Gottfried Huppertz

[Gareth Vaughan]

Of course they are. Alan only said that personally he couldn't stand this style of music for long. Others, and there may be plenty, may beg to differ.

Same goes for Adriano's views. He, at least, has studied the score with a conductor's eye, but that does not mean you have to agree with his estimation if you get pleasure from the music.

[Mark Thomas]

Quite. We'll said.

[Alan Howe]

As others have said, it's just my opinion. But I do think we have remember that this is music intended to accompany a film, not stand uncut or unarranged as a concert piece.

Can anyone think of a film score which truly deserves to be heard on its own, in full, uncut? After all, we're talking about pieces that would last longer than the grandest of symphonies. And isn't it significant that most film scores are arranged for concert performance as suites?

To give you some idea of the scale of Huppertz's score, here's the list of contents on the Pan Classics/Strobel recording:

A. Prelude
1 The Metropolis Theme [1.01]
2 Machiness [3.31]
3 The Stadium [0.50]
4 The Eternal Gardens [2.22]
5 Maria with Children [3.38]
6 Machine Hall with Moloch [5.19]
7 Fredersen's Office 7.07]
8 Grot's Ideas – the Thin Man [6.40]
9 Freder in the Machine Hall [3.19]
10 The Car Ride [2.0]
11 In Rotwang's House [3.31]
12 The Machine Man [3.48]
13 Freder and the Machine [2.38]
14 Rotwang and Fredersen [2.37]
15 In the Catacombs [1.50]
16 The Legend of the Tower of Babel [2.47]
17 Maria's Srmon [2.43]
18 Freder and Maria – Rotwang's Plot [5.30]
19 The Chase [2.42]

B. Interlude
1 In the Cathedral [3.28]
2 The Thin Man and Georgy, a Worker [2.17]
3 In Joseph's Apartment [5.44]
4 Maria and Rotwang – The Fight [2.17]
5 Freder and Rotwang [2.17]
6 In the Laboratory – Transformation [2.53]
7 Freder and Rotwang [1.12]
8 Fredersen and the False Maria [1.15]
9 Freder's Delirium [1.42]
10 In Rotwang's Salon [1.03]
11 The Dance [2.17]
12 The Death [1.12]

C. Furioso
13 Freder and Josephat [1.46]
14 Josephat's Narration [2.57]
15 The False Maria [2.31]
16 The Incitement of the Workers [4.23]
17 The Workers' Revolt [4.37]
18 Fredersen and Grot [1.27]
19 Grot and the Workers [1.39]
20 The Heart Machine [1.44]
21 The Flooting [3.14]
22 Fredersen and his City [1.00]
23 Freder and Josephat [1.39]
24 The Flight [4.22]
25 The Rescue of the Children [1.31]
26 The Knowledge of the Workers [1.25]
27 Yoshiwara and the Masses [1.47]
28 Rotwang and his "Hel" [1.10]
29 The Clash of the Masses [3.03]
30 The Pyre [2.42]
31 Flight in the Cathedral – the Bell [1.38]
32 Flight on the roof of the Cathedral – Rotwang's Death [4.15]
33 Reconciliation [3.02]

That's 2 hours 24 minutes of music. Not for me, I'm afraid. But perhaps those who manage to sit through the whole score would tell us what they think...

[Gareth Vaughan]

Can anyone think of a film score which truly deserves to be heard on its own, in full, uncut?

I very much take your point, Alan. Right now, the only one I can think of that might come close would be the music Vaughan Williams wrote for Scott of the Antarctic, which does have a symphonic sweep and structure about it, though, perhaps unsurprisingly, I think the Sinfonia Antarctica is better as a stand alone concert piece

[adriano]

Exactly, Gareth Vaughan!
And I think there was no better judgement than the composer's.
However, for musicologist's interest it is always a good thing to re-record complete film scores, especially if their orginal soundtracks were badly balanced, had primitive microphone sounds or if there are musical sequences - or alternate versions - which had not been used and had landed on the cutting room floor. See, for example, my recordings of "Jane Eyre", "Beauty and the Beast" and "Les Misérables".
In the case of Vaughan Williams, musicologists may also find it interesting to study how the Symphony was conceived: which pieces were used, how they were adapted etc.. That's why I had wanted to do this recording myself in 1988 - but Ursula Vauhgan Williams did not give me the permission...

[Alan Howe]

I just wonder who really listens to entire film scores - as opposed to arrangements/suites, etc.

[M. Yaskovsky]

I listened to Huppertz' Metropolis while doing the dishes, some vacuum cleaning and found his music pleasing and most of the time very repetitive. I agree that's not listening and concentrating yourself 100% on the music. I think many film music composers take one or two themes and toss them around to some lenght. Introducing variation after variation. And Huppertz can do this endlessly. So I woudn't recommend his scores for Die Nibelungen (4h 30 min) or Zur Chronik von Grieshaus (94 min.), both on Pan classics too, and very fine performances btw, to anyone who can't stand repetitive music. But, isn't Philip Glass in the same league?

[Alan Howe]

We can't really discuss Glass here, I'm afraid - way beyond our remit.

I listened to Huppertz' Metropolis while doing the dishes, some vacuum cleaning

Very appropriate. I imagine the vacuum cleaner drowned out the bombast. But only just...

[adriano]

Alan, the fact that so many recordings of complete film scores are produced shows that there are many people listening to them.
And not all film scores are as long as "Metropolis". Some Honegger scores come up with just 20 minutes of music - except, of course, his two silent scores "Napoléon" and "La Roue" (made up mostly of non-original, but arrangements of repertoire and stock music pieces). Silent scores required thorougly running musical accompaniments. Honegger's "Les Misérables" (a 1934 sound picture) has just 60 minutes of music covering a trilogy of movies of 110, 80 and 90 minutes.
I really do listen to entire good film scores - because I can learn a lot also from this kind of musical genre - which I highly respect. I am listening to them also as a musician. Finally one must appreciate the ability of some greater (film) composers to create short and substantial "illustrative" pieces which work indipendently. And some of those good "entire" scores have thematic and dramatic build-ups - and their leitmotifs can show developments - or they are subject to variations.
Classic film composers like Prokofiev, Khachaturian, Shostakovich, Rozsa, Honegger, Walton, Bliss, Herrmann all came from the symphonic and theatrical field and not from the Hollywood factory, they knew what they were doing and were concerned to create good pieces of music, no matter how long they were. And they also orchestrated these pieces themselves (which was not required in Hollywood - not even by someone like Korngold!). And such good scores are really enjoyable if listened in entirety - even without the image.
Suites were created for concert and commercial performances (Just to mention the merit of Muir Mathieson, thanks to whom British film music became so successful because he started recording excerpts/suites already on 78rpm discs).
Good "symphonic" film scores are, for example, Jacques Ibert's "Macbeth" and "Golgotha". I did not record them in entirety because Marco Polo did not wanted this, but the selections chosen make up about 80-90% of the complete scores - and one can listen to them like listening to symphonic music - and discover thematic developments and contrasts - and different forms, like scherzos, adagios etc.
Don't forget that incidental and ballet music are based on the same "given duration" and "illustrative" conditions. Petipa clearly instructed Tchaikovsky how long about and of what kind of atmosphere each ballet "number" should be. The same goes for "Peer Gynt" and various incidental scores by Sibelius: some pieces had to be conceived as interludes, to be long enough to cover the time for dancing/pantomime or vocal pieces or stage changes. And many of those miniatures are masterworks.
And it's a real pleasure to listen to the complete scores of "Peer Gynt", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", to Tchaikovsky's and Délibes' ballets!

PS: Alan, I Hope it is not prohibited to answer Yaskovsky's question whether Philip Glass is in the same "repetitive league" with a simple "yes" :-)

[TerraEpon]

Would you say the same about A Misummer Night's Dream or Peer Gynt?

I don't understand the mentality. Sure there's nothing wrong with suites -- and certainly I'd agree they work much better for concert use. But there are many film scores I wouldn't want to be without all of them. Either because there's just great variations of the already good material, or just really well written "action" music, etc. Now I will grant I can see in the case of Metropolis (as well as Die Nibelung) there's a decent amount of repetition and a good amount of what could call "dead" music (where just not much is going on) but it still feels like a narrative that has its ebb and flows, and yes I can sit through the whole thing just fine.

[adriano]

Incidental music is stage, ballet and film music - it is there to accompany a theatrical action - and eventually to emphasize or counterpoint it. And opera is related too, considering the period from Monteverdi to Verdi ("number" operas) - before it became symphonic (late Verdi, Wagner and Debussy). The question about "Metropolis" is a matter of taste. I actually mentioned much earlier that in connection with the image, this score works perfectly - and that I enjoy it. I just have a problem listening to it separately on CD.

[Alan Howe]

I just have a problem listening to it on CD.

Because it's essentially one part of the intended 'Gesamtkunstwerk', i.e. a film.

Of course, greater composers than Huppertz, whom I take to be an epigone rather than an innovator, are able to transcend the medium. But I'd be surprised if there were a 2½-hour film score worth listening to on its own.

I have to admit that I have a similar problem with ballet music. I know that Tchaikovsky wrote great ballet scores, but do I listen to them frequently right through on CD? No. I just get bored...

[giles.enders]

All these comments but has anyone seen the film with the score played live ?  If not then it is like judging Wagner's Ring Cycle without the voices or staging.  The only really great film score I know of, is Shostakovich's for the Russian film of Hamlet. That is a thread that we dare not go down.

[Alan Howe]

Well, that was obviously the composer's intention - which is what I've been arguing all along.

I don't think the comparison with Wagner stands, however, because Wagner's is patently great music by a great composer - which Huppertz wasn't. It is, after all, perfectly possible to listen to The Ring and imagine the action (often better than watching the absurd stagings one encounters these days).

In addition, Metropolis as a visual entity is an artefact in itself, whereas a Wagner opera only has indications as to staging, which invite interpretation. Thus, as I said, one can perfectly well imagine in one's mind's eye the visual aspect of a Wagner opera, but one has no such option with a film.

I do agree, though, that the optimum conditions under which to judge the film/score in question here is the full, live cinema experience. My hunch, though - and that's all it is - is that Huppertz's music in the final analysis is actually dispensable. The large number of attempts to produce an accompanying score surely bear this out:

In 1975 the BBC provided an electronic score composed by William Fitzwater and Hugh Davies.
In 1984 Giorgio Moroder restored and produced the 80-minute 1984 re-release, which had a pop soundtrack written by Moroder and performed by Moroder, Pat Benatar, Bonnie Tyler, Jon Anderson, Adam Ant, Cycle V, Loverboy, Billy Squier, and Freddie Mercury.
In 1991 the Club Foot Orchestra created an original score that was performed live with the film. It was also recorded for CD.
In 1994 Montenegrin experimental rock musician Rambo Amadeus wrote his version of the musical score for Metropolis. At the screening of the film in Belgrade the score was played by the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra - in 1998 the material was recorded and released on the album Metropolis B (tour-de-force).
In 1996 the Degenerate Art Ensemble (then The Young Composers Collective) scored the film for chamber orchestra, performing it in various venues including a free outdoor concert and screening in 1997 in Seattle's Gasworks Park. The soundtrack was subsequently released on Un-Labeled Records.
In 2000 Jeff Mills created a techno score for Metropolis which was released as an album. He also performed the score live at public screenings of the film.
In 2004 Abel Korzeniowski created a score for Metropolis played live by a 90-piece orchestra and a choir of 60 voices and two soloists. The first performance took place at the Era Nowe Horyzonty Film Festival in Poland.
In 2004 Ronnie Cramer produced a score and effects soundtrack for Metropolis that won two Aurora awards.
The New Pollutants (Mister Speed and DJ Tr!p) has performed Metropolis Rescore live for festivals since 2005 and rescored to the 2010 version of the film for premiere at the 2011 Adelaide Film Festival.
By 2010 the Alloy Orchestra had scored four different versions of the film, including Moroder's, and most recently for the American premiere of the 2010 restoration. A recording of Alloy's full score was commissioned by Kino Lorber, with the intention of it being issued on their remastered Blu-ray and DVD as an alternative soundtrack, but this was vetoed by Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, which owns the copyright to the restoration and mandates that only their own score can accompany it. Alloy's score is available on its website and can be synchronised to the film independently.
In 2012 Dieter Moebius was invited to perform music to the film. For that purpose he produced pre-arranged tracks and samples, combined with live improvisation. He died in 2015, but the project was completed and released in 2016, as Musik fur Metropolis.
In 2014 the pianist/composer Dmytro Morykit created a new live piano score, which received a standing ovation from a sell-out audience at Wilton's Music Hall in London.
Also in 2014 Spanish band Caspervek Trio premiered a new score at "La Galería Jazz" Vigo, with further performances in Budapest, Riga and Groningen. Metavari rescored Metropolis as a commission from Fort Wayne, Indiana's Cinema Center for Art House Theater Day 2016. The score was released worldwide on One Way Static Records for Record Store Day 2017 and distributed in the United States by Light in the Attic Records.
In 2017 Factory Floor performed their own soundtrack at the London Science Museum as part of their Robot Exhibition. An album was released of their composition for the film in October 2018 called Soundtrack to a Film.
In 2018 flautist Yael Acher "Kat" Modiano composed and performed a new score for a showing of the 2010 restoration at the United Palace in Upper Manhattan.
In 2019 organist Nils Henrik Asheim composed and performed live an experimental organ score for a showing of the 2010 restoration at Stavanger Konserthus. Heavy modification of the organ was used to create a futuristic soundscape befitting the film.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_(1927_film)#Original_score

[adriano]

@giles.enders
Of "Metropolis" there is an excellent DVD/BluRay deluxe edition of the (score's and film's last version) memorable live performance of Februray 2010, as conducted by Frank Strobel. There is nothing better than that: you have the best (home) seat, the best (home) acoustics, you are not disturbed by a chattering, coughing or chewing audience and you can stop and replay what do you want :-).
The microphones were placed correctly near the orchestra. Of course the picture comes directly form the new master.
A warning before buying it: the first edition by Warner Home Video was a defective transfer (both DVD and BluRay); at long last Universum Film has managed to obtain a clean and perfect print of film and sound! The elaborate bonus documentaries are super!