The term “leitmotif” is derived from the German word “leitmotiv” or “leading motif”. It is a short recurring musical idea that is associated with a person, place, state of mind or other element in a dramatic piece. The term was first used by historian A. W. Ambros around 1865 in referring to the compositional styles of Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt.[1] However, the leitmotif as a musical method can be traced back to Renaissance opera.[2]
Although he never used the term himself, Wagner referred to the concept as an important operatic compositional treatment in his 1852 study, “Opera and Drama”. In it Wagner speaks of the “recurrence of melodic elements" that create "a unified artistic form which stretches not merely over restricted parts of the drama but over the whole drama, linking it together.”[3] Each recurrence can be stated literally or altered in some way, be it rhythmic, intervallic, harmonic, textural or instrumental. Leitmotifs can also be combined with other leitmotifs in a “kinship” manner to indicate new character or dramatic connections.[4] Wagner took this practice to extreme levels in his operas by varying his leitmotifs at virtually every recurrence[5] and melding them with other motifs to create an intricate musical network of narrative associations. But no matter how it ensues, the leitmotif must recur to give it meaning.[6]
The leitmotif in its original form was a component of a much larger Wagnerian concept, that of the “Gesamtkunstwerk” or “total art”. Wagner’s objective was that his operas would be a complete union of music, drama, stage elements and poetry.[7] His immersion in this belief is reflected in the elaborate attention to detail in his works, exemplified in his very specific stage direction as it relates to the music for the entrance aria of the Dutchman of Der fliegende Hollander (The Flying Dutchman):
The first notes of the ritornello in the aria accompany the Dutchman’s first step on shore...with the first crotchet of the third bar he takes his second step - still with folded arms and bowed head; the third and fourth steps coincide with the notes of the eighth and tenth bars.[8]
Since the film genre contains a marriage of language, staging (sets) and drama, it seemed a logical progression that the Wagnerian “Gesamtkunstwerk” idea and its elements could be applied. One could say that the previous example from The Flying Dutchman is a nineteenth century version of “Mickey Mousing”, which is a film scoring technique using musical effects in synchrony with the action on the screen.[9] Use of the leitmotif in movies can be traced back to the commencement of sound film. Composer Joseph Carl Breil used the practice as early as 1921, stating that “the motif must in its further presentations be varied to suit the new situations.”[10] In the Hollywood Golden Age, composers arrived from Europe steeped in nineteenth century Romanticism, some with operatic experience. Consequently, the leitmotif became a popular means of depicting film characters, as a sort of “calling card”.[11] With the advent of the movie theme song, leitmotifs were often culled from the full length version.[12] Hollywood composer Max Steiner, who is credited with establishing the leitmotif approach in film, is quoted as saying, “If Wagner had lived in this century, he would have been the Number One film composer.”[13]
Using the leitmotif in the opening title of a film formed its reference very early. Main title themes in the Golden Age were usually composed in two parts. The “A” theme usually represented the film title itself and/or the main character, while the “B” theme, usually more lyrical, signified the secondary character.[14] Much like a Wagner operatic overture, it is the later recurrence of the themes presented in the opening that establish their meaning. Steiner’s score for King Kong (1933), widely considered as the foundation of the leitmotivic technique uses this formula. “Kong”’s theme, merely three notes in the low brass opens the main title, establishes power of the ape, foreshadowing what is to happen in the story, and then moves into a softer legato theme at 1' 20".
Although he never used the term himself, Wagner referred to the concept as an important operatic compositional treatment in his 1852 study, “Opera and Drama”. In it Wagner speaks of the “recurrence of melodic elements" that create "a unified artistic form which stretches not merely over restricted parts of the drama but over the whole drama, linking it together.”[3] Each recurrence can be stated literally or altered in some way, be it rhythmic, intervallic, harmonic, textural or instrumental. Leitmotifs can also be combined with other leitmotifs in a “kinship” manner to indicate new character or dramatic connections.[4] Wagner took this practice to extreme levels in his operas by varying his leitmotifs at virtually every recurrence[5] and melding them with other motifs to create an intricate musical network of narrative associations. But no matter how it ensues, the leitmotif must recur to give it meaning.[6]
The leitmotif in its original form was a component of a much larger Wagnerian concept, that of the “Gesamtkunstwerk” or “total art”. Wagner’s objective was that his operas would be a complete union of music, drama, stage elements and poetry.[7] His immersion in this belief is reflected in the elaborate attention to detail in his works, exemplified in his very specific stage direction as it relates to the music for the entrance aria of the Dutchman of Der fliegende Hollander (The Flying Dutchman):
The first notes of the ritornello in the aria accompany the Dutchman’s first step on shore...with the first crotchet of the third bar he takes his second step - still with folded arms and bowed head; the third and fourth steps coincide with the notes of the eighth and tenth bars.[8]
Since the film genre contains a marriage of language, staging (sets) and drama, it seemed a logical progression that the Wagnerian “Gesamtkunstwerk” idea and its elements could be applied. One could say that the previous example from The Flying Dutchman is a nineteenth century version of “Mickey Mousing”, which is a film scoring technique using musical effects in synchrony with the action on the screen.[9] Use of the leitmotif in movies can be traced back to the commencement of sound film. Composer Joseph Carl Breil used the practice as early as 1921, stating that “the motif must in its further presentations be varied to suit the new situations.”[10] In the Hollywood Golden Age, composers arrived from Europe steeped in nineteenth century Romanticism, some with operatic experience. Consequently, the leitmotif became a popular means of depicting film characters, as a sort of “calling card”.[11] With the advent of the movie theme song, leitmotifs were often culled from the full length version.[12] Hollywood composer Max Steiner, who is credited with establishing the leitmotif approach in film, is quoted as saying, “If Wagner had lived in this century, he would have been the Number One film composer.”[13]
Using the leitmotif in the opening title of a film formed its reference very early. Main title themes in the Golden Age were usually composed in two parts. The “A” theme usually represented the film title itself and/or the main character, while the “B” theme, usually more lyrical, signified the secondary character.[14] Much like a Wagner operatic overture, it is the later recurrence of the themes presented in the opening that establish their meaning. Steiner’s score for King Kong (1933), widely considered as the foundation of the leitmotivic technique uses this formula. “Kong”’s theme, merely three notes in the low brass opens the main title, establishes power of the ape, foreshadowing what is to happen in the story, and then moves into a softer legato theme at 1' 20".
Leitmotifs usually operate in the present tense, be it an onscreen presence, off screen, or even psychological. According to Justin London, the leitmotif carries the same “weight” as a proper name, in tandem with the emotional moment in the film.[15] Composer Hanns Eisler and sociologist Theodor Adorno validated the leitmotif style of film scoring in their book Composing for Films; “The ease with which (leitmotifs) are recalled provides definite clues for the listener, and they also are a practical help to the composer in his task of composition under pressure. He can quote where he otherwise would have to invent. They function as trademarks, so to speak, by which persons, emotions, and symbols can instantly be identified.”[16]
Musicologists James Buhler and David Neumeyer state that “the leitmotif thrusts itself into consciousness; it calls attention to itself and demands to be heard; it refuses to fade into that continuous and largely ‘unheard’ tapestry of musical unfolding that is …the normal mode of being of film music.”[17] In referencing the two-note “shark” leitmotif in Jaws, Giorgio Biancorosso describes the emotional reaction as becoming “Pavlovian” as it embeds itself in the mind of the viewer.[18] Royal Brown says that, “One cannot of course ignore the manipulative side of the film/music collaboration (some might say conspiracy)."[19] In other words, the leitmotif in film can be a powerful tool that must be wielded carefully.
It is a misconception however, to presume that Wagner’s leitmotif and its film counterpart are one and the same, as history may lead one to believe. To be sure, Wagner’s “Gesamtkunstwerk” style might have initially served as a template for the new genre of film music, a style that most composers were familiar with, albeit to varying degrees. The idea of “returning melodies” was used by other nineteenth century opera composers as well, including Puccini, Strauss and Weber, who therefore must surely have also played a part in influencing film scoring. It was a method that could be used with all-out extremity, or in a subtle, more abbreviated version of its original form. David Neumeyer states that to equate opera with film scoring has some inherent problems. First, film actors obviously do not sing their dialogue and second, unlike opera, underscoring in film is not continuous.[20] One would also assume that the demographics of a film audience are far more diversified than that of an opera, perhaps affecting compositional decisions. Neumeyer says that, on the other hand, early film composers like Max Steiner did “look for some manner of ‘operatic’ conceptions in films with high production values, but how much of that was Wagner is still impossible to sort out in my view.”[21]
Musicologists agree that in general, the leitmotif in film music has historically been used much more simplistically than Wagner’s extensive applications[22] with less variation, if any, when it recurs.[23] Eisler notes that the Hollywood leitmotif, as simple as it is, has only a little in common with the Wagnerian practice, adding the argument that Wagnerian leitmotifs originated with mythological subjects, while many Hollywood motifs are based on “real-life” scenarios.[24] In addition, the added task of coordinating music with dialogue, sound effects and camera shots may have contributed to the “dumbing down” of the leitmotif in film. Justin London justifies this by saying that leitmotifs in film cannot be changed too much or it will kill its function.[25] Therefore, it is perhaps more appropriate to view the leitmotivic system in film music as being “inspired” by Wagner, but not “of” Wagner in the organic sense of the term. However, Royal Brown makes the claim that that in sheer number of leitmotifs, the symphonic film score actually trumps a Wagner opera, suggesting that film music may be more thematically cohesive.[26]
Nonetheless, a few notable composers did indeed develop their leitmotivic film scores in a more Wagnerian style, moving the “Gesamkuntswerk” into a realm of which Wagner had no inkling or experience. Along with Steiner, Erich Korngold and Miklos Rozsa employed the leitmotif in the Wagnerian sense, in the spirit of a total artistic film work.[27]
Musicologists James Buhler and David Neumeyer state that “the leitmotif thrusts itself into consciousness; it calls attention to itself and demands to be heard; it refuses to fade into that continuous and largely ‘unheard’ tapestry of musical unfolding that is …the normal mode of being of film music.”[17] In referencing the two-note “shark” leitmotif in Jaws, Giorgio Biancorosso describes the emotional reaction as becoming “Pavlovian” as it embeds itself in the mind of the viewer.[18] Royal Brown says that, “One cannot of course ignore the manipulative side of the film/music collaboration (some might say conspiracy)."[19] In other words, the leitmotif in film can be a powerful tool that must be wielded carefully.
It is a misconception however, to presume that Wagner’s leitmotif and its film counterpart are one and the same, as history may lead one to believe. To be sure, Wagner’s “Gesamtkunstwerk” style might have initially served as a template for the new genre of film music, a style that most composers were familiar with, albeit to varying degrees. The idea of “returning melodies” was used by other nineteenth century opera composers as well, including Puccini, Strauss and Weber, who therefore must surely have also played a part in influencing film scoring. It was a method that could be used with all-out extremity, or in a subtle, more abbreviated version of its original form. David Neumeyer states that to equate opera with film scoring has some inherent problems. First, film actors obviously do not sing their dialogue and second, unlike opera, underscoring in film is not continuous.[20] One would also assume that the demographics of a film audience are far more diversified than that of an opera, perhaps affecting compositional decisions. Neumeyer says that, on the other hand, early film composers like Max Steiner did “look for some manner of ‘operatic’ conceptions in films with high production values, but how much of that was Wagner is still impossible to sort out in my view.”[21]
Musicologists agree that in general, the leitmotif in film music has historically been used much more simplistically than Wagner’s extensive applications[22] with less variation, if any, when it recurs.[23] Eisler notes that the Hollywood leitmotif, as simple as it is, has only a little in common with the Wagnerian practice, adding the argument that Wagnerian leitmotifs originated with mythological subjects, while many Hollywood motifs are based on “real-life” scenarios.[24] In addition, the added task of coordinating music with dialogue, sound effects and camera shots may have contributed to the “dumbing down” of the leitmotif in film. Justin London justifies this by saying that leitmotifs in film cannot be changed too much or it will kill its function.[25] Therefore, it is perhaps more appropriate to view the leitmotivic system in film music as being “inspired” by Wagner, but not “of” Wagner in the organic sense of the term. However, Royal Brown makes the claim that that in sheer number of leitmotifs, the symphonic film score actually trumps a Wagner opera, suggesting that film music may be more thematically cohesive.[26]
Nonetheless, a few notable composers did indeed develop their leitmotivic film scores in a more Wagnerian style, moving the “Gesamkuntswerk” into a realm of which Wagner had no inkling or experience. Along with Steiner, Erich Korngold and Miklos Rozsa employed the leitmotif in the Wagnerian sense, in the spirit of a total artistic film work.[27]
[1]Arnold Whittall, “Leitmotif”, Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online (Oxford University Press),
Accessed November 19, 2012. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.huaryu.kl.oakland.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/16360.
[2] Eva Rieger, “Wagner’s Influence on Gender Roles in Early Hollywood,” in Wagner & Cinema, Jeongwon Jo and Sander L. Gilman (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010), 132.
[3] Ibid, 155.
[4] Ibid, 156.
[5] Ibid, 157.
[6] Anahid Kassabian, Hearing Film (New York: Routledge, 2001), 57.
[7] Richard Wagner, “Opera and Drama”, translated by William Ashton Ellis. The Wagner Library, ed. 1.0.
http://users.belgacom.net/wagnerlibrary/prose/wlpr0063.htm .
[8] Jeongwon Jo and Sander Gilman, Wagner & Cinema, 2.
[9] Mervyn Cooke, A History of Film Music, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 29.
[10] Ibid, 25.
[11] Biancorosso, Giorgio. “The Shark in the Music.” Music Analysis 29, no. 1/3 (March 1, 2010):
309. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2249.2011.00331.
[12] Kassabian, Hearing Film, 33.
[13] Cooke, A History, 80.
[14] Justin London, “Leitmotifs and Musical Reference in the Classical Film Score”. In Music and Cinema, edited by James Buhler, Caryl Flinn and David Neumeyer (Hanover: University Press of New England, 2000), 87-88.
[15] Ibid, 89.
[16] Theodor Adorno and Hanns Eisler, Composing for the Films. 1st ed. (New York: Continuum, 2007), 81.
[17] James Buhler and David Neumeyer, review of Stains of Utopia: Gender, Nostalgia, and Hollywood Film Music by Caryl Flinn and Settling the Score: Music and the Classic Hollywood Film by Kathryn Kalinak. Journal of American Musicological Society 47, no. 2 (Summer 1994) 377.
[18] Biancorosso, Shark, 307.
[19] Royal S. Brown, Overtones and Undertones: Reading Film Music (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), 110.
[20] David Neumeyer, “Wagnerian Opera and Nineteenth Century Melodrama” in Wagner & Cinema, 118.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Irena Paulus, “Williams Versus Wagner or an Attempt at Linking Musical Epics.” International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 31, no. 2 (December 1, 2000): 153.
[23] Ibid, 157.
[24] Brown, Overtones, 99.
[25] London, “Leitmotifs” in Music and Cinema, 88.
[26 Brown, Overtones, 110.
[27] Paulus, Williams Vs. Wagner, 156.
Accessed November 19, 2012. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.huaryu.kl.oakland.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/16360.
[2] Eva Rieger, “Wagner’s Influence on Gender Roles in Early Hollywood,” in Wagner & Cinema, Jeongwon Jo and Sander L. Gilman (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010), 132.
[3] Ibid, 155.
[4] Ibid, 156.
[5] Ibid, 157.
[6] Anahid Kassabian, Hearing Film (New York: Routledge, 2001), 57.
[7] Richard Wagner, “Opera and Drama”, translated by William Ashton Ellis. The Wagner Library, ed. 1.0.
http://users.belgacom.net/wagnerlibrary/prose/wlpr0063.htm .
[8] Jeongwon Jo and Sander Gilman, Wagner & Cinema, 2.
[9] Mervyn Cooke, A History of Film Music, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 29.
[10] Ibid, 25.
[11] Biancorosso, Giorgio. “The Shark in the Music.” Music Analysis 29, no. 1/3 (March 1, 2010):
309. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2249.2011.00331.
[12] Kassabian, Hearing Film, 33.
[13] Cooke, A History, 80.
[14] Justin London, “Leitmotifs and Musical Reference in the Classical Film Score”. In Music and Cinema, edited by James Buhler, Caryl Flinn and David Neumeyer (Hanover: University Press of New England, 2000), 87-88.
[15] Ibid, 89.
[16] Theodor Adorno and Hanns Eisler, Composing for the Films. 1st ed. (New York: Continuum, 2007), 81.
[17] James Buhler and David Neumeyer, review of Stains of Utopia: Gender, Nostalgia, and Hollywood Film Music by Caryl Flinn and Settling the Score: Music and the Classic Hollywood Film by Kathryn Kalinak. Journal of American Musicological Society 47, no. 2 (Summer 1994) 377.
[18] Biancorosso, Shark, 307.
[19] Royal S. Brown, Overtones and Undertones: Reading Film Music (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), 110.
[20] David Neumeyer, “Wagnerian Opera and Nineteenth Century Melodrama” in Wagner & Cinema, 118.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Irena Paulus, “Williams Versus Wagner or an Attempt at Linking Musical Epics.” International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 31, no. 2 (December 1, 2000): 153.
[23] Ibid, 157.
[24] Brown, Overtones, 99.
[25] London, “Leitmotifs” in Music and Cinema, 88.
[26 Brown, Overtones, 110.
[27] Paulus, Williams Vs. Wagner, 156.