Jon Johanning wrote:

>I am surprised, unless I have missed something, that no one has mentioned
>the use of CM by Bergman.  I can't give any specific examples (I remembet
>one film in which a Bach cello suite was used, I think), but I'm not
>referring to his "Magic Flute."

Bergman used Bach's Suite #2 for unaccompanied cello in "Through a Glass
Darkly", and also used one of the Suites in "Cries and Whispers".

Bergman made masterful use of music throughout his films.  "Through a Glass
Darkly" is an exception, but he usually used classical music (frequently
Bach) as 'practical' music -- his characters listen to music on radio or
at a performance, and the film pauses to listen with them.  One of the most
striking examples of this is in "The Silence", when Ingrid Thulin listens
to one of the Goldberg Variations on the radio, and it clearly stands out
as the one moment of order and beauty that she finds in the strange world
of the film.

What's also interesting is the number of his films which feature classical
musicians as central characters: a pianist in "Music in Darkness", a
violinist in "To Joy", a ballet dancer (okay, not a musician but someone
whose professional life does revolve around classical music) in "Summer
Interlude", a cellist in "Not to Speak About All These Women", a violinist
again in "Shame", the pianist played by Ingrid Bergman in "Autumn Sonata".
I've probably missed a couple...

Zack Winestine <[log in to unmask]>