Image: et+k
Non-fiction book – Christoph Hust, Ivana Rentsch, Arne Stollberg: “Music and the Uncanny”
We know it especially from films: When things get scary or spooky in a scene, there is often appropriate background music that reinforces the atmosphere. But how can music seem scary? This phenomenon is explored in a new book entitled “Music and the Uncanny”, edited by Christoph Hust, Ivana Rentsch and Arne Stollberg.
For a long time, music almost always had a positive function: calm, relaxation, healing. Music associated with horror is a relatively young phenomenon that, apart from a few earlier examples, only really came into fashion in the 19th century. The best example: the “Wolfsschlucht scene” from Carl Maria von Weber’s “Freischütz”.
Widely positioned
The book emerged from a symposium at Berlin’s Humboldt University, and the various essays are thematically very broad. In addition to what is expected, such as analyzes of vocal and instrumental music or musical theater, the focus is also on horror literature, especially from the 19th century, on film music, but also on music for computer and video games.
Who I How I What
Scherzi and piano horror
Uncanny things in instrumental music – the scherzo movements of many symphonies are ideal for this: what was originally intended as a joke often turns into the abyss (Gustav Mahler!).
And when it comes to film, Janina Müller analyzes the music for Roman Polanski’s “Apartment Trilogy”, where the piano as a “topos of domestic music-making” causes the comfort of the domestic environment to tip into the uncanny.
Analytically strong
The merit of this publication is that it presents a phenomenon that everyone has probably experienced (not only once) in its exact parameters. When, why and in what contexts does music seem uncanny, and above all: why exactly? This is analyzed very thoroughly and precisely and leaves a strong impression.
It is also nice to look at the beginnings of the computer age, where a new sound chip, a 3-voice digital synthesizer with analog components, was able to produce a soundtrack for a horror computer game consisting of, among other things, thunderstorm scenes, wolf howls, imitations of the recorder and harpsichord. It’s been a long time…
Andreas Göbel, rbbKultur
As of January 30, 2024
2024-01-29 23:04:44
#Nonfiction #book #Christoph #Hust #Ivana #Rentsch #Arne #Stollberg #Music #Uncanny
