Listening to Stanley Kubrick

by Gengaro, Christine Lee

  Kubrick provided to Alex North a list of places where he thought there should be music, and he described to North what he thought should be there. Under the heading of “Reel IX and Reel XI,” for example, Kubrick lists the following events in the film with corresponding musical ideas:11

  Reel IX

  Empty arena – NIGHT LOVE THEME

  DRABA HANGING BROODING THEME

  KITCHEN—GLADIATORS ENTER—MUSIC OUT

  LS ESCAPING UPHILL—HEROIC THEME

  Reel XI

  GLABRUS—NO MUSIC

  OYSTERS AND SNAILS—EXOTIC, SHIMMERING MUSIC

  In addition to these musical guidelines, six months later, Kubrick made a list of “musical sweeteners,” which are musical additions to cues that have already been written (for example, an additional musical line added to a recorded cue). Once again, they’re organized by reel. Reel 7, for example, needed three sweeteners:

  1. Sweetener after Kirk’s fall in Draba fight.

  2. Sweetener for night brooding sequence.

  3. New music cue for breakout starting with Kirk’s lunge at Marcellus.12

  Music played an important role on set. Both Kubrick and Douglas knew that directors of silent movies would play appropriately emotional music for the actors to help them get into character or to set the mood. In Spartacus, Kubrick decided to use the technique for scenes that were shot without sound (sound to be added later), and it proved to be very effective.13 This is the first time it’s mentioned that Kubrick used music on set to inspire the actors, but it would not be the last.

  North was excited about the challenge of the project. It was certainly a bigger film than anything he had worked on before, a multimillion-dollar epic, and North wanted to do his very best. In addition to researching ancient music, North investigated different kinds of instruments to use on the score. The subject matter of the film, and the skill of the players in the orchestra, gave North free rein to experiment with both “exotic ethnic instruments, and various unusual combinations of instrumental groups within a large symphonic orchestra.”14

  North’s score for Spartacus was massive. The film itself was more than three hours long, and North’s music was present for more than two-thirds of the screen time. Norman Kagan reasoned that the film valued action over dialogue. This leaves much of the dramatic weight on the physical characteristics of the actors—their facial expressions and bodily movements—and on the music.15 The official cue sheet for the film has more than seventy musical cues over twenty-six reels.16 In her biography of Alex North, Sanya Henderson provides a detailed analysis of the score to Spartacus, outlining a number of musical phrases that take on meaning and are repeated throughout the film. The technique is the use of what are called leitmotifs.

  The concept of the leitmotif was born in the Romantic period in music (roughly corresponding with the nineteenth century). Any music that has no text, but aims to relate a narrative or some nonmusical idea is called programmatic. A number of composers in the Romantic period began assigning extra-musical meaning to their compositions and specifically to musical phrases. In 1830, French composer Hector Berlioz wrote a programmatic, five-movement symphony about a man who falls in love with a woman. The object of affection was musically represented by the idée fixe, a melody that would appear whenever the main character encountered her or even thought of her in the course of the narrative. Opera composers of the late Classical and early Romantic periods would use what are called “reminiscence motifs,” musical melodies that represented characters, emotions, or events and could create connections among them within the drama. The reminiscence motifs often appeared unchanged and were not often used extensively throughout an entire work.

  German opera composer Richard Wagner, however, extensively used leitmotifs. Although Wagner himself did not use the term, it is most closely associated with his operas. A leitmotif in a Wagner opera could represent something abstract like love, or something concrete, like a sword. Leitmotifs included everything from characters to emotions, and Wagner’s use of them was all-encompassing; one opera might contain dozens and dozens of leitmotifs.17 In contrast to reminiscence motifs, leitmotifs may form a system that can reach over multiple works. In Wagner’s Ring Cycle, a set of four operas that tells a single complex narrative, the composer uses leitmotifs that retain their meaning throughout all four operas. There is a web of leitmotifs shared among these works that is both complicated and subtle. The orchestral appearance of many leitmotifs in a single scene might musically paint an intricate picture of what is going on in the story.

  Leitmotifs emerge in the orchestra, rather than in the sung parts, and they often reveal the true thoughts or feelings of the characters onstage. They might reveal subtext that is different from what was being sung. The fact that these musical ideas conveyed ideas beyond the words made them ideally suited for film. Leitmotifs might easily lead the audience into associations or emotions to help the narrative move forward.

  Leitmotifs in film can refer to emotions or objects, but often musical themes are there to identify specific characters. Many of the early film composers used the technique, and indeed the idea of what film music scholar Mervyn Cooke calls “codified scoring practices based on the economic variation of recognizable themes according to dramatic context” had been in place since the 1920s.18 Although leitmotifs were used by composers like Max Steiner and Erich Korngold, their use was by no means universally praised and accepted. Outspoken critics of film music like Theodor Adorno and Hans Eisler, for example, deplored the use of these musical signals, which, they complained, were rather simplistic and repetitive and not at all creative. They also argued that a film score provided an inadequate amount of music in which to explore a musical leitmotif; its meaning could never be developed beyond the very rudimentary recognition of a character or emotion. Film scores must serve the visual narrative and therefore have cuts and interruptions that don’t allow the composer the necessary continuity to explore the themes.19

  Despite the complaints of Adorno, Eisler, and others, the leitmotif technique has survived into the present day. Perhaps the most successful film composer of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century who used the leitmotif technique is John Williams. Like Wagner before him, Williams extended a system of leitmotifs beyond a single work. Williams’ scores to the six films of the Star Wars series and his scores to the first three Harry Potter films each use a system of musical gestures that develop throughout, while retaining the same basic meaning in all of the movies.

  North’s use of the leitmotif technique in Spartacus was particularly effective, since it allowed the audience to recognize—within North’s wall-to-wall score—certain important musical gestures. The character of Spartacus has a theme, as do the slaves. Spartacus’s love interest, Varinia, also has her own theme. North not only wrote different melodies for these themes but chose different instrumentation based on the context of the scene. The orchestra at North’s disposal had almost ninety pieces, including some unusual instruments North thought would enhance the sound of the cues.20 He was also aware of the emotional associations of certain instrumentation.

  I tried for a deliberately cold and barbaric quality, avoiding strings until the thirteenth reel, when the love story begins to blossom between Kirk Douglas and Jean Simmons. . . . I relied on combinations of brass, woodwinds and some quite unusual and exotic percussion—for instance, I underscored a party scene with Novachord, vibes, marimba, boo-bams, crotales, fixed piano, harp, lute, guitar, sleigh bells (various pitches) and Chinese tree bell.21

  North clearly equates the strings with love, but in contrast Bernd Schultheis, composer and Kubrick scholar, believes that the use of strings—not just in Spartacus but across Kubrick’s oeuvre—represents loneliness or solitude. He uses as an example the scene in which Roman senator Crassus attempts to seduce Varinia. The instrumentation of the cue is solo violin (emphasizing Varinia’s aloneness without Spartacus) accompanied by other string instruments and ondioline, an
electronic keyboard instrument. Varinia refuses the advances of Crassus, refuses to love him. Varinia’s theme—a symbol of the love between Varinia and Spartacus—emerges as almost an echo in her memory and plays against a theme associated with Crassus. Schultheis explains that the combination of leitmotifs shows “Varinia’s faithfulness towards Spartacus and her steadfastness.”22

  Synopsis and Score Description for Spartacus

  Spartacus begins with an overture of triumphant music.23 Like the overtures to many operas, it is, in fact, derived from cues within the main work. Despite the ending of the film, which involves the crucifixion and death of the title character, the music here betrays none of the troubles ahead. It is straightforward and lively, with a parade-like atmosphere. Spartacus’s theme is a fanfare. After the overture, the triumphant music continues through the main titles. Drum cadences on the snare proliferate in the main title, suggesting the martial music of soldiers or of training. For the visuals, Kubrick has chosen stills of a statuary, but mostly small details: hands, the very tips of swords, a pair of lips, Latin inscriptions in stone. As the musical cue grows louder and more frantic, Kubrick switches to the images of faces in sculpture. He fades them in and out, while the cue crescendos to a fever pitch. As the music bubbles over, the last face begins to splinter and crumble, a symbol of the fall of Rome. One musical cue that is absent from the overture and the main titles is the theme that represents Varinia and the relationship between her and Spartacus.

  As the voiceover explains that Rome is “fatally stricken with a disease called human slavery,” North has chosen instrumentation for the cue that seems to echo the work of the slaves: metallic percussion sounds and the plucking of the harp (along with low brass), which mimic the pick and axe work of the slaves in the mines. The melody is in a minor key. After Batiatus chooses Spartacus as one of his gladiators, they travel to Capua accompanied by a modal melody.24 No music accompanies Batiatus’s speech to the slaves, their branding, or the beginning of the training by Marcellus.

  The next musical cue appears after Batiatus and Marcellus choose a female companion for Spartacus. Varinia is sent to Spartacus and when she enters his cell, the cue begins when Spartacus first sees her. As Henderson explains, the cue’s “basic motif is a simple broken triad which changes the mood between minor and major during the course of the music cue.”25 The theme is played at first by a solo oboe. The choice of this particular instrument might have had many meanings for North. The oboe, a double reed, has a thin timbre, perhaps illustrating Varinia’s loneliness. The cue is easily recognizable by the initial leap of a fifth, and then the drop of a third. The final note of the first three lands on the downbeat, anchoring the gesture. As Spartacus looks at her in wonder, the theme is taken up by the oboe d’amore, a lower instrument in the same family that has a slightly warmer sound. When Spartacus tells her he’s never had a woman, the cue changes to the major mode, and Varinia turns to face him, removing her tunic. The conclusion of the theme is interrupted by the jeers and laughter of Marcellus and Batiatus. The cue continues after Spartacus tells them to go away and gives Varinia back her tunic.

  Kubrick then juxtaposes scenes of Spartacus and the gladiators training—accompanied by North’s loud and raucous music—and scenes in which Spartacus and Varinia steal glances at each other. In the scene in which Marcellus is showing areas of attack by painting Spartacus’s body with different colors, we hear an echo of Varinia’s theme. Here, the leitmotif shows us that underneath all the training, Spartacus is still thinking of her. And in this scene, she does appear, drawing Spartacus’s attention away from training. Marcellus notices this and he forces Spartacus to look at her. In the next scene, Spartacus is in his cell and the women are being offered to the gladiators. His door opens and Varinia enters, accompanied by a fragment of her cue (the major version) played on the violin, but Marcellus takes her away, leaving Spartacus alone in his cell. To emphasize Spartacus’s loneliness, North gives us just the opening triad of Varinia’s theme in the oboe (and in the minor version).

  At a meal, Spartacus and the other gladiators sit and wait for food. The music tells us that Spartacus is thinking of Varinia, but North has transformed the theme somewhat, as if her feelings are transforming. It’s clear that Spartacus feels strongly for her, but we’re not certain how she feels about him. It’s in this scene that Varinia’s expression seems to change. Spartacus’s genuine concern for her is causing her to fall in love with him. The soft and gentle quality of this theme is followed immediately by the dissonant and rhythmically complex training music. Back in the kitchen, Varinia pours Spartacus water and the loving theme returns. They briefly touch hands and exchange a cautious smile.

  The entrance of Crassus, essentially the film’s villain, is heralded by a cue heavily orchestrated with brass and percussion. Henderson characterizes it as “pompous,” and indeed Crassus fits the description.26 A scene follows in which Crassus and his friends impose upon Batiatus to arrange two pairs of gladiators to fight to the death, and while this action goes on, soft music can be heard in the background. It is low in the mix because it was likely meant to represent music being played in Batiatus’s house, for his guests. Again, North uses a modal melody, this time for music that is supposed to be contemporary within the narrative. Since Varinia is serving them, it is fitting that the opening leap of the fifth from her cue is echoed in the music. This sourced music—although the source remains unseen—continues in the next scene. Crassus arranges to buy Varinia, and consequently this music becomes significant for their interactions. This theme will appear again, when the two are reunited at Crassus’s house toward the end of the film.

  Slow, serious music plays as Spartacus and fellow gladiator Draba wait their turn to fight. As the fight between Crixus and Galino comes to a close—with Galino’s death—the music surges to a crescendo. Drums and cymbals accompany the entrance of Spartacus and Draba to the arena. North scored the music for the opening of the actual fight with percussion, harp, and woodwinds. The theme is complex and integrates snare rolls with the previous music North associated with the slaves. After the fight, in which Draba does not kill Spartacus, whom he has bested, the music takes a brief pause. It returns as the gladiators file back to their quarters and pass Draba’s corpse, which is hanging upside down as a warning to the others (Draba had attacked Crassus and his friends rather than kill Spartacus; Crassus stabbed him). The musical cue here is appropriately called “Brooding,”27 as Kubrick treats us to close-ups of individual characters, each seeming pensive.

  The music that accompanies the gladiators’ rebellion has low, fast-moving notes played by the strings. Once most of the gladiators begin to escape, there is more percussion and brass. Within this cue, the fanfare associated with Spartacus can be heard. As the slaves run from the compound, the music becomes triumphant, and this music bleeds over into the title card that announces we are now in Rome. The scenes in the Senate are unscored; music might have been too much for these dialogue-heavy scenes. The next cue was written for Crassus’s arrival at his home.28 It is a short cue, similar in spirit to the cue that heralded the character’s first appearance. A scene of the slaves burning houses and looting is accompanied by drums.

  Spartacus returns to the abandoned gladiator school. As he enters his old cell, we hear Varinia’s theme. Spartacus then goes out to see the other slaves, who are watching two older men, patricians, fight for their enjoyment. Unwilling to watch such a spectacle, Spartacus puts forth the idea that the slaves should travel to the coast and escape the country by sea. Their journey is accompanied by North’s triumphant music from the overture. At one point, a group of escaped slaves meets up with Spartacus’s group, and one of them is Varinia; her theme appears just as Spartacus realizes she’s there. North combines her music with the music of the gladiators, almost as if Spartacus’s feelings are torn between his duty to his men and his desire to be with Varinia. Varinia’s theme takes over when Spartacus lets the men go on without him to reunite w
ith Varinia. As they travel on horseback across a ridge in front of an orange sky, Varinia’s theme is played by the trumpets, no longer relegated to a quiet solo. Varinia and Spartacus are free and in love, and the music is suitably joyful as they ride away.

  The next musical cue is the one that Kubrick described as “exotic shimmering music,” and it accompanies the scene between Crassus and his young Sicilian slave, Antoninus. This scene was cut from the film because of its suggestion of Crassus’s bisexuality.29 Crassus, who is being washed by Antoninus in a large bathtub, attempts to seduce Antoninus by engaging him in a metaphorical discussion about oysters and snails. In the intervening years since Spartacus was released in 1960, the dialogue track was lost, so the scene was re-dubbed in 1991 for the restored edition of the film. Tony Curtis, who had portrayed Antoninus in the film, dubbed in Antoninus’s lines, while Anthony Hopkins—who knew and worked with Laurence Olivier—provided Crassus’s dialogue (Olivier died in 1989). North achieved a shimmering effect in the score by using innovative instrumentation. Henderson lists the instruments in this cue as: vibraphone, marimba, crotales, tuned bongos, Novachord, guitar, piano, harp, lute, and Chinese bells.30

  The following scene shows Spartacus on horseback touring his camp. This music has as shifting metrical pulse, which seems to propel it forward. It is a buoyant cue, full of hope and promise. The scene shows many aspects of the camp, the men standing guard over the valley, the escaped slaves training and learning to fight (using some of the same techniques used at the gladiator school), Varinia bathing the children of the camp, and the introduction of new recruits, including Antoninus, who has escaped from Crassus. The merry music of the camp is contrasted in the next scene with the music of the Roman garrison (led by Glabrus). Instead of shifting meters, Glabrus’s music is a relentless military call for trumpets. The difference in the musical cues for Spartacus’s group and the Roman army echoes the variable quality of the former and the trained precision of the latter. When we return to the camp some unknown time later, the operation of day-to-day life seems to be going even more smoothly. The music, now a steady meter, shows that this group is also growing in precision. The montage shows training exercises featuring a fitter, faster group of “soldiers.” They perform difficult maneuvers on horseback. Kubrick shows individuals riding up to gourds (attached to sticks) and slashing through them. North accents the action by providing a cymbal hit for each gourd’s “decapitation.”