodies. Popular film music was regularly broadcast on special radio programs⁴ and marketed on gramophone records. Indeed, the list of hit songs of the thirties and forties that were introduced to the public through films is virtually endless.

Finally, articles on musical technique and policy, as well as features on and by individual composers, were from an early date published in the film trade press, providing another clear indication of the importance attached to film music by the industry in Germany.

In what follows, we shall review the institutional context of German cinema of the period, while focusing on a number of key composers, both “serious” and popular. As we shall see, in all cases, their careers, while being affected to some extent by political constraints, were not disrupted during the Nazi period. A case in point is Giuseppe Becce.

E-Musik 1: Becce

It is particularly fitting to start with this composer, as he is credited as the first to write a film-specific score in Germany. That was in 1913; the Italian-born Becce was an accomplished musician who had premiered his first operetta in Bremen in 1910 at the age of twenty-three, and two years later his first opera in Breslau.⁵ Moving to Berlin to continue his studies, he was engaged by the pioneering filmmaker Oskar Messter, who was producing a film about Richard Wagner. On the strength of Becce’s physical resemblance to the eponymous composer, he was cast in the title role.⁶ As the Wagner estate was demanding exorbitant royalties, Wagner’s own music could not be used, whereupon Becce was commissioned to write a special score for the film. He went on to compose for the screen for the next five decades.⁷ His filmography numbers 184 titles, making him one of the most prolific film composers of all time. Becce is perhaps best known internationally for his invention of the Kinothek (Kino = cinema + Bibliothek = library), a ten-volume collection of original scores published between 1919 and 1929 to provide cinema musicians with piano and orchestral arrangements to illustrate typical, recurring situations and moods in silent films.⁸

During the period of the Third Reich alone, Becce wrote the music for over fifty films, of which some thirty-three were German or German co-productions. The others were made in Italy, Austria, Czechoslovakia, France, and the USA. His work ranged across all genres, but he seemed to have a particular affinity for mountain films, both features and documentaries, collaborating with Arnold Fanck on Die weiße Hölle von Piz Palü (The White Hell of Pitz Palu, 1929) and Kampf um den Berg—Eine Hochtour vor 20 Jahren (Battle for the Mountain, 1940), and with Leni Riefenstahl on Das blaue Licht (The Blue Light, 1932). His most enduring working relationship was with Luis Trenker, collaborating on several mountain films—such as Der Sohn der weißen Berge (Son of the White Mountain, 1930), Berge in Flammen (Mountains on Fire, 1931)—and also on others merely set in the mountains—such as Der Feuerteufel (The Fire Devil, 1940)—or with an alpine reference, such as Der Kaiser von Kalifornien (The Emperor of California, 1936). Between 1933 (Der Rebell, The Rebel) and 1945 (Monte Miracolo), Becce and Trenker made eight films together.

In 1933 Becce collaborated with the little-known director Franz Wenzler on another mountain film, Gipfelstürmer (Assault on the Summit), about the conquest of the north face of the Matterhorn.⁹ Possibly linked with this project, the same year and with the same director, he wrote the music for Hans Westmar, a film biography of the Nazi icon Horst Wessel. This was one of the few blatantly Nazi films of the period, and has hence received considerable attention from film historians. On this project, Becce shared credit for the music with Ernst “Putzi” Hanfstaengl, a longtime companion of Hitler and member of his inner circle, who at the time held the post of foreign press chief of the Nazi party.

Two years later Becce worked again with Wenzler, on the German-Italian co-production Hundert Tage (Hundred Days, 1935), from the historical play Campo di Maggio by Benito Mussolini and Giovacchino Forzano, first staged in 1931. This was a much more elaborate affair than the previous two films, with clear political resonances for the contemporary audience and an all-star cast including Werner Krauss as Napoleon and Gustav Gründgens as Fouché.¹⁰

After the war Becce composed for another twenty-two films. His last project, the alpine documentary Zauber der Dolomiten (The Magic of the Dolomites, Hans J. Gnamm, 1959), signaled a fitting conclusion to a career in which he had achieved a unique specialization in this genre.¹¹ In 1961 Becce was awarded the German equivalent of the OBE (Bundesverdienstkreuz), and in 1971, at the age of eighty-four, received the lifetime service award of the German film industry. He died in West Berlin in 1973.¹² Apart from its longevity, Becce’s career is not atypical for the period. Many composers began writing film music during the silent era and carried on into the postwar period, with little indication that the events of the Third Reich ever impinged significantly upon their professional activities. Before turning to other composers, we shall consider the institutional framework.

The German Cinema and Nazism

The silent cinema was international. A film, simply by translating its intertitles, could in theory be marketed anywhere. Putting the dialogue on the sound track immediately imposed severe restrictions. Hollywood productions, which had previously dominated the world market, suddenly became less attractive to audiences who had to read subtitles while listening to a foreign language. As soon as the technology permitted, it was far preferable to listen to dialogue spoken in one’s own language. The non-anglophone countries reaped the benefits, in particular the German-speaking regions, comprising most of central Europe plus the peripheral areas within the German (and former Austro-Hungarian) sphere of influence. These represented the largest potential market of the time outside the United States itself and helped the German film industry to acquire a dominant position on the continent. Throughout the 1930s, Germany produced an average of 140 films a year, putting it well ahead of its European competitors and second only to Hollywood.¹³ At the outbreak of World War II, film output was reduced considerably, but production levels for the entire duration of the Third Reich still averaged out at approximately 100 films per year. All these films needed a musical score, and thanks to the established practice of composing for the silent cinema, sufficient experienced contributors were available for the task. When the Nazis came to power, they thus inherited a flourishing film industry, in which music played a major part.

What happened next, in the conventional view, is that the nature of filmmaking in Germany changed dramatically, with all production from that date onward harnessed to the Nazi cause. Yet between 1933 and 1945 probably not more than 4 percent of total output could have been recognized as products of the Third Reich in terms of any overt Nazi content, such as uniforms, emblems, “Hitler” salutes, slogans, songs, or—without the iconography—by clearly conveying a specifically Nazi message. Such films have frequently been given pride of place in standard works on the “Nazi” cinema, creating the impression that they characterized the era rather than being exceptional cases. Moreover, these same films were, on the whole, unsuccessful and frequently disowned b...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Part 1 · Germany
• Part 2 · The USSR
• List of Contributors
• Index