Composers in the Movies: Studies in Musical Biography

Abstract

Composers in the Movies is an important book. The title can be misleading, however. One might assume that this is a study of composers who write for the movies, which was in fact my initial assumption. In the event, John C. Tibbett’s book focuses on composers as subjects in movies—in other words, on composer biopics. Surprisingly, given the growing number of academic studies on the intersection of Classical music and film, this is the first major study devoted to the genre. And for the most part, it succeeds admirably as a broad introduction to the genre and a compelling interpretation of leading films. The work of an American professor of theatre and film, the book is meant to appeal to a broad audience of music lovers and film enthusiasts, specialists and non-specialists alike. In this respect it typifies books published by Yale University Press. But while it does not stress critical theory or intellectual debates, it rests on a rich repertory of sources and cites them frequently. Tibbetts has done his homework in assembling materials. In addition to citing published work in a wide range of fields, he draws on archival documents such as production notes and story conference memos, as well as on interviews he conducted with directors. Nonetheless, one sometimes has the impression that he is overly diligent, and the result is a mannered presentation that can hold up the reader. A surperabundance of quotations suggests that the author has not fully synthesized the material, and the rambling arguments ideally needed a serious amount of paraphrasing or judicious cutting. In addition, many cited authors receive excessive bona fides in the body of the text, as in ‘Rutgers University professor of philosophy Peter Kivy’ (p. 7). These practices imply that Tibbetts doesn’t trust the intellectual savvy of his readership.

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