Pasolini, World Music, and the Demise of the Film Composer
The UVA Department of Music is pleased to present “Pasolini, World Music, and the Demise of the Film Composer,” featuring Dr. Giorgio Biancorosso on Friday, November 1st, at 3:30 PM in 107 Old Cabell Hall!
While sometimes neglected in the English-language literature on film music, Pasolini’s daring use of pre-existing music in his early films—most notably Bach’s sacred music and Vivaldi— marked a watershed in the history of the subject. It also places him alongside such figures as Godard and Kubrick (among others) in an ideal pantheon of mavericks who broke away with the traditional division of labor that underpinned the creation of film soundtracks. Pasolini’s decision to hire Morricone for the music for The Hawks and the Sparrows (1966) could have signaled a change in direction. In fact, following that first collaboration, the relationship between Pasolini and Morricone soon turned into something of an embarrassment for the composer. By the early 1970s, Morricone’s role was to merely arrange already-existing repertoires “scavenged” on various recordings by the omnivorous and ever up-to-date poet/director. Focusing on Medea (1969) and the so-called “Trilogy of Life,” this chapter examines Morricone’s work as mediated and indeed guided by Pasolini the consumer, curator and ultimately producer—for Arabian Nights (1974)—of recordings.
To see all events in our colloquium series, visit https://music.virginia.edu/colloquia.
Giorgio Biancorosso
Giorgio Biancorosso’s work investigates the boundaries of music and sound in the theater, cinema and digital media. He is the author of Situated Listening: The Sound of Absorption in Classical Cinema (Oxford University Press, 2016) and Remixing Wong Kar Wai: Music, Bricolage, and the Aesthetics of Oblivion (Duke University Press, 2024). Biancorosso is the co-founder and editor of the journal SSS (Sound-Stage-Screen) and the co-editor of Scoring Italian Cinema: Patterns of Collaboration (Routledge, forthcoming).
Biancorosso is Professor of Music and inaugural director of the Society of Fellows at The University of Hong Kong. He is currently 2024-25 Luce East Asia Fellow in Musicology at the National Humanities Center, N.C.
All information is sourced from https://www.sof.arts.hku.hk/giorgio-biancorosso. Please refer to https://www.sof.arts.hku.hk/giorgio-biancorosso to read more about Giorgio Biancorosso.
Old Cabell Hall is located on the south end of UVA’s historic lawn, directly opposite the Rotunda (map). Parking is available in the central grounds parking garage on Emmet Street, in the C1 parking lot off McCormick Rd, and in the parking lots at the UVA Corner.
All events are subject to change.
Please contact the UVA Music Department at 434.924.3052 or music@virginia.edu for more information.