Characters represented by certain instruments?

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 8:33pm

...other than Doyle's actor/instrument productions, what scores repeatedly use a certain instrument when a certain character is onstage?

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 8:39pm

Those would be the orchestrations hun, not the score.

[Lumen2]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 8:57pm

Peter and the Wolf? Lol.

[alightinthedark23]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 8:58pm

Angel in Rent is a percussionist as is Roger with Guitar. If that counts?

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 8:58pm

I don't think that's what he meant.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 9:19pm

Oh thanks , now I have Peter's theme ear worming itself into my brain!

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 9:35pm

Me too. It's been years since I've heard that score. So good.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 9:57pm

I always associate Fosca (and Donna Murphy) with a clarinet, or whatever woodwind it is playing her entrance in Passion.

[blaxx]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 10:30pm

I associate BKLYN with a drill.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 10:53pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILI3s7Wonvg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCgJXD3J9Wc

Not the version I grew up listening to, but it'll work for my moment of nostalgia.

[Jon]

Posted: 9/1/09 at 10:44am

While working on ROMANCE/ROMANCE, I noticed that all the leading man's songs featured the English Horn, which was totally absent in the woman's songs.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 9/1/09 at 3:07pm

"Those would be the orchestrations hun, not the score."

A smart answer, but not one that I necessarily agree with. Orchestrations are part of the score, though when it comes to Broadway musicals, they're not usually by written the composer and may be revised or changed entirely in different productions. In opera, of course, they usually are written by the composers.

In opera, where musical themes are more often associated with specific characters, the question comes up of whether it's just the theme that represents the character or whether, in cases where a theme is always played the same instrument or combination of instruments, the instrument(s) can sometimes be thought of as also representing the character. An obvious example is Fafner, the giant who is turned into a dragon in Der Ring des Nibelugen. The tuba is prominent every time his theme is played. So it could be said that both the theme and the instrument are associated with the character.

It's hard to think of any similar examples in musicals though there may be some. As discussed in Stephen Banfield's Sondheim's Broadway Musicals, Sondheim at one time was planning to have each major character in A Little Night Music associated with a specific instrument, but in the end, he abandoned this idea. And this was Sondheim's idea, not Tunick's, though Tunick would have had to execute it.

In the end, it's hard to even say that Fredrika and Henrik are associated with particular instruments, except in purely plot terms, because neither sings all that much.

[sanda]

Posted: 9/1/09 at 3:18pm

interesting topic. I was particularly interested in this topic you brought up when I listened to Les Miz and Chess recordings.

One particularly stand out example is the Chess theme in Chess. I always feel the string section represent Freddie and piano represent Anatoly in the game.

And in Les Miz, Fantine is represented by harp. Enjolras is french horn.

[dramagirl487]

Posted: 9/1/09 at 4:59pm

In Les Mis, during "Bring Him Home", valjean is praying to God, and a violin almost plays a response to each statement.

I always thought the violin was God speaking back to Valjean assuring him that he would watch over him and marius.

[binau]

Posted: 9/1/09 at 5:01pm

But God doesn't talk to people :S

[dramagirl487]

Posted: 9/1/09 at 5:02pm

lol. well that's up for debate.

I meant symbolically,of course.