MovieChat Forums > Classical Music > Set a painting to music

Set a painting to music

posted 8 years ago by continuousmonsterdrip
9 replies | jump to latest

Scored Paintings.

Pick a piece of music to accompany a painting. I've begun with a few paintings here and provided links. You don't have to provide links if you just want to name the piece of music and the painting. Obviously it would be easier if everyone provided links but I don't think IMDb is too keen on youtube links. Plus that is a lot of work.

Feel free to list your own examples of either the painting or the music. Of course there are no wrong answers. Also feel free to explain your pairings or to not explain them. Accompany my examples or create your own. So, to start this off:

1.) http://imgur.com/a/AOBCN - Jean-Léon Gérôme's "Duel After the Masquerade" to the music of Handel's Sarabande: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSAd3NpDi6Q
- I'm not sure I didn't cop-out with my accompaniment, considering I've seen/heard this music go well with duels in Barry Lyndon (1975), an example that is more time-period-appropriate than my pairing... but this piece was the first that came to mind.
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2.)http://imgur.com/a/VbjKJ - Jacques-Louis David's "Death of Marat"
to the music of the second movement of Beethoven's 7th Symphony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgHxmAsINDk
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3.)http://tinyurl.com/hhfubuf - Marc Chagall's "The Walk Man Holding Floating Woman as She Flies Above Him" to Bernstein's "Candide":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJU0lC3iHaY - This version in particular is very funny if you haven't seen it. The conductor is a pleasure to watch. Bearing in mind the adage about most of a conductor's work being pre-performance, I'm not to sure he isn't doing a terrific job! Also, this is actually my favorite performance of this piece.
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4.)http://imgur.com/a/fphh8 Goya's "The Witches Flight" - To the music of Stravinsky's "Augurs of Spring" from "The Rite of Spring" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFPjFjUonX8&t=1221s

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Well, you get the idea. This was more difficult than I'd imagined, or at least took more time than I thought it would.

Remember, you can suggest different music for the paintings I've selected, or pick new paintings altogether. Links are optional.

Will Hays is my shepherd, I shall not want. Wills prod and Will's gaff, they confound me.

[–] fud-slush 8 years ago

It's very tricky. I've tried to think of a painting that wold go well with Bach, but his music seems at odds with Baroque painting; in fact, it seems at odds with any painting period I can think of...it's as if as it's just too good for any sort of comparison.

I can only really think 20th century. Monet for bits (though not all) of Debussy or Ravel piano music. Madame Monet & her Son https://paintingowu.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/monet-madame-monet-and-her-son.jpg to Debussy's first Arabesque, perhaps, or the slow movement of Ravel's G major concerto.

The move away from tonal harmony seems to go brilliantly with the huge change in Europe leading up to & as a result of the First World War. I find it difficult to hear atonal music as anything but dark, even if it's beautiful. Munch's Scream springs to mind.

I just thought about Dvorak's 8th symphony, & this popped into my head:

http://kingofwallpapers.com/grey/grey-001.jpg

[–] Carl-LaFong 8 years ago

"I just thought about Dvorak's 8th symphony, & this popped into my head:

http://kingofwallpapers.com/grey/grey-001.jpg";



You're my wife now.

[–] fontinau 8 years ago

I'd say the closest thing to a contemporary analog to Bach is Tiepolo - the differences are obvious; and maybe you could argue that they're merely, more or less, the differences between Venice and Saxony - but each is in his field the last great practitioner of the old complex style.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Battista_Tiepolo#W.C3.BCrzburg_Residenz_.281750.E2.80.931753.29

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[–] fud-slush 8 years ago

I feel terrible in having to admit that I've not even heard of Tiepolo, let alone know any of his work...but thank you for the introduction!

I guess it depends on how you hear Bach, if you see what I mean, but would you say that his paintings (which I need to explore) echo Bach's unique knack for aurally reflecting the beauty or hideousness of humanity?

[–] fontinau 8 years ago

I guess it depends on how you hear Bach, if you see what I mean, but would you say that his paintings (which I need to explore) echo Bach's unique knack for aurally reflecting the beauty or hideousness of humanity?
I guess I would, at least to some extent. Though with Tiepolo you certainly get much more emphasis on the beauty - like I said, he's Venetain.

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[–] continuousmonsterdrip 8 years ago

Those are great examples. I thought this was tricky too and I wish I had spent more time with the OP examples.

Your vision for Dvorak's 8th reminds me of a composer who would have knocked this exercise out of the park: Scriabin. He was a synesthete. I forget where I read this (probably in liner notes) but Scriabin invented some kind of a keyboard that played colors instead of notes. The reading didn't give many details so I'm still trying to figure out how that could be done practically, functionally. Do you, or does anyone know any of the logistics for this Scriabin creation?

Will Hays is my shepherd, I shall not want. Wills prod and Will's gaff, they confound me.

[–] continuousmonsterdrip 8 years ago

The move away from tonal harmony seems to go brilliantly with the huge change in Europe leading up to & as a result of the First World War. I find it difficult to hear atonal music as anything but dark, even if it's beautiful. Munch's Scream springs to mind. I forgot to comment on this interesting point. There certainly are parallels to be drawn between the various progressions of otherwise separate arts. Fascinating.

Debussy is almost an obvious example of this because it seems he was consciously trying, and succeeding at writing very visual music. Visuals that corresponded very well with his contemporaries in other fields, i.e. Monet and the Impressionists. Post-Impressionism as well.

I'm wondering if other art movements had veritable corresponding representatives in music.

Who would be the Art Nouveau composer? Erik Satie? How about his Gnossienne No. 3 https://youtu.be/D30LAzub2gs?t=20 for Charles Rennie Mackintosh's "Part Seen, Imagined Part": http://imgur.com/a/bt4pF

Will Hays is my shepherd, I shall not want. Wills prod and Will's gaff, they confound me.

[–] fud-slush 8 years ago

Ah yes, Scriabin. I wasn't aware of that keboard, just that he associated various keys with colours. Call me a pretentiouos qunt but I do a little too. D major is always bright yellows, A major reds, & the multi-flat keys such Gb & Db warms oranges & browns.

Godowsky's famous for all those piano arrangements & transcriptions, as I'm sure you know. He did one of Saint-Saens' Le Cygne. It's usually in G but he brought it down to Gb, & that combined with his love of chromaticisms gave it a wonderfully warm & watery feel which I don't think is so evident in the original G major, not that that was Saint-Saens' intention. I prefer the Godowsky version!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b44-5M4e9nI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dbyu4Qh0YYA