Concerto Struggles: Male Pianists
• Shell-shocked stupor: Dangerous Moonlight96 (UK, 1941).
In what is probably the best-known "concerto film" of the World War II era,97 Stefan Radetzky is a Polish pianist who composes his "Warsaw Concerto" for his fiancée Carole. "This is your melody," Stefan tells her, ascribing the main theme’s inspiration to his muse. He also establishes the concerto as a musical expression of their relationship: "This music is you and me. It’s the story of the two of us in Warsaw, of us in America, of us in—where else I don’t know. That’s why I can’t finish it." But their marriage is soon consummated, and Stefan premieres the completed work in a climactic performance alongside Beethoven’s "Emperor" Concerto and the Schumann Piano Concerto, but then he is immediately drafted to fight for his country. After being shot down in an air battle, Stefan lives in an uncomprehending torpor, and pounds out dissonant, cacophonous clusters on his piano. Faithful and patient Carole rouses him from his shell-shocked stupor by softly humming "their" theme, and Stefan is restored to relationship as the concerto’s "mutual rondo" sounds. The "Warsaw Concerto" became the first best-selling recording of music from a film soundtrack,98 and a favorite composition for amateur pianists.99 Its main theme quickly became a nostalgic standard for dance bands and ballroom orchestras,100 and in the late 1950s it was also adapted into a song titled "The World Outside."101
• Disfigured desire: Phantom of the Opera102 (1943).
In this re-telling of Gaston LeRoux’s familiar tale, Enrique Claudin is a violinist in the Paris Opera orchestra who harbors a secret love for the singer Christine DuBois, and pursues another secret passion: composing his own piano concerto103 (by Edward Ward) based on a melody the two of them once shared. After an accident scars his face, humiliated Claudin retreats to the catacombs of the Opera, and as "the Phantom" he terrorizes the company in order to advance Christine’s career. A plot to lure the Phantom out of hiding involves a performance of his piano concerto by none other than Franz Liszt! Meanwhile, Claudin has taken Christine hostage, and forces her to sing along to his composition, an act of involuntary musical consummation. She tears away his mask, revealing Claudin’s horrible disfigurement, whereupon the soundtrack concerto suddenly disintegrates into a series of dramatic dissonant chords—their "mutual rondo" is destroyed. Christine is rescued, and the Phantom is crushed by the collapsing walls of the catacomb. Back in safety, Christine ponders, "He called that his concerto, and yet it’s written around the melody of my song!" while her rescuer (and true love interest) comforts her with the assurance that "his suffering and madness will be forgotten, but his music, his concerto, will remain."
• Psychosis and pyromania: Hangover Square104 (1945).
Pianist-composer George Harvey Bone is trying to complete his long-awaited concerto (Bernard Herrmann’s "Concerto Macabre") with the encouragement of his fiancée, Barbara. Her father, a distinguished conductor, offers to premiere the work at his musical soirée—thus George must finish the composition to secure his career and win the conductor’s daughter’s hand in marriage. But he secretly suffers from a Jekyll/Hyde-type schizophrenia which induces uncontrollable murderous deeds whenever he hears loud or discordant sounds (for example, he strangles and burns the body of the seductive Netta, a "figurative castrator"105 who steals his concerto melodies for her cabaret songs). A suspicious psychiatrist advises George to take a rest from his music: "If a man lives completely in himself, if he upsets the normal balance between work and play, the mind may rebel. … It may cause him to do strange or even dangerous things." On the evening of the premiere, the doctor warns him against performing the concerto: "The strain of playing may be too much. Your mind might break down and do some uncontrollable thing." Indeed, another attack comes on during the climactic performance, and the ailing George frantically begs his fiancée, "I can’t continue! Please play for me, Barbara!" She takes over midway through the piece, but this substitution does not constitute a symbolic consummation of two concerto agents together; she is merely his long-suffering muse and temporary stand-in.106 In an effort to escape, George sets off a fire, but he will not be deterred from hearing his new concerto to the very end. After Barbara flees the conflagration, he resumes his place at the piano as the flames engulf him.
• Blindness and bitterness: Night Song107 (1947).
Dan Evans is an embittered pianist who cannot complete his own half-written concerto because of an accident that has caused him to go blind. "It’ll never get finished ... because the pictures stopped a year and a half ago," he laments, an explanation that recalls the synthesis of visual and musical aspects around the soundtrack piano concerto. Catherine Mallory, a wealthy young socialite, falls in love with Dan, and pretends to be blind herself to cultivate his trust and determination to overcome his affliction. She encourages his composing, and secretly arranges his first-place win in a composition competition. With the prize money, Dan undergoes a successful operation to regain his sight, and eventually wins it all: his concerto, his sight, and a devoted muse whom he marries. In another instance of romantic nostalgia triggered by concerto music, the climactic performance scene provides the melodramatic soundtrack accompaniment to flashback scenes of the young couple’s love affair. Pianist Artur Rubinstein has a cameo role in Night Song, in which he performs the concerto (composed for the film by Leith Stevens) with Eugene Ormandy and the New York Philharmonic.
References
96. Directed by Brian Desmond Hurst, starring Anton Walbrook (Stefan Radetzky) and Sally Grey (Carol Peters).
97. For a further discussion of the historical context of this and other war-time films about pianists, see my chapter "Hollywood’s Embattled Icon," in Piano Roles: Three Hundred Years of Life with the Piano, ed. James Parakilas (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000): 328-357.
98. Including renditions (all 78rpm recordings from the late 1940s) by Carmen Cavallaro and his orchestra (Decca), Claude Thornhill and his orchestra (Columbia), Andre Kostelanetz and his orchestra (Columbia), Leo Litwin and the Boston Pops Orchestra (RCA Victor), and Harry Kaufman and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Los Angeles (Decca).
99. The Warsaw Concerto," arranged for piano solo by Henry Geehl (New York: Chappell, 1942; also published in London by Keith Prowse, in Paris by Publications F. Day, and in Cologne by Bosworth). Among the work’s numerous arrangements (for piano and concert band, for violin and piano, cello and piano, piano accordion, organ, etc.) should be mentioned Percy Grainger’s version for two pianos, four hands (London: Keith Prowse, 1946) and "The Liberace Version" (New York: Chappell, 1955).
100. For example, the "Theme from the Warsaw Concerto" is included alongside "The White Cliffs of Dover" and "Sentimental Journey" on Sentimental Love Songs of World War II (1955), with Art Mooney and his orchestra and chorus (Kapp).
101. Lyrics by Carl Sigman (New York: Chappell, 1958).
102. Directed by Arthur Lubin, starring Claude Rains (Erique Claudin), Susanna Foster (Christine DuBois), and Fritz Leiber (Franz Liszt).
103. Why a violinist would be composing a piano concerto is not explained by the story, but this detail does suggest that the mythology of romantic struggle and conquest surrounding the soundtrack piano concerto would make it a useful plot device.
104. Directed by John Brahm, starring Laird Cregar (George Harvey Bone), Faye Marlowe (Barbara Chapman), and Linda Darnell (Netta Longden).
105. Claudia Gorbman discusses this film in a chapter of her book, Unheard Melodies: Narrative Film Music (Bloomington: Indiana University Press): 151-161.
106. In the final concert scene, Gorbman writes, "George runs amok, his two ‘selves’ having joined in an impossible union" (155), a solipsistic and ultimately self-defeating form of consummation.
107. Directed by John Cromwell, starring Dana Andrews (Dan Evans) and Merle Oberon (Catherine Mallory/Mary Willey).