The Loves of Pharaoh (2012)
commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) 2012 Next Wave Festival
new score for Ernst Lubitsch’s 1922 silent film
100 minutes
commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) 2012 Next Wave Festival
new score for Ernst Lubitsch’s 1922 silent film
- Flute/Piccolo/Alto Flute, Clarinet/Bass Clarinet/Saxophones, Trumpet/Flügelhorn, Horn, Tuba, Vibraphone, Piano/Electric Piano, Harp or Celtic Harp, Acoustic & Electric guitar, 2 Female voices, String sextet (2 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos) and Acoustic & Electric Bass
- also available for Orchestra
100 minutes
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All music: © 2012 Numen Music/BMI All Rights Reserved
Lost for decades, a landmark silent film lives again. Meticulously reconstructed, revered German auteur Ernst Lubitsch’s The Loves of Pharaoh (1922) returns to near-original form for Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM)’s 2012 Next Wave Festival. A new score composed and conducted by Joseph C. Phillips Jr. and performed by 18 members of his acclaimed new music ensemble Numinous accompanies the screening of the film at the Festival.
Set in ancient Egypt, this monumental, super-spectacle features lavish sets and costumes and a cast of thousands. Emil Jannings (winner of the first Academy Award for Best Actor) stars as the brutal Pharaoh Amenes, who leads his country into war for the love of a Greek slave girl. With its six Acts flowing into one another over 100 minutes, the film weaves an integrated, almost operatic narrative. The new score, commissioned by the Next Wave Festival, mirrors and enhances the film’s dramatic and emotional themes in a more contemporary musical language and aesthetic.
“I am approaching the music in a different way than Eduard Künneke’s original score,” says Phillips. “Whereas the original score was a product of late-19th century Romanticism, my new score reflects a more diverse 21st century mixed music language. The music is more subtle and less melodramatic than the original, and also resonates with an emotional expressivity that more fully connects the actions of the characters with their subconscious thoughts and feelings.”
In this, Phillips cites Claude Debussy's Pelleas and Melisande as well as John Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer as musical touchstones. “With their rich musical means serving the dramatic actions of characters, both internally and externally, those two operas are influential on some of my thoughts in scoring Pharaoh,” says Phillips. “And while moments are reminiscent of those influences, my score, however, is really more representative of my own voice and style.”
Set in ancient Egypt, this monumental, super-spectacle features lavish sets and costumes and a cast of thousands. Emil Jannings (winner of the first Academy Award for Best Actor) stars as the brutal Pharaoh Amenes, who leads his country into war for the love of a Greek slave girl. With its six Acts flowing into one another over 100 minutes, the film weaves an integrated, almost operatic narrative. The new score, commissioned by the Next Wave Festival, mirrors and enhances the film’s dramatic and emotional themes in a more contemporary musical language and aesthetic.
“I am approaching the music in a different way than Eduard Künneke’s original score,” says Phillips. “Whereas the original score was a product of late-19th century Romanticism, my new score reflects a more diverse 21st century mixed music language. The music is more subtle and less melodramatic than the original, and also resonates with an emotional expressivity that more fully connects the actions of the characters with their subconscious thoughts and feelings.”
In this, Phillips cites Claude Debussy's Pelleas and Melisande as well as John Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer as musical touchstones. “With their rich musical means serving the dramatic actions of characters, both internally and externally, those two operas are influential on some of my thoughts in scoring Pharaoh,” says Phillips. “And while moments are reminiscent of those influences, my score, however, is really more representative of my own voice and style.”
