# Macbeth: Music for King Duncan's Deathstorm



## Cstov (Jul 21, 2013)

*Hello Everyone! I'm completely, brand spanking new to your page!*

I know nothing of music, so I am willing to take any criticism, or to be corrected.

*I'm in the end stages of planning a performance of Shakespeare's Macbeth.*
In my production I'm most concerned with the clearest communication of the ideas already present in this piece. I'm using lots of CGI, audience interaction and then the final layer is music. I hate leaving anything for the last minute or for even the last weeks of rehearsal, I believe that each part of a play is part of an emergent system, and everything, at one point, gets to have center stage. Though I am not schooled in music, it is extremely important to me, and I want it to have as many moments to speak as possible.

*So far I am playing:*
"Games of the Rival Tribes" over the battle in the beginning of the piece. In order to get across one of the ideas of "Doubtless it stood, as two swimmers who do cling together to choke their art", the battle is represented by two men killing one another with bare hands, after their swords and flags have fallen. 
I think the music conceptually fits the action and contrasts with the next scene, in which a captain boasts of the exploits of the brave Macbeth over the merciless Macdonwald. During that speech, I play strains of "Hungarian March" from Faust.

These themes are repeated, Faust being played again during the final battle and "Glorification of the Chosen Victim" being played as Malcom thrusts Macbeths head above the crowd in victory. It's all a way I can talk about primitive violence in war and the labels of acceptance that war gives to violence for its utilization.

Also I show the victimization of Macbeth, he is a product of a fictional environment of violence, witchcraft and deadly social climbing. Macbeth is a play about environment and manipulation.

Also whenever Macbeth breaks a "bond" (whenever he loses his senses, and this happens quite a bit: he loses his "taste of fear", his "pauser: reason", his meaning in life, his "great bond", his "sight" ect) I wanted to play the four notes of "Tchaikovsky's cross", out of order. I wanted the "cross" in the music to be broken. I'm not religious, but I needed a significant marker for each of these moments. I wanted a few notes to signify those important moments, so that a casual observer makes the link between them, and a music lover (one much more advanced than I) might get in on a further joke.

If any of this doesn't work for you, please let me know why, and any alternatives that might go better in their place.

*The Problem:*
I have no music for the storm that rages in the night after Duncan's murder. I'm going to show a CGI projection of the storm, which wakes Macbeth in his sleep. He'll turn away from it, screaming, then the lights go out.
Just to give you an idea of the apocalyptic, black hole-meets-trogdor flavor:

LENNOX 
54 The night has been unruly: where we lay, 
55 Our chimneys were blown down; and, as they say, 
56 Lamentings heard i' the air; strange screams of death, 
57 And prophesying with accents terrible 
58 Of dire combustion and confused events 
59 New hatch'd to the woeful time: the obscure bird 
60 Clamour'd the livelong night: some say, the earth 
61 Was feverous and did shake.

Even the aftermath is terrifying:

ROSS 
Ha, good father, 
5 Thou seest, the heavens, as troubled with man's act, 
6 Threaten his bloody stage. By the clock, 'tis day, 
7 And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp: 
8 Is't night's predominance, or the day's shame, 
9 That darkness does the face of earth entomb, 
10 When living light should kiss it?

Old Man 
'Tis unnatural, 
11 Even like the deed that's done. On Tuesday last, 
12 A falcon, towering in her pride of place, 
13 Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at and kill'd.

ROSS 
14 And Duncan's horses-a thing most strange and certain- 
15 Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race, 
16 Turn'd wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out, 
17 Contending 'gainst obedience, as they would make 
18 War with mankind.

Old Man 
'Tis said they eat each other.

I need music that either eludes to the concept of such an event, references it directly, or makes my audience feel the kind of terror a villager might have felt in such a storm.

I'm a huge fan of anything Stravinsky, but I'll listen to anything, even noise music (I've even sat and listened to rusty swings).

I tried "Victims of Hiroshima", "Pastoral: Storm", "Night on Bald Mountain", "Summer: Storm", "Alpine Symphony" and a few others.

-Hiroshima's meaning distracts from the concept of the storm itself (I'm also afraid of using a piece intended for something much more noble serious than this play). 
-Pastoral has it's own concepts that belong better to a pastoral comedy (for my taste at least). -Night on Bald Mountain is a favorite, but I don't know enough about it. 
-Summer: Storm is another favorite, but I can't help but feel that it is too beautiful for a storm where horses eat each other. 
-Alpine symphony is a little too large, and I don't know what will happen if I wanted to play it live with fewer instruments, also it's just too adventurous and 1920's for me.

The whole idea is that the universe, for one night, is ripped apart and then turned upside down. I was wondering if there was a classical piece or a piece of modern music that could contain the apocalyptic imagery of the storm.

For this time period, some people believed that if a king and his descendants were killed, the only conceivable alternative was some kind of anarchy, that nature itself would be upset. Guy Fawkes's underground excursion would be akin today: to finding a nuclear device under every major government building in D.C. This would be horrifying. But to the Elizabethans, it was a supernatural event, treason and witchcraft were irrevocably tied, so a plot like Guy Fawkes inspired plays like Macbeth, Faust ect, and politically as well as socially frightened everyone with the thought of total destruction.

This play has fun distinguishing stars, sucking the meat out of a man and burying the earth with foul weather and continually invoking darkness over the land by filling the sky with thick disease ridden clouds and pushing down the sun.

A darkness that was so all encompassing that it "strangles" even the travelers lamp. (For the Elizabethans, darkness was not merely the absence of light, it was a thickening of the very air into a suffocating blackness that witches and the devil could "ride".) These concepts aren't widely known, but I need music that has a feel for it and a good parallel concept of its own to add to it.

*On a side note:
*I'm really hoping that I can reduce the music to as few instruments as possible, and have live musicians playing around the audience (the play has some fun with magic circles, so I made one of my own). I love the idea of setting up the drums behind the audience... especially for Glorification. I know, it's sadistic:devil:, but this play isn't very kind to its audience in any case.

Mind you this is all still in planning, so any logistical problems like loudness of instruments is going to be an appropriate topic in this conversation. I am willing to remove the live musicians if the reduction or the volume is a problem. But the live musicians allow me to have a greater control of variables in the music and there is almost nothing compared to live music.

*Part of the problem is selecting music that fits my parameters of being a symbolic reference while retaining the required impact.*

I hope this letter finds you all well, and I can't wait to see what's in store for me.

Please do not hit me too hard for grammatical errors, I haven't had a chance to eyeball this page before posting!


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## Cstov (Jul 21, 2013)

So, any suggestions?

Again, I need ideas for Duncan's Deathstorm and any criticisms on my choices for music thus far.


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## schuberkovich (Apr 7, 2013)

I'm not sure how well this would fit, but the famous 2nd movement of Shostakovich's 8th string quartet is very _stormy_.
Seeing as you were interested in having fewer instruments, this would work well as it only needs a quartet. It has also been arranged for string orchestra.






This is also another idea for larger forces:





Good luck with the play!


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

The Shostakovich is an excellent suggestion. You might also consider Varese "Ionizations". It is for percussion ensemble and includes an old siren.


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

Ionisation


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

You desire for the literal association of title or 'meaning' of the music can be quite at odds, if not detrimental, to making your choices.

Even an informed audience is not going to read an explanatory program note about the incidental music.
It is not only at your peril, but inherently weak to rely upon references, even more so when your audience might not have those references in their collective memory / knowledge.

You are best off choosing music -- whether it is appropriately titled or not -- which has the musical qualities you want, and the title of the pieces be damned.

In other words, I think you're being, as the Brits say, "Clever" with your choices in using the criterion of title, contextual reference of any of the pieces.

Not that I would narc you out, but a truckload of Stravinsky is still under copyright


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## Cstov (Jul 21, 2013)

This response was written on little sleep, grammar fanatics be warned:

Schuberkovitch: The Shostakovitch piece was a real treat and can definitely be used and the Schoenberg piece was also getting very close to what sounded right! Thank you very much. I just want to see what all of my options are first, but I really enjoyed the music you suggested. I've listened to them both a few times since they were mentioned.

Drpraetorus: That siren is incredible, it's a tone I hadn't considered. It also sounds far off, which is incredibly useful. I can definitely see Macbeth silhouetted against the sky as he wakes up and stares at the audience. 

The air sirens are extremely suspenseful. Maybe this one I can just do over the speakers, because I don't know if I'd be able to use those instruments again.

Are there any other pieces of music with that tone?


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## Cstov (Jul 21, 2013)

PetrB: what would you choose?


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

I find that the 3rd movement ("Movimento preciso e meccanico") of Ligeti's Chamber Concerto is full of menace - it doesn't specifically say to me "storm" but I think gets the atmosphere (yeah, pun intended, deal with it) of the moment.


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## Cstov (Jul 21, 2013)

PetrB: I do not disagree. I really wanted to choose music that was inherently entertaining and emotionally appropriate to begin with. I think the Stravinsky work was appropriate for what I needed. I want to show the primal horror of war and "Games of the Rival Tribes" gives me primal nightmares. I really don't expect anyone to read the explanatory program note. I wasn't really going to write one (I was just going to list the music in order, if anything).

What I was really hoping to do was choose music that, at it's most basic level, would pass what I call "The Hollywood Test". 
If a Hollywood audience felt that the music could emotionally fit the scene, then that was step one.

This first step left me with a good chunk of usable music. So to whittle it down I went to step two.

Step two, was to add another layer. Out of all the possible music that I actually knew would work. (I know very few songs on my own, so I used to lurk around here a lot for appropriate tone.) I would choose the songs that were closest in intent to what I intended to show, or that would, in context, add something to the scene.

The desired effect: for one audience, the play would be horrifying, and get the idea across, because the music, the images and the acting, are all unified in tone and they fit the scenes in ways that highlighted basic meaning; but for the other audience members, who knew any of the music, my purpose would be more evident, more clear.

Just to clarify:
Lets say I played something as beautiful and as uplifting as "Fanfare for the common man" whilst Malcom makes his speech justifying his actions on the battlefield. He discusses how the death of Macbeth would be a turning point, he was elected by god ect. Lets imagine that he comes to a climax of the speech then, in victory, he thrusts Macbeth's bloody head up and the song abruptly changes to "Glorificaiton of the chosen victim." As far as basic editing goes, my hope is that that scene would work emotionally. The music went abruptly from something that felt hopeful and warm, to a song of primal violence. The tone shift is simultaneous with a shift in imagery and intent. It's meant to be emotionally readable as well as (as you say) "clever".

My main criteria is communication. Simply going for the most impactful music can leave me with *many *songs. But often I find that I get lucky, and one of those songs fits one of the play's meanings.

Design is in some way about intent. Even if the intent was to do away with intent, then that is a concept. In my mind, I am a designer, a slave to a script. A slave to the clarity of the content.

But I am not above using whatever works. I just want to go through most of my options here, searching for a piece that fits what I would want in a perfect world. If I can't find it, then I'll just use the most powerful stuff I come across...

Or I can just put O Fortuna over everything, Lol! : )

To everyone else: Whatever else you want to put here, I am *going *to listen to it and probably love it.  Please let me know what'd you'd use for Duncan's Deathstorm.


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

You should look up the music of George Crumb (yeah, that's his real name) Especially the works in the Macrocosmos series, Black Angels and Ancient voices of Children.

Also, the Dies Irae from Verdi's Requiem is rather violently stormy.

Makrokosmos I 








Black Angels 




Ancient voices of Children particularly this section 




Bartok Music for strings, percussion and Celeste 




Verdi Dies Irae 




Prokofiev Seven, They are Seven 



Prokofiev Prokofiev - Scythian Suite - Dance Of The Pagan Monster 



Here is the whole scythian suite. It has many interesting parts.




Wagner, Prelude to Siegfried Act 2


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