Orchestra
SKU:
BT.MUSM570366712
Composed by Ed Hughes.
Classical. Study Score.
62 pages. University of
York Music Press
#MUSM570366712. Published
by University of York
Music Press
(BT.MUSM570366712).
English.
Le
Voyage Dans La Lune is a
continuous orchestral
score of approximately 14
minutes comprising two
outer fast sections and a
slower inner section of a
dream-like character. The
work is directly inspired
by the film Le Voyage
Dans La Lune (1902),
written and directed by
the pioneering French
film-maker, Georges
Méliès. Méliès was
influenced by 19th
century interests in
science and discoveries,
as well as the science
fiction of Jules Verne.
At the same time his work
seems fantastic, surreal
and satirical. Some
critics point out an
underlying critique of
colonial adventuring. The
plot centres on a group
of astronomers who decide
to launch a rocket to the
moon containing a handful
of their number. They
reach the moon (famously
landing on the moon’s
face) and then encounter
a strange race of aliens,
whom they battle and
destroy. The return to
earth involves a dramatic
descent, a plunge into
the ocean and then
celebratory dancing. The
film inhabits a surreal
and dream-like space, and
uses an idiosyncratic
visual language which
transforms reality. This
inspired an active
musical response in my
own score, which is by
turns abrupt, smooth,
lyrical and violent, and
expresses something of
the strange shifting
surfaces and multiple and
layered tempos evident in
the film. The canons in
the horns in the first
scene reflect the intense
arguments of the
astronomers as they
consider the project. The
slower inner section is
inspired by the scenes of
the industrial City
viewed from its rooftops
by the astronomers. It
also expresses the wonder
of the astronomers as
they see the earth rise
from the perspective of
the moon after their
arrival there. The music
of the final section is
in places conflicted,
reflecting the violent
encounters with the
moon’s inhabitants. It
moves into a more
harmonious phase at the
close to match the
celebrations upon the
astronomers’ return
from their adventuring.
The music could be
considered to be a
surreal mini-opera
without voices, voicing
instead the characters of
the silent screen. - Ed
Hughes.
From The Rooftops
