While writing my review of Koji Yamamura’s Muybridge’s
Strings this week, I got to thinking about how many innovative animators
have been inspired by the music of J.S.
Bach. In the case of Muybridge’s Strings, Bach’s Crab Canon – which is often described as
a musical palindrome – complements Yamamura’s exploration of the possibilities of
non-linear time.
Just what is it about Bach’s music
that inspires? His lyricism? His mathematical precision? (See: Noralv
Pedersen’s “Music is
also mathematics” and R.D. Fergusson’s “Johan Sebastian Bach: Mystic and
Mathematician”).
Here is a selection of animation
films / sequences inspired by Bach. Let
me know in the comments if you think of any others.
Muybridge’s Strings
(Koji Yamamura, 2011)
music: Crab Canon
Motion Painting No. 1
(Oskar Fischinger, 1947)
music: Brandenburg Concerto no. 3,
BWV 1048
Spheres
(Norman McLaren and René Jodoin,
1969)
music: Bach played by Glenn Gould
Pastorale
(Mary Ellen Bute, 1950)
Music: J.S. Bach's "Sheep May
Safely Graze." A pictorial accompaniment in abstract forms.
Johann Sebastian Bach: Fantasy in G
minor
(Jan Švankmajer, 1965)
Gestalt (部屋/形態)
(Takashi Ishida, 1999)
music: one of the Great Eighteen
Choale Preludes, the hauntingly ethereal BWV 659 “Nun, komm’ der Heiden
Heiland” (Come now, Saviour of the heathen) performed on an organ
The Art of the Fugue
(Takashi Ishida, 2001)
-
this
film was commissioned by the Aichi Culture Centre to commemorate the 250th
anniversary of Bach’s passing
music: ???
Fantasia
(Walt Disney, 1940)
music: the film opens with Bach’s
Tocatta and Fugue in D minor conducted by Leopold Stokowski. This
section of the film was directed by Samuel Armstrong with visual development
credited to Oskar Fischinger
The End of Evangelion
(新世紀エヴァンゲリオン劇場版
Air/まごころを、君に)
(Kazuya Tsurumaki/Hideaki Anno,
1997)
music: the soundtrack to this film
was composed by Shiro Sagasu but liberally features selections of J.S. Bach’s
music throughout including “Air on the G String” (August Wilhelmj’s adapation
of J.S. Bach’s “Air” from the Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWC 1068),
“Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major”, “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”, and “Komm,
süsser Tod”.
Tale of Tales
(Yuri Norstein, 1979)
music: the score was composed by
Mikhail Meyerovich and includes excerpts from several pieces by Bach (most notably
the E flat minor Prelude BWV 853 from The Well-Tempered Clavier). In addition, the film references Mozart (the
Andante second movement from Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, K41), the tango “Weary
Sun” by Jerzy Petersburski, and most prominently a traditional Russian lullaby.
Man and Raven
(Olga Brio, 2010)
Music: Jascha Heifetz and J. S. Bach
The Triplets of Belleville
(Sylvain Chomet, 2003)
Music: Bach's Prelude No. 2 from The
Well-Tempered Clavier (Book 1) played by Glenn Gould is also featured during
the bicycle scene
cmmhotes 2012