CHAPTER 20 | CDS, MTV, AND POP SPECTACLE 503
timing section comments
0:00 slow Low-register French horns softly intone the fi ve-note minor-mode “Bat-theme”
twice over an almost inaudible tonic pedal point in the basses; irregular rhythm
obscures any sense of meter.
0:12 English horn enters with a more rhythmically stable version of the Bat-theme in
canon with the French horns. Glockenspiel ( bells) plays a repeating four-note
descending fi gure derived from the Bat-theme, establishing a duple meter.
0:19 A distant bass-drum stroke and growing volume from the lower instruments,
playing the Bat-theme in canon, set an ominous tone.
0:40 The crescendo reaches its peak as the Bat-theme is extended by one note, a “tail”
that resolves chromatically to a new, unexpected chord, the fi rst departure from
the sustained tonic triad; the entrance of a pipe organ heightens the gothic mood.
0:47 march Return to the tonic as brass establish an urgent march tempo, much faster than
the preceding.
0:50 French horns, then woodwinds, transform the Bat-theme into a march; a sudden
drop down a whole step is signaled by a trumpet fanfare.
1:01 Another drop of a whole step, as strings and low brass introduce a new, more
sustained version of the Bat-theme; falling arpeggios drop the key down a
further half step.
1:13 The key lurches downward a major third.
1:20 lyrical
development
At the gong stroke, the tempo increases, but the volume decreases and the
martial rhythm falls away; modulation down a perfect fi fth. A series of canonic
statements of the Bat-theme from low to high, ending with the chromatic tail
fi rst heard at 0:40.
1:39 At the second statement of the chromatic tail, shift to remote key a tritone away.
1:45 A pair of statements of the Bat-theme include the chromatic tail, harmonized
with a dissonance reminiscent of Tchaikovsky.
1:58 The second dissonance resolves unconventionally, with a modulation up a whole
step. A new idea alternates two chords, with an upper-register accompaniment
fi gure derived from the Bat-theme.
date: 1989
performers: Sinfonia of London; Shirley
Walker, conductor
genre: fi lm music
meter: changing
form: through-composed
WHAT TO LISTEN FOR
- scored for traditional symphony
orchestra - unifi ed by fi ve-note “Bat-theme”
- emphasis on minor keys, frequent
downward modulations
CD 4.6 Listening Guide 20.1 Title music from Batman DANNY ELFMAN
(continued)
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