Monday, March 10, 2014

Classical music and lingual barrier

There are many impressive moments in the film The King's Speech.As a music student,I especially appreciate the excellent connection between the film's music and the action.As the film demonstrates,a good score not only sounds nice,but resonates in the heart of the viewer.

This Oscar winning film has a vivid soundtrack that incorporates music from several eras.The composer has shown originality and ingenuity by arranging classical compoers,including Mozart,Beethoven,Brahms.The excerpts are not all pomp and circumstance,moreover,as grand nationalistic themes could weaken the storyline, eclipsing the characters whose stories weave through the film against the backdrop of social events leading up to World War II.

In the movie,Great Britains'King George VI delivers his first wartime speech after a series of climatic scenes,set to a musical background of the second movements of Beethoven's 7th Symphony and Piano Concerto No.5,Op. 73–Emperor.The music fit the gripping the scene almost perfectly.The theme of a composer who overcame the challenge of deafness mirrors that of a public speech-making king struggling with a speech impediment.

Overall,The King's Speech impressed and enlightened me,especially after I chose the Future ofClassical Music class at Longy School of Music of Bard College this semester.I was completely immersed by how the king rose to the challenge posed by his weakness with the help of his unorthodox and controversial speech impediment specialist.Reflecting on my own experiences,I also hope I can write the passage like a native Anglophone when commenting on Mozart's Overture to La Nozze di Figaro;however,like the king says in the end of the film,“I had to throw in a few words so they knew it was me.This sums up the film perfectly.By summoning up his own courage instead of masquerading as a“true broadcaster”,the king acts as a true leader to a quarter of the world's population during their hardest times.

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