Articles written by Jon Brooks

This section of my site features literature I compiled during my studies. Click on one of the articles listed below for full details:

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein - The Relationship of Music and Image
Intro: The central subject matter of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein exists in man’s obsession with the power of immoral creation. This type of film requires sophisticated scoring techniques because of the nature and characteristics of the plot. The film medium, since its inception, has allowed for a realisation of fictional concepts and ideas, and therefore, has sought to create alternate realities through the use of striking visual images and musical scores. In this context, the music suggests a reality that is not possible for the image alone to capture. Read more...

Stockhausen’s Gesang der Jünglinge - A Musical Analysis
Intro: Karlheinz Stockhausen began work on Gesang der Jünglinge (Song of the Youths) in 1955, completing it in 1956. At that time, he was located in the electronic music studio of North West German Radio, Cologne, which had been established in 1951. This was where he began to work seriously with electronic music and viewed it as the "essential future of music". Read more...

Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks Op.28 (Richard Strauss)
Intro: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks was written in 1894-95. In this tone poem, Strauss uses the pranks of a 15th Century legendary medieval North German rapscallion as a vehicle for mocking the musical conservatives who criticised his radicalism.  Its once-upon-a-time introduction is followed by scenes in which Till upsets bourgeois propriety and is hanged for his bad behaviour.  In the end, his mocking ghost prevails. Read more...