The Fredösphere

I'm very pleased to introduce Chris Lawless, a true expert on the Planet of the Apes films. Chris saw my old posts on POTA, which focused on the church choir scene from Beneath the POTA. Chris emailed me with additional information and has kindly agreed to let me pass these golden nuggets on to you, dear reader.

The quotes in his passage are from my POTA posts, with his reactions following. Note that in one case, he misunderstands (understandably) my reference to French modernist composer Pierre Boulez, thinking I meant POTA author Pierre Boulle. In any case, the video clip he links to is something you should not miss. It's liturgical choir music sounds not so dissonant nor stridently high as I remember from the final version.

Take 'er away, Chris:

Hi Fred,

Thanks for the link. As a die hard fan of the Apes films (and BENEATH in particular), I thought I'd share some information with you about the production. Reading through your posts, I think you might have misinterpreted a few things.

First off (quoting your blog):

"This is supposed to be offensive and shocking and full of penetrating social commentary. One out of three ain't bad, I guess."

"My, wasn't that blasphemous? Well, as blasphemous as anything can be when it is irredeemably silly."

The lyrics themselves were written (or maybe adapted is the better word) by screenwriter Paul Dehn. He was a bomber pilot in WWII, and as such, he developed an intense hatred for war in the years subsequent to his military service. His antinuclear sentiments were not only apparent in Beneath and the other Apes sequels he was involved with, but also such films as Goldfinger. I don't believe they were intentionally blasphemous or intended to be shocking as much as they were intended to be social commentary. Back then, there was this concept of mutually assured destruction (MAD) that—of course—makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, and his idea was that the existence of a Doomsday bomb wasn't even enough to deter the original war from happening.

His antinuclear sentiments would also appear in a book called Quake Quake Quake: A Leaden Treasure of English Verse.

"The music is not quite atonal, but it is dissonant, and it has some high passages that would make it vocally taxing. Yet this congregation pulls it off. Indeed, when you watch it, you see them standing among the pews, not making much effort at all. The visuals don't match the audio at all and the whole effect is surreal."

Film composer Leonard Rosenman set the words to music, and atonal/dissonant were often his trademarks. I'll let you in on a little secret not known by a lot of people- when the scene was originally filmed, the actors portraying the mutants sang everything. But during post production when the score was being recorded, a professional choir came in an did a new recording. Check this video out to hear how the mass originally sounded.

On the topic of the believability of the film:

"The nuclear blast melted the rock, but left the organ console unharmed."

Well, part of this is suspension of disbelief, and the other is the fact that the Mutants clearly found ways to partially reconstruct St. Patrick's Cathedral as a functioning church. I mean, it's implied in the film that they still have functioning electrical generators (I can give you examples if you need them), so if you're going to accept that as well as the fact that they have a 2000 year old functioning atomic bomb, the intact organ isn't much of a stretch at all.

I have one thing to add. A while back I became aware of a fascinating news report from Russia, revealing that the USSR has had a doomsday device for years which they, in true Strangloveian fashion, chose never to announce to the world. Apparently the device was designed to deter trigger-happy generals in the Soviet army! The idea was, an impulsive decision to launch would never need to be made, since the doomsday device would ensure any attack would result in the ultimate reprisal. MADness, indeed.

Labels: Choral, movie, PlanetOfTheApes

I spent yesterday in the company of Lutheran choral directors, yet survived.  Brian Altevogt hosted a Sacred Choral Symposium at Concordia University here in Ann Arbor.  These events are enjoyable, not the least because of the vespers service we sang together at the end of the day, in the lush sonic environment of the Chapel of the Holy Trinity.  A choir of choral directors is the best kind of choir; I suppose you could say a choir director is the ideal chorister in the way a prison guard is the ideal death row inmate, although if you said it you would be insane.

As a bonus, I present the strange world of vintage pulp science fiction novels ... in French.  Here's a page devoted to author Vargo Statten, who has books translated into many languages, and was "notorious" for cranking out streams of action-packed, but otherwise brainless, prose. There's something endearing about novels with titles like La Flamme Cosmique and La Bombe 'G' and Le Martien Vengeur (and I dig the vivid artwork too).  As in the case of French jazz, one feels the urge to speak patronizingly of French science fiction.  Heck, they deserve pity points just for giving the world Planet of the Apes.

(You can read up on John Russell Fearn, who wrote under pseudonyms like Vargo Statten, Volstead Gridban, and even Vector Magroon, here.)

Labels: PlanetOfTheApes, sci-fi, vocal

What's the coolest thing about the latest CD by English vocal composer John Tavener?  It's been reviewed at scifi.com.  It seems Sir John wrote "Fragments of a Prayer" for use in the futuristic movie Children of Men.  To be clear, he's not the composer of the full soundtrack, which includes music from diverse sources, but his music "is used sparingly throughout the movie during scenes of hope or sorrow."

"Fragments" delivers the gorgeous tone bath we expect from a Tavener song, and it's presence in the movie signals the composer's willingness to provide a bit of class to the film where it's wanted.   Just as we expect 5 percent of all music sales to be classical, it seems nowdays we expect 5 percent of each movie soundtrack to be classical as well.

My favorite part of the review is the summary at the end.  The reviewer assures us that time spent getting the album's strange music into our ears "will be amply repaid."  Something about this pain-gain observation cracked me up -- maybe it was the implication that the typical reader would find the concept novel.

That's all I have to say, except to note smugly the confluence of vocal music and science fiction is so utterly my topic, and that in the whole internet it is at the Fredösphere alone you find the exhaustive analysis you crave of the liturgical music found in Beneath the Planet of the Apes (to cite the most perfect example).   It's the reason you, my loyal fans, keep coming back for more.  You may now return to your regularly scheduled lives.

Labels: movie, PlanetOfTheApes, sci-fi, Tavener, vocal

As all my regular visitors come straggling back after the holidays (you are coming back, right?) I want to make sure you all read my magnum opus, about the church scene from Beneath the Planet of the Apes.  At this point, I would like to declare myself, on the basis of extremely incomplete information, the world's foremost authority on the topic of choral music in sci-fi.

Let me also point out at this juncture that I know everything there is to know about zeppelins named after anti-popes.

Continuing in my role as sci-fi choirmaster, let me warn you of the existence of a nasty-looking little book called A Choir of Ill Children:

It is, without a doubt, an intriguing read. Despite an oddity that perhaps once was his undeveloped sister emerging from his side and eventually bitten off by his three-headed brothers in a fit of rage, Tom gains the reader’s trust and respect while still maintaining an element of creepy personal ties to the strange community that lives in the swamps. Meanwhile he yearns for, yet despises, the outside “normal” world. Although the unusual swamp people consider normal finger-removal, bread-baking monks, and creatures that sit in the bottom of pits eating chicken bones or anything else that crosses their path for a fifth of moonshine.

Read the review here.  Or better yet, don't.

Labels: PlanetOfTheApes

What a lame title this post has.

You've read the overhype, now read the post.  Or read the background information in these posts here and here, if you have not already.  Okay, now, let's look at our subject of the day:  the most perfect, wacky, unbelievable example of choral music in sci-fi.  Two great things that go great together.  Except in this case.

It's easy to guess wrong about the future, and the easiest way to be wrong is to indulge in a simplistic extrapolation of trends occurring in one's own time, place, and social group.  You see this all the time in sci-fi, although you might miss it if you come from the same time/place/group as the author. 

One example of this lazy extrapolation that has always bugged me is how promiscuous and irreligious people of the future seem to be.  Sci-fi authors writing in the 60s and 70s lived in a social class that was loosing its religion and its sexual scruples; therefore, they assumed the trend was happening everywhere, and would continue in a straight line forever.  It' a silly mistake, and some authors have avoided it; two examples that come to mind are The Dune series and The Mote In God's Eye.

The assumptions in old sci-fi are obvious because we are removed from the author; this is what makes old sci-fi charming (or ridiculous, depending on its literary quality).  I loved the movie Sky Captain, which was not much more than an exercise is simulated historical sci-fi naievete, which is really a cool concept if you think about it.  What would have been really, really cool is if a sci-fi author of the 1930s had predicted that sci-fi authors of the future would indulge in simulated historical sci-fi naievete.  Darn; where's my time machine?

Pierre Boulez never wrote any sci-fi that I'm aware of, but he seemed to have an opinion about the future of music:  atonal music would win out.  Reality has not yet worked out that way, and Boulez has since mellowed (sort of) but could tonality yet atrophy?

As attorney for the plaintiff, I offer exhibit A:  an excerpt from Beneath the Planet of the Apes.  The scene is the underground cathedral where mutant humans of the future worship a nuclear warhead.  The rock has melted from a nuclear blast long ago, the people are hideously disfigured, and the Anglican liturgy has metastasized.  Hear the Mutant Party at prayer in wma format (212k) or, if you must, mp3 format (506k).

My, wasn't that blasphemous?  Well, as blasphemous as anything can be when it is irredeemably silly.  But did you notice the music?  I guess we could call this religion of the future the Cult of the Wrong Note.  The music is not quite atonal, but it is dissonant, and it has some high passages that would make it vocally taxing.  Yet this congregation pulls it off.  Indeed, when you watch it, you see them standing among the pews, not making much effort at all.  The visuals don't match the audio at all and the whole effect is surreal.

The choir sings a liturgy printed on booklets while worshipping a nuclear warhead: somewhere deep in the belly of this scene, a joke about missal envy is trying to claw its way out.

It would be interesting to find out the decision making behind this bit of futuristic liturgical creation.  Does the blame lie with some ignorant assistant producer who didn't know what to ask for?  Was the composer given too much leeway -- was he even having a bit of fun with this at the movie's expense?  (For a more complementary view, see this excellent account of how the music for the film was made.)

I prefer to view this document as a true picture of the future.  That way, Pierre Boulez can be viewed as a prophet.  Unfortunately, it doesn't work, since (as far as I know) he missed a bunch of other significant details:  mutants, telepathy, the worship of nuclear warheads, not to mention the whole "planet where apes rule men" thing.  Sorry, Pierre.

Labels: PlanetOfTheApes

How often do you find choirs in Sci-Fi?  I know of one memorable case, memorable because of its awe-inspiring goofiness and offensiveness.  I'm talking about Beneath the Planet of the Apes. Our intrepid time-traveling humans have found the talking apes of the future hostile and have escaped into the Fobidden Zone.  Therein lies the ruins of a New York City ravaged by a nuclear bomb blast.  Underneath the city, they find a remnant human civilization so advanced they use telepathy (although they seem not to have the whole Lasik eye surgery thing figured out yet).  The humans are hardly more simpatico than the apes; their whole society is organized around a sick worship of an atomic warhead.  It is the culture of death ne plus ultra.  When the apes attack the underground city and begin killing all the humans, the warhead is detonated, poisoning the whole planet and destroying all life.  This ending was proposed by Charlton Heston, in the vain hope that it would prevent any more sequels.  (Three more movies were made, each with a budget smaller than the last, for a total of five.  Ah, the simianity!) Our concern is the bizarre worship service near the end of the movie.  Much of what is present is famiar -- gothic arches, a pipe organ, pews, even the words are almost what you would expect:  "the heavens declare his handiwork ...there is no speach or language where his voice is not heard...Praise him!  Praise him!" but this is a warhead we're talking about:

Glory be to the bomb And to the holy fallout.

This is supposed to be offensive and shocking and full of penetrating social commentary.  One out of three ain't bad, I guess.

The nuclear blast melted the rock, but left the organ console unharmed.

Well, this post is running long, so I'll end here.  We have the background information we need.  Coming soon:  Choir Music of the Future!  And everyone is bald!

Labels: PlanetOfTheApes

I taped that Earthsea miniseries that aired on the Sci-Fi Channel, and we've been watching it over the last few nights.  A month ago, I asked, "is there any possibility that this mini-series will not be a crashing disappointment?"  Apparently, the answer is:  no.

Why didn't they decide to cover only the first book?  Instead they overlapped the plots of the three books into one time frame.  To make the overlapping work, the plot of the second book was completely scrambled.  You will not be shocked to learn the changes did not result in a net improvement to the story.  The book had priestesses from competing temples playing a deadly game of cat and dog in a very believable context of religious politics (or politicized religion).  In the miniseries, we get a reverend mother burbling on about how the strength of the faith of her fellow priestesses holds the evil Nameless Ones at bay.

Memo to screenwriters everywhere:  people of faith don't talk about their faith - they talk about the object of their faith.  Religious people have things called gods.  One's God is the principle focus of religious activity.  There is a hint that this is true, in the way verbs are used that ought to receive subjects:  Faith in what?  Prayers to whom?  The dialog in the Earthsea miniseries sounds like it is written by someone who doesn't understand religion -- or maybe someone prevented from representing it truthfully, either due to P.C. constraints or some other Hollywood "logic."

Speaking of goofy movie depictions of religion:  the promised Choir Music In Sci-Fi post is coming soon.  It's going to be big.  Real big.  Here's a tease:

Hi. My name is Bruce. I'll be your worship facilitator today.

It so perfectly fulfills the mission statement of this blog, I may have nothing to say once it's done.  In fact, it may fulfill the Meaning of my Life.  There may be no reason for me to stay on this earth once I've posted it.

Labels: movie, PlanetOfTheApes