Franz Waxman (1906-1967)
Rebecca
When
asked which of the 144 films he scored in Hollywood was his
favourite, Franz Waxman always replied Rebecca! It was a challenging and
rewarding assignment for the composer and his second film for producer David O.
Selznick. As with his first film for Selznick, The Young in Hean (1938), for
which Waxman received his first two Academy Award nominations, he was 'on loan'
to Selznick International by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, to whom he was under contract
from 1936 to 1943.
Rebecca
(1940) was the second of three films that Waxman would score for Selznick
(Alfred Hitchcock's The Paradine Case would follow in 1947) and the first of
four collaborations with the director (Waxman would again be 'on loan' the
following year to RKO for Suspicion (Joan Fontaine's next vehicle) and finally
for Rear Window in 1954).
Waxman's
score for Rebecca was a milestone. Its impact on his musical style was so
profound that throughout the rest of his 26-year career in Hollywood he would
compose the music for at least half-a-dozen films with similar Gothic
background, from Suspicion to Elephant Walk as well as My Cousin Rachel (based
on another Daphne du Maurier bestseller).
At
the request of the Standard Symphony (a forerunner of the popular Bell
Telephone Hour radio series) Waxman arranged his score from Rebecca into a
concert suite. The radio broadcast was one of the first opportunities composers
and producers had to exploit the music from a film to publicise a motion
picture. This was the first of dozens of concert arrangements that Waxman
completed of his music from films. The Rebecca Suite has achieved a world-wide
concert-hall following during the past half-century.
When
Adriano first approached me regarding this project I thought how fortunate it
is that the original scores and pans have been preserved as pan of the Franz Waxman
Collection in the George Arents Research Library at Syracuse University New
York, and the David O. Selznick Collection in the Harry Ramson Humanities
Research Center of the University of Texas at Austin. Through the magic of the
copying machine, the same scores and parts that were used on March 8-10, 1940
in Culver City, California to record the original soundtrack were again on
music stands on November 8-11, 1990 and January 30 - February 7, 1991 in
Bratislava, Czechoslovakia.
Rebecca's
running time is 2 hours and 12 minutes and the film contains 71 musical 'cues'
(pieces of music). Owing to time limitations only 72 of the 124 minutes of
music have been newly recorded. Where producer Selznick inserted music by other
composers, such as Max Steiner's Little Lord Fauntleroy, those cues have not
been included. However where Selznick re-recorded Waxman's music from previous Waxman
scores it is represented here. Reel 4 Part 2 "Mrs. Danvers" is the
best example. Scores and parts did not exist for this cue, only notes in the
original score that the music was taken in part from Waxman's scores for The
Young in Heart, "George Ann"; Trouble For Two (1936), "He Goes
to Court", and On Borrowed Time (1939), "Brink is Back". Since
this is such a key scene in the film Steven R. Bernstein reconstructed the
score from the original soundtrack and the composer's notes. Adriano
transcribed the parts from his computer.
Conversely,
the music for "Beatrice", Reel 5 Part 3 on the film's soundtrack is
not by Waxman; Selznick substituted music by Steiner, but for this recording
Adriano has recorded the cue exactly as composed by Waxman.
The
orchestrations are by Leonid Raab, Joseph Nussbaum and Waxman.
In
his book "The Composer in Hollywood" Christopher Palmer discusses
Rebecca:
She
is never seen, for she is dead: only malign influence can be felt, and the
music helps us to feel it. We are enveloped from the moment the main title
opens - an ominous tread in the bass over a repeated note, string and woodwind
figurations writhing in quasi-impressionistic mists, an imperious horn summons.
Then, as the credits come up over a series of dissolves from one dream-like
distorted view of the Manderley estate to another, the 'Rebecca' theme is heard
for the first time. Joan Fontaine's opening narration begins, 'Last night I
dreamt I went to Manderley again'. Romantic-impressionist music creates a
dream-like aura as the camera tracks forward up the deserted, overgrown drive
on which 'Nature had encroached in her stealthy insidious way with long
tenacious fingers.' This passage is based not on the 'Rebecca' theme but on
another shorter but pregnant motif associated with Manderley alone and not with
Rebecca.
For
the 'Rebecca' problem does not really arise until a third of the picture is
over, and Joan Fontaine is installed in Manderley as second wife to Max de
Winter (Laurence Olivier). How to suggest the potency of the past, of the evil
and ghostly presence of the dead Rebecca? Waxman's solution is the use of the novachord,
an electronic keyboard instrument with a sound not unlike that of a Hammond
organ. Now in disuse, it enjoyed huge popularity in the Golden Age. Employed in
a certain way its sound had supernatural overtones. Every time Rebecca's name
is mentioned, or her presence is invoked - almost invariably by the frightening
Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson) - the 'Rebecca' theme sounds on the novachord,
its peculiarly spooky sonority pointing us ever in the direction of the world
beyond the veil. (Reel 4 Part 2: "Mrs. Danvers)
When
Joan Fontaine first stumbles across the deserted beach house, the 'Rebecca'
theme - as it were a musical monogram - overwhelms, telling us straightaway
that everything here is a relic of the dead woman, all preserved as it was at
the time of her death. And because the malevolent spirit of the drowned Rebecca
lives on in Mrs. Danvers, the novachord comes to stand as a musical symbol for
the latter also; its sinister purr seems to deepen the undercurrent of
lesbianism and necrophilia through which the past contrives to poison the
present. It is a wonderful moment when the new Mrs. de Winter first penetrates
the (implicitly forbidden) west wing of the mansion. This is Rebecca's wing
where, again, everything has been left as she left it. There the second Mrs. de
Winter encounters Mrs. Danvers, who tells her of Rebecca's bedroom, 'the most
beautiful room in the house' with its windows looking down across lawns to the
sea. We focus on the large double doors leading into Rebecca's quarters, and
lying there in front of them is Jasper, her pet spaniel. Over a soft timpani
pedal soft unmuted trombones (in the manner almost of a low growl) and novachord
sound the 'Rebecca' theme, and the effect is one of sotto voce triumph:
gloating, sadistic, sweet as honey.
Quite
different is the transformation this same theme undergoes in the finale. As de
Winter and Crawley are driving home after establishing the real cause of
Rebecca's death, they see a glow in the sky that they quickly surmise must be Manderley
ablaze. We close in on the burning building. The de Winters' love theme pulses
through the orchestra as Max searches for his wife, reaching a climactically
triumphant A major (one of the brightest of keys) as he finds her with Jasper
on a lead. Then we see Mrs. Danvers still inside the blazing west wing, darting
wildly from one room to another; as she does so the orchestra picks up the
'Rebecca' theme and races ahead with it in the manner of a mad waltz. But there
is no escape for Mrs. Danvers; and as she resigns herself, like Brunnhilde, to
follow her mistress in death, the low brass in octaves proclaim the 'Rebecca'
theme tutta forza in broad augmentation. The camera closes in for a final shot
of the pillow slip with the embroidered 'R', and a massive chordal treatment of
the musical 'R' has the last word. (1)
In
their book “Inside Oscar” Mason Wiley & Damien Bona noted:
After
Ronald Colman hemmed and hawed about playing the brooding leading man, Max de
Winter, and William Powell was unavailable, Selznick cast Laurence Olivier, the
heart-throb from Wuthering Heights... Scarlett O'Hara herself had been in the
running, but Selznick felt Vivien Leigh's screen test was "terrible",
so Laurence Olivier would not be acting opposite his fiancée. Others under
consideration included Loretta Young. Margaret Sullivan, Olivia de Havilland
and an unknown named Anne Baxter. But in the end, the producer decided that
Olivia's sister, Joan Fontaine, had the vulnerability he was looking for ... Selznick's
big casting coup, however, was in signing Alfred Hitchcock … (for his first
American film). The director, who was used to having free rein over his movies,
was totally unprepared for Selznick's notorious memos, which came to him
incessantly. More than two decades later Hitchcock commented, "When I came
to America to direct Rebecca, David Selznick sent me a memo ... I've just
finished reading it ... I think I may turn it into a motion picture ... I plan
to call it the Longest Story Ever Told." ... The Los Angeles Time called
Rebecca a "worthy successor to Gone With The Wind". Olivier's status
as a dashing romantic lead was solidified, Joan Fontaine was declared a star,
and it was clear that Hitchcock's rotund figure was going to be part of
Hollywood for a long time ... For the second year in a row, a David O. Selznick
movie had the most Academy Award nominations; Rebecca led the pack with eleven,
including nods for Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, Judith Anderson, Alfred
Hitchcock ... (and Franz Waxman). (2)
Waxman
thought that he would win his first Oscar. When the head of Paramount B.G. DeSylva
was about to announce the Best Original Score award he looked directly at Waxman
(he thought) and Waxman began to rise from the dinner table only to turn around
and see Leigh Harline, Paul J. Smith and Ned Washington rise directly behind
him having been called up for Pinocchio. The picture to beat in most categories
was John Ford's The Grapes of Wrath with seven nominations. The only Oscars
that Rebecca received were for Cinematography (George Barnes) and Best Picture.
Producer Selznick won for the second year-in-a-row - a record that stands
today.
In
many ways the present recording has been a collaborative effort. Without the
diligence, support and insight of the following individuals it would not have
been possible.
Thanks,
therefore, to Dr. Charles Bell, Steven R. Bernstein, Steve Danenberg, Ray Daum,
Arnold Freed, Louis & Annette Kaufman, Debbie Leonard, Ron Magliozzi, Mary McGillen,
Marcella Rabwin, Ron Schubert, Daniel Selznick, Jeffrey Selznick, Stanley
Simon, Alex Somer, Tom Staley, Sue Stinson, Bill Storm, David Thompson, and
Mark Weimer and to the staff of the Austin Symphony Orchestra, The George Arents
Research Library and Belfer Audio Archives at Syracuse University New York,
Film Studies Center at the Museum of Modern Art New York, Harry Ramson
Humanities Research Center University of Texas of Austin, Wedo's Music Writing
Service. Bravo to Adriano and Don Tharp.
1.
Christopher Palmer, The Composer in Hollywood, Marion Boyars, New York and
London, 1990. Reprinted by permission.
2.
Mason Wiles & Damien Bona, Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the
Academy Awards, Ballantine, New York, 1985 & 1987. Reprinted by permission.
Czecho-Slovak
Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava)
The
Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava), the oldest symphonic
ensemble in Slovakia, was founded in 1929. The orchestra's first conductor was František
Dyk and over the past sixty years it has worked under the direction of several
prominent Czech and Slovak conductors. The orchestra has made many recordings
for the Naxos label ranging from the ballet music of Tchaikovsky to more modern
works by composers such as Copland, Britten and Prokofiev. For Marco Polo the
orchestra has recorded works by Glazunov, Glière, Rubinstein and other late
romantic composers and film music of Honegger, Bliss, Ibert and Khachaturian.
Adriano
Swiss-born
Adriano began his artistic activities in the domains of the theatre and the
graphic arts. In music he was largely self-taught. When he was in his twenties,
he was urged by conductors such as Joseph Keilberth and Ernest Ansermet, who
recognized his gifts, to embrace a conducting career. Instead he became a
composer of stage, film and chamber music and also a record-producer for his
own gramophone label, Adriano Records. In the late 1970s he established himself
as a specialist on Ottorino Respighi, organizing a comprehensive exhibition and
publishing a discography. He has also orchestrated a song-cycle by Respighi.
For the past six years Adriano has worked as an Italian and French coach,
teacher and stage assistant at the Zürich Opera House and its International
Opera Studio. His numerous efforts to promote little known music include an Old
Italian translation of Telemann's opera Pimpinone, which was premiered in Italy
in 1987. For a production of Galuppi's II filosofo di campagna at the Stuttgart
Music Festival in 1988, Adriano conceived a theatrical prologue in which he
himself appeared as an actor.
Adriano
is now a regular guest of the Radio Bratislava Symphony Orchestra, mainly
contributing to a classic film music series for Marco Polo Records, in which it
is planned to include recordings of more than a dozen scores. Many of them were
rediscovered, edited or reconstructed by Adriano. His first album of film music
suites by Arthur Honegger met with an enthusiastic reception from the
international press.
(from
a note by David Nelson)