MY PERSONAL IMPRESSIONS OF STANLEY KUBRICK'S

USE OF MUSIC IN TWO OF HIS FILMS, WITH REFERENCE

TO THE ESSAYS:

“MUSIC, STRUCTURE AND METAPHOR IN STANLEY

KUBRICK’S 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY” DE DAVID W.
PATTERSON AND “AMBIGUITIES OF VIOLENCE IN
BEETHOVEN’S NINTH THROUGH THE EYES OF
STANLEY KUBRICK’S A CLOCKWORK ORANGE” DE
PETER HÖYNG

LIC. ROSA ELENA DÍAZ AGUILERA

ESCUELA DE MÚSICA DEL ESTADO DE HIDALGO

3ER. CUATRIMESTRE DE INGLÉS APLICADO AL CINE DE LA MAESTRÍA

EN COMPOSICIÓN DE MÚSICA PARA CINEMATOGRAFÍA

MTRO. ANDRÉS FRANCO MEDINA-MORA

PACHUCA, HGO. JULY 2021.

After watching the films 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange and analysing
the essays "Music, Structure and Metaphor in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space
Odyssey" and "Ambiguities of Violence in Beethoven's Ninth through the Eyes of
Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange" by David W. Patterson and Peter Hö yng,
respectively; I will give my personal impressions paying more attention to the music
of the films.

The music used by Kubrick in 2001: A Space Odyssey is very particular, as he had
commissioned original music from composer Alex North; he composed the required
part of the score in record time and ultimately nothing he had done was used. Kubrick
preferred well-known works by great classical composers such as Richard Strauss,
with Also Sprach Zarathustra, Johann Strauss, with Blue Danube Waltz, Gyö rgi Ligeti,
with Atmosphères, Kyrie and Lux Aeterna, and Aram Khachaturian, with Gayane's
Adagio.

The fact that Kubrick did not mention to North that his music would not be used, tells
us in the first instance about someone inconsiderate, but also someone perfectionist
and controlling, agile minded, tied to his ideas; so much so, he could not get out of his
mind the grandeur of listening to the pre-existing music that he had meticulously
chosen. Generally, in a film the music adapts to the images, this time it was the
opposite; Kubrick shot many of his images following the rhythm of the selected music.

North was not the only one offended, Ligeti, alive at the time, also did not know that
his music would be used for the film; after an agreement the composer agreed that it
would be used, as for him this would represent the internationalisation of his music.
This film revolves around Kubrick's admiration for technology, arithmetic, geometry,
astronomy and, of course, music.

Structure and proportion are very important, even Patterson mentions the numerical
observations made by Carolyn Geduld: it took 4 years to complete, it is divided into 4
episodes, it covers 4 million years, 4 main characters (man, machine, alien and
universe), according to my point of view, the music would be another character; he
used music by 4 composers, etc. The film can be seen from many points of view, not
only from a numerological perspective, but there are other analyses that see the music
used as a series of structural patterns; they relate it to the music of the spheres and
the celestial bodies.

The mere introduction of the film with the theme of Also Sprach Zarathustra, tells me
about emotions, about great emotions; I have no doubt that Kubrick carefully
observed all these scientific canons, but I consider that his greatest trigger was , in the
cases of Strauss and Khachaturian , familiarity with these themes and , in the case
from Ligeti , the opposite, but in the same way how easy it is turns out link atonal
music with the strange, with fears and with the unknown, without having to use the
clichés of space music. In fact, Paterson says that Kubrick used the Kyrie of Ligeti as a
Leitmotiv that shows us how difficult it is for us turns out understand technological
advances.
The musical pieces taken from their cultural context, may seem at first sight, alien to
the images; but they are enveloping and thanks to the contrast they merge, increasing
the visual. The images seem to float between and through the music. Kubrick
decontextualised and gave the music its own meaning; "The most controversial use of
classical music in the fantastic cinema"— Patterson p. 470.
There is very little diegetic music and after the first hour of the film, sound effects
appear, breaths that create a "silent vacuum" and the music picks up again until the
final part of the film.

A touching musical moment is during the death of HAL 9000, the super intelligent
computer that imitates human inflections and feelings, which takes bad decisions
when its mission is threatened; when Frank -the main character- is disconnecting it
little by little, HAL asks him with regret not to do it, while "dying" he sings Daisy Bell,
-song interpreted by a real computer- showing the world an important technological
advance.

Classical composers are present in most of Kubrick's films and his film A Clockwork
Orange is no exception, with the Dies Irae theme, the overture to Rossini's Barber of
Seville and William Tell, Rimsky-Korsakov's Scherezade, Elgar's Circumstance March,
even Herb Brown's Singin' in the Rain; but the main music around which the story
revolves is Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

A Clockwork Orange is a psychological film with a complex theme, based on ultra-

violence. Alex, the protagonist, is ecstatic to exercise his violent power over other
people, tortures, rapes and murders without feeling any remorse. He is an
unscrupulous, misogynistic being who reverently admires Beethoven and listening to
his symphony number 9 in particular, gives him indescribable pleasure.

Hö yng argues that Kubrick amplifies the symphony as a paradigm of aggressive acts,
while it is also an aesthetic icon, with political baggage - Hitler also loved it. As a
musician I find it hard to see this point of view, for me the 9th has represented a very
powerful song of love and hope, with great character, of course; but I don't find
violence in it. If Friedrich Schiller's original texts are taken, they look like a secular
poem, celebrating freedom and joy; but the subtext he may have wanted to give it may
be different from the textual; Hö yng suggests that it is an announcement to the new
community that the new order is coming through violence - an act of liberation from
tyranny.

Kubrick makes a relationship between sex, sin, violence, and redemption with 9th.
leaving a very clear message for the spectator, but he also mentions that he thought
the public would recognize Beethoven as a symbol of civilization and ideals. Taking a
hopeful topic is the antithesis of evil, so it can be exciting to use it as a counterpoint
for less virtuous acts. Proof of this is also when Alex sings the positive melody Singin
'in the Rain on several occasions, while exerting brutal violence.
The violence in the film is present all the time and in many forms; could it be that
society exercises violence and judges it according to its own convenience? The main
one that causes him a lot of anguish is the way in which he is subjected to his
therapeutic "cure", injecting him with a cocktail of substances that make him feel very
bad and have strong nausea, forcing him at the same time to watch, without being able
to close his eyes or turn his head, scenes of ultra-violence, including sexual violence,
while Beethoven’s 9th sounds loud to make him relate it to this negative sensation
and feel repulsion for any violent act; to which he screams that it is a sin, it is a sin to
relate evil to his favourite music and to Beethoven, as he has not harmed anyone.
Listening to what was once delight for him is now torture. "From its inception, the
utopia of liberty carries the stains of aggression" — Hö yng, p. 172.

To conclude it can be said that Kubrick, as a connoisseur of music, gives music a very
important and powerful role as an inspiration and visual trigger that helps him to
nurture and generate his stories. He also gives it a different voice because of the
decontextualization he gives it. Although I must admit that for Kubrick, being such a
lover of technology and enjoying scientific innovations, using "non-current" music of
his time or original music may seem a contradiction, but the power of creation that
music exerts on him is indisputable.
In the two films mentioned above, he leaves open the premise of the non-existence of
a definitive temporality and makes music speak as another character in the film,
giving it even greater importance than dialogues.

“A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of
moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes
later.” — Stanley Kubrick.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Patterson, W. David, Music, Structure and Metaphor in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A

Space Odyssey, University of Illinois, 2004.

Höyng, Peter, Ambiguities of Violence in Beethoven’s Ninth through the Eyes of Stanley
Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, American Association of Teachers of German, 2011.

FILMOGRAPHY

2001: A Space Odyssey – Dir. Stanley Kubrick, Comp. Richard Strauss, Johann
Strauss, Gyö rgi Ligeti and Aram Khachaturian – 1968, UK, E.U.

A Clockwork Orange – Dir. Stanley Kubrick, Comp. Beethoven, Rossini and others,
Arr. Wendy Carlos – 1971, UK, E.U.