Controlling and controlled: Ophelia and the Ghost as defined by music in Grigori Kozintsev's Hamlet.

Grigori Kozintsev's Hamlet (TaMnem), released in 1964, was his most successful film, and the most popular Shakespearean adaptation in the Soviet Union to that point. Since Peter the Great had imported Western European culture, the Russians had a fascination with Shakespeare. (2) One of the first authors to discuss Kozintsev's Hamlet was Jack Jorgens, who, in his book Shakespeare on Film, devoted an entire chapter to the film, as well as half a chapter to Kozintsev's King Lear, Jorgens views Hamlet as a "cinepoem, a masterful weaving together of themes and techniques, words and images" (x). (3) Kozintsev's longtime collaborator, Dmitri Shostakovich, composed the music for the film, which is his longest score, with over an hour of music present in the film. John Riley states, "The film score is one of his most symphonic, with clever and illuminating developments of the various themes" (96). Shostakovich's music focuses on three characters: Hamlet, Ophelia, and the Ghost. Hamlet's music, initially heard at the outset of the film after the funeral bell tolls, appears over the course of the film, with various treatments, both melodic and instrumental, and in various keys depending on Hamlet's state at the time. (4) In contrast, Ophelia does not have a particular melodic motive or theme associated with her character. However, the one constant in all cues in which she appears is the use of the harpsichord. The character of Ophelia is always controlled by an influence outside of herself. In contrast, the Ghost controls Hamlet, and the Ghost's music is always presented in the same way: B-flat minor, and in half notes. The Ghost's music is unchanging, offering no development, and always presented at a dynamic of forte. This article will examine how Shostakovich's music in the film assists in Kozintsev's interpretation of Ophelia and the Ghost, and will demonstrate how various forces affect Ophelia and the Ghost, and their effects on other characters throughout the film.

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The Music of Ophelia

The character of Ophelia is referenced in six cues composed for the film, but only five cues were used in the film's final cut. The cues involving Ophelia, which always involve her name, are in Table 1, the complete cue list from the film. Cues 7, 10, 26, 27, 28, and 30 contain Ophelia's music. As shown in Table 1, Ophelia is only associated with music near the beginning of the film, and then, shortly before her suicide, toward the end of the film, with no musical association in between. (5) Kozintsev's Ophelia is a character who is consistently controlled. She is controlled by Hamlet and his fleeting feelings for her; controlled by her father Polonius and his desire to protect Ophelia from Hamlet's perceived intentions; and her brother Laertes, who believes that she should not be with Hamlet. David Gillespie refers to Kozintsev's Ophelia as "puppet-like" (80-81), and in his book Dmitri Shostakovich: A Life in Film, John Riley writes:

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  Ophelia is portrayed by gentler, more continuous melodies and
  delicate instrumental colours, particularly the harpsichord, which
  haltingly accompanies her music lesson, mechanically echoes her
  transformation into a marionette as she is strapped into a stiffly
  corseted dress, and--like a broken clock struggling to maintain
  time--follows her descent into madness. (97)

Riley likens Ophelia to a marionette, a puppet that in order to have "life," must be controlled by someone else. Gillespie and Riley are not the only authors to mention Ophelia's puppet-like nature in Kozintsev's film. Anthony Dawson states, "We first see her dancing, doll-like, to a lovely if slightly mechanical air, being coached by a rigid woman in black" (189). Kenneth Rothwell asserts the significance of Kozintsev's portrait of Ophelia and writes, "The film's most strikingly original contribution to the Hamlet legend, though, may be the probing portrait of Ophelia as an innocent and pathetic victim of both her father and Hamlet. She is first seen dancing like a mechanical doll to the tune of a tinkling child's music box" (178). (6) In a letter to Shostakovich, reprinted in his diaries, Kozintsev himself wrote, "We want to show how they denaturalize the girl. And here is how the figure is conceived: a sweet girl, half a child, whom they turn into a doll--a mechanical plaything with artificial movements, a memorized smile, and the like" (Shakespeare 255-56).

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Ophelia is first introduced approximately fifteen minutes into the film in cue 7, "The Dance of Ophelia." She is shown dancing, a scene that does not occur in the play. Tatiana Egorova writes, "It was created by Kozintsev in order to introduce the tender and virtuous daughter of Polonius to the spectator, on the one hand, and on the other, to show how the principles and laws of Elsinore trample and corrupt even the beauty and purity which have grown up by a miracle in its gloomy vaults" (178). In the scene, Ophelia is wearing a white dress--a not-so-subtle way to show the innocent and naive qualities of Ophelia. (7) Kozintsev, in his diaries, wrote:

  Having heard a recording of this dance, Dmitri Dmitrievich thought a
  bit and said, "Let's try it without the piano." We recorded the
  number again, as a solo violin performance. The composer was still
  not satisfied. "Get a celesta," he said. When I first heard the
  recording of the delicate sounds of the antique instrument, I heard
  Ophelia. The work of the composer was similar to getting the focus in
  photography. He had now found a completely accurate sound image. This
  is also true in the plastic arts; there is a certain rhythm of line
  which is proper to Ophelia. (Shakespeare 256)

Ultimately, the instrument used was a harpsichord, not a celesta. The two instruments are not that dissimilar, but the harpsichord has a much harsher attack than the celesta, which not only has a gentler attack, but also cannot play at as high of a volume as the harpsichord. A disconnection exists between the accompanying instrument and the actual sound it produces. On screen, it appears as though a lute or balalaika or other plucked instrument is being played, but the sound emanating from the instrument is that of a harpsichord. However, this phenomenon is not uncommon, either in the scores of Shostakovich in particular, where examples from The Gadfly (1955) and King Lear (1970) immediately come to mind, nor uncommon in film music in general. (8) The importance of the cue is the association of Ophelia with the harpsichord, which will be involved in every cue that accompanies Ophelia. In the letter from Kozintsev to Shostakovich referenced earlier, Kozintsev wrote, "In later mad scenes, it will be possible to repeat and develop the theme" (Shakespeare 256). Shostakovich chose not to reuse the same music, but instead, chose to reuse the harpsichord. The harpsichord is the instrument of control; the character of Ophelia does not have a leitmotiv associated with her, but her music always uses the harpsichord. The short tune to which Ophelia dances is shown as Example 1. In the film, these eight measures are repeated, so sixteen measures of music are heard.

The cue concludes with a half cadence in the key of C major, giving the cue a lack of strong conclusion and circular feel, which mimics Ophelia being controlled by outside forces. In this case, Ophelia is controlled by her dance teacher, as she dances mechanically to the music. Even though her physical dance concludes, the music only reaches a point of rest, not a point of conclusion. In a similar fashion, when the controlling force of one person is finished, another one exerts his influence on her. After her dance is concluded, her brother, Laertes, tells her that she should be apart from Hamlet. Before she dances again, her father, Polonius, tells her the same thing. Dawson writes, "Warned by her shrewd and effective father to stay away from Hamlet, she returns to her dance at the end of the scene, more puppet-like than ever" (190). The use of the harpsichord conjures images of a music box and other child-like objects. These images, while having a certain sense of innocence, are also controlled; the music box cannot play without being wound. Ophelia cannot operate without being told what to do or how to think. The music in this cue summarizes much of Ophelia's character.

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Between the conclusion of cue 10 and the beginning of cue 26, the character of Ophelia is not associated with any diegetic or non-diegetic music. Cues 26, 27, and 28 all occur within a twenty-minute span in the film, beginning about forty minutes before the conclusion of the film. In Table 1, I have titled both cues 26 and 27 as "The Madness of Ophelia." Both Russian words "cyMacmeCTB[other language]e" and "[other language]" mean "madness," but the former leans more toward "lunacy," craziness, while the latter leans more toward "insanity." The distinction is that during the "insanity" cue, Ophelia ponders suicide, as a result of the actions that occurred during the "lunacy" cue, where she grieved the death of her father, and was not thinking clearly.

In a speech delivered in 1971, Kozintsev said:

  It didn't seem to me to be very expressive to show Ophelia actually
  gathering flowers in the field. We simply imagined them. She collects
  a bouquet of dirty, dried kindlewood [...] The sounds of battle,
  fear, hatred, reign everywhere. And in the general confusion there is
  only a single happy person--Ophelia. To be out of one's mind here is
  to be happy. (Shakespeare 191)

Like the concept of Ophelia as a puppet, the idea of madness freeing Ophelia is mentioned by several authors, notably Dawson, who writes, "Her madness thus becomes a kind of social product, a sign of oppression that has been written on her body, and though it paradoxically frees her, it also spells her end" (191).

Cue number 26 begins with only a string orchestra. About this, Egorova writes:

  In the brief, sadly drooping viola tune which introduces this scene
  and performs the function of a leitmotive one can feel the confusion
  and perplexity of a lonely, tortured soul. The ostinato-like
  repetition of the motif, which seems to bring together the fragmented
  mise-en-scene of the action, resembles an "idee fixe" to which the
  poor girl's departing reason is stubbornly clinging. But all her
  attempts to break away from this nightmare of madness fail. (182)

The viola tune of which Egorova speaks, which is based on the F Phrygian scale, is sounded at the beginning of the cue, a stepwise descending melodic line of more than an octave. After a flourish of notes in the first violin, music in the film stops after a long trill, and is replaced by the singing of Ophelia. She sings a song, of which the first lyrics are "How should I your true love know from another one." (9) After she finishes singing, Ophelia is looking for someone to tell her what to do. She then makes eye contact with her dance instructor and begins dancing even though no music is being played aloud. In contrast to the initial appearance of Ophelia, she is now dancing in a black gown, since she is mourning the death of her father. Once again, the color scheme shows what Kozintsev wants the audience to see: Ophelia is no longer innocent and naive and she is in the midst of the downward spiral that will culminate in her suicide. (10) Egorova comments very nicely on this passage and states that the gavotte as an internalization belongs only to Ophelia. She writes:

  She is lost in memories, singing simple songs in a feeble voice.
  Especially memorable for its delicate poetic beauty is the first of
  them: "How should I your true love know from another one?" in the
  melodic inflections of which a connection with Russian song can be
  observed. She cannot stay still for any length of time. Soon in
  Ophelia's burning brain the music of the gavotte begins to sound: on
  hearing it she starts to dance. The well-known steps of the dance
  make the girl return to the serene days when she was happy. But these
  memories also take away the last of her strength. Her reason is
  slowly ebbing away. (182-83)

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In the scene, there is no one to accompany her, and she spontaneously breaks into the dance. This gavotte is the exact same music as previously heard earlier in the film, again without a definite ending. At the conclusion of the gavotte, the cue resumes, and for the remainder of the cue, the harpsichord plays with the strings, thus bringing the instrumental naming music into the cue.

Less than three minutes after cue 26 ends, cue 27 begins, and as before, Ophelia's singing interrupts the cue. Egorova writes, "Peace and lucidity visit Ophelia only for a moment before her death. The artless and naive melody of the folk song 'Robin' is her leave taking" (183). A battle rages within Ophelia that is reflected in the music: the controlling harpsichord is set in contrast to the strings, which represent Ophelia's ability to reason. The harpsichord almost never overlaps the strings, with the exception of the end of the cue, and the strings are only sustaining trills on the pitch C while the harpsichord plays the melodic and harmonic material. Based on this ending, the music indicates which side of the conflict will ultimately win. The harpsichord in this cue is somewhat unnerving. The two voices are visually similar to Bach's eighteenth-century contrapuntal style, but the intervals are quite dissonant and highly chromatic. (11) Shostakovich turns what could have been a pleasant, innocent passage into one that helps reinforce Ophelia's loss of sanity.

Cue 28 appears in the suite simply as "Ophelia," but in the cue list, it is titled "The Death of Ophelia" (Hulme 409-10). In the film, the cue is used during the montage showing Ophelia has died. This cue begins less than two minutes after cue 27 ended, entering at the end of the scene where Laertes and Claudius are plotting Hamlet's death, continues into Ophelia's death sequence, and overlaps into the next scene when Hamlet returns to Denmark from his trip to England, showing the two main controlling forces of Ophelia: her brother and her former love. These images pillar the image of the dead Ophelia, floating in the water after she has drowned herself. Kozintsev wrote:

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  The people who are driving Ophelia to madness and death love her very
  much. Both Laertes and Polonius, and Hamlet. In every scene of
  violence of her feelings and will, it must be perceptible that they
  demand her rejection of happiness only because they love her. A
  tender brother, an affectionate father, and an ardent lover drive her
  to the grave in the name of the finest emotions. (Shakespeare
  235-36)

The controlling forces of Ophelia are no longer concerned with her, and only want to seek revenge on each other.

This cue is the first cue in which previously heard non-diegetic music returns, as opposed to the harpsichord. It is only after she is dead that her music can return, and even then, only as a reminiscence. The cue begins in A minor, with the violin melody quoting "How should I your true love know," the song Ophelia sings in the middle of cue 26 (Ford 24-32). Beyond the obvious song appropriation, the melody has an additional relationship. The music in cue 10, the music of Hamlet and Ophelia, begins in A minor and uses a violin melody with the rest of the string section acting as accompaniment. Even though the melodies in the two cues are not the same, a relationship is occurring between the cues, demonstrating the influence that Hamlet holds over Ophelia. Additionally, much of the harpsichord music in cue 28 is an exact transposition of the harpsichord music from cue 27; the only changes are intervallic, and no larger than a major second. The strings are continually interrupted by the chimes, representing the funeral bells for Ophelia's death; the chimes arpeggiate a C minor triad. After additional interruptions, the funeral bells only play a single pitch, E-flat, which, depending on the harmonization at that point in the cue, acts as the root, third, or fifth of the harmony. The funeral bell, pitched at E-flat, is a tritone away from the A minor string music of Ophelia, and is a minor third away from the C major dance of Ophelia. The E-flat is in the same octatonic scale as A and C, and, in another masterful touch of subtlety, Shostakovich links the death of Ophelia to Hamlet through the use of pitches in the octatonic scale. (12)

The Intersection of Hamlet and Ophelia

Cue number 10, "Hamlet's Parting with Ophelia," is the only point in the film where both characters are shown interacting, accompanied by music. Ophelia's instrumental motive is present in this cue; the audience knows that the music is associated with her because of her on-screen presence and the use of the harpsichord, initially established a few minutes earlier in the film.

Cue 10 begins immediately after Hamlet has his encounter with the Ghost of his father. In her description of the scene, Bernice Kliman writes:

  Quite mad, it seems, shading his eyes with his free hand, he looks at
  her with intense question. He releases her hand as if with
  difficulty, and moves out, leaving his shadow for a moment. The
  segment tells us quite clearly that they love each other but are
  drawn apart by forces they cannot control [...] Kozintsev offers us
  an objective view: what we see is what happened--without, it seems,
  the media-don of anyone's sensibility. (99-100)

Kozintsev also wrote about this scene and stated, "The meeting of Hamlet and Ophelia after the scene with the ghost is played without a word, but follows Shakespeare to the letter" (Shakespeare 270). At the beginning of the scene, only Ophelia is present, and the music reflects this. The instrumentation contains only strings and harpsichord until Hamlet enters the scene. The timpani, as well as the Elsinore chords, enter when Hamlet enters the room, at rehearsal (3). When Hamlet kisses Ophelia's hand at rehearsal [5], his theme enters, played in the clarinet and bassoon a major third below the original, beginning on A. The music from rehearsal (7) through the end of the cue does not incorporate either Ophelia's or Hamlet's music. The audience knows that Ophelia is subservient to, and controlled by Hamlet because once he enters the scene, his music becomes the dominant aural presence, and her harpsichord disappears from the cue. (13)

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The Music of the Ghost

The Ghost is the "character" in the film that sets all of the action in motion. (14) The Ghost's music is directly involved in cues 6, 9, 23, 24, and 32, and indirectly in two of Hamlet's monologues. As Egorova writes, "Each time Hamlet gets new proof of illegal actions committed by Claudius and his stooges, his theme acquires more and more characteristics which bring it closer to the leitmotive of the Ghost" (182). This only happens, however, during Hamlet's monologues, where he is working out the next step to take.

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Kozintsev knew that the visual representation of the Ghost on screen would need to be seen as serious and not as a "special effect." In his diaries, he wrote:

  The ghost is a poetic image, not a mystical one. Side-show movie
  miracles would be particularly vile: the transparent contours, double
  exposures to introduce an element of fear, and so on. There should be
  no deviltry [...] The audience must be able to sense the presence of
  the dead king, the atmosphere of his apparition, but must not be able
  to see his features. Perhaps, from under a raised visor, only the
  eyes will become visible for an instant; they are full of sorrow.
  (Shakespeare 241-42)

Kozintsev never wrote about the music for the Ghost in his diary, but Neil Forsyth calls this music "the most disturbing and powerful music" in the film (277); Riley writes, "Rather than accompanying the ghost with quiet, eerie music Shostakovich provides a full-on brass and percussion chorale-fanfare, underlining his grandeur and the terror he instills" (97). Shostakovich's music for the Ghost makes the character frightening; the visuals make the Ghost believable as an apparition, one that does not need many special effects.

The Ghost's music is first used in cue 6, titled "Horatio's Story About the Ghost." At the beginning of the film, Horatio has been on a patrol at night and has seen the ghost of Hamlet's father, dressed in battle armor, and infers that the ghost wants to speak with Hamlet. The instrumentation in this cue, particularly the tam-tam, celeste, and harp, and the mode of F Phrygian, seem to give the feeling of an otherworldly presence, which is exactly the point. The mode of F Phrygian also connects the Ghost and Ophelia, as the viola tune in Cue 26 is also in F Phrygian.

In the music of the Ghost, the rhythm consists only of half and whole notes, but primarily half notes. The rhythm shows the Ghost is very meticulous and intentional in his actions--there is no deviation from the pacing, no quick rhythms that might indicate irrational thoughts or actions. Egorova writes, "The rhythmic evenness and cold impartiality of the Phrygian motif which is the core of this leitmotive, resembles a chorale. On the whole, the main purpose of the Ghost's theme in the dramatic conception of the film is the expression of the idea of revenge" (178). The entire cue, when Horatio is describing his encounter, contains the Ghost's music, rather than music of Hamlet, or even Horatio, which shows the dominant controlling presence of the Ghost.

The last three chords of the cue, which harmonize the last three notes in the tuba, are D-flat (open fifth), G-flat major, and C (open fifth). At the end of the cue, the tritone leap, along with the cross-relation between the G-flat and G-natural, only add to the mystery about the Ghost, and the presence of the tritone historically is the "devil's interval," diabolus in musica. Egorova states, "[The Ghost's theme's] first presentation, accompanying Horatio's story about the Ghost, already gives rise to a premonition of future evil" (178). Once again, the Ghost and Ophelia are connected through Shostakovich's music. As in "The Dance of Ophelia," cue 7, the Ghost's music here contains a tritone relationship between chords, the same G-flat to C relationship as Ophelia's music. However, in the case of the Ghost, the relationship is direct and fully realized, but in Ophelia's case, the G-flat major chord is followed by a D major chord, and the tonic of C major is only implied, never actually reached. The tritone relationship can be read as an issue of control. Because the tritone in the Ghost's music is direct and realized, he is exerting control, while the tritone in Ophelia's music is indirect and implied, aurally communicating that she is controlled.

Hamlet's encounter with the Ghost is one of the longest musical cues in the film, spanning over six minutes. The cue is written with a tempo marking of largo, making the music that much more deliberate. When Hamlet and the guards see the Ghost, the music enters at a fortissimo volume and Hamlet and his friends are "pushed back" by the wind sheer apparently emanating from the Ghost. (15) The Ghost is heard before he is seen, and this is the only time he is seen in the entire film; in the remainder of the film, the Ghost is present only through music. The theme, as Egorova stated, does resemble a chorale, and then the connection can be made from a chorale to a lament, although the mode of the music fails to clarify the genre as a lament. While a chorale can be used to represent a requiem-like effect, a lament is much more overt in referring to the dead.

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Egorova speaks of the Ghost's leitmotive and writes, "A remarkable characteristic of the Ghost's leitmotive is its invariability, which testifies to its profound relationship with the themes embodying the impersonal" (178). Although the leitmotive may be transposed, and some pitches may be rhythmically altered, it is still the same theme, clearly recognizable as music belonging to the Ghost. Egorova's statement indicates a lack of thematic development by the music of the Ghost. The lack of development also shows that the Ghost is clear in his indication to Hamlet to avenge his death, which further shows his controlling influence over Hamlet.

During this scene, the Ghost tells the story of how he was murdered by his brother to Hamlet and that Hamlet needs to avenge his death. The music acts as a constant presence of the Ghost, even though the figure is not always on screen. After this physical appearance, the Ghost is never seen on screen again, but his presence is indicated through his music. The subtle differences in the thematic statement are results of Hamlet's initial disbelief at what he sees, followed by what he hears. Hamlet has difficulty understanding exactly what is happening, but by the end of his conversation, the music returns to its initial statement, and the subtle differences are gone.

In "Conscience," cue number 23, there are elements of both the Ghost's music and Hamlet's music, as well as some new material. At the beginning of the cue, new material is present. The low strings and timpani are used, which recalls the music of the Ghost, but the music does not thematically recall the Ghost. It is only when Claudius looks at himself in the mirror that the thematic music of the Ghost enters in the form of the pizzicato strings, which foreshadows the death of Claudius at the hands of Hamlet.

In cue 24, "Hamlet and Gertrude," the music is used to represent the presence of the Ghost without showing him on screen. The Ghost's music only plays a small part in this cue. Hamlet, from his facial expressions, sees the Ghost, and the music allows the audience to know of his presence. David Gillespie writes, "The Ghost does not make his second appearance in Gertrude's bedroom after Hamlet has killed Polonius, but his presence is suggested as a light reflecting on Hamlet's face" (80-81). Riley states, "As Hamlet attacks his mother it [the Ghost's music] bursts onto the soundtrack (and into his head) to remind him of his promise to leave her for his father to deal with" (97). Only a small portion of the Ghost's music is used, but it is very clearly enough to understand the presence of the Ghost.

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The final use of the Ghost's music in the film is in cue 32, "The Duel Between Hamlet and Laertes." At the beginning of the cue, Hamlet's music is used, but much faster, and rhythmically normalized to resemble the rhythm of the Ghost's music, as Egorova's earlier statement indicated. The first notes of the Ghost's theme are used, in its original mode of F Phrygian. When the conspiracy to kill Hamlet is exposed, the Ghost's music sounds, and Hamlet kills Claudius, avenging his father and fulfilling his obligation to Denmark and to his father.

The Ghost's music is also heard as part of the castle, indicating Hamlet's father's presence in Elsinore. The clock tower, usually shown on-screen while chiming, sounds three times in the film, and all three occur while the sun is down. The first is right before Hamlet first encounters the Ghost. The second is immediately following his encounter just before sunrise, and the final is before the duel at the end of the film. In all three instances, the music states the initial notes of the Ghost's music, and in the two instances preceding large events, the clock is actually shown, with death as the last figure spinning around the clock, a clear reference to the Ghost.

The Ghost in Hamlet's Monologues

The music of the Ghost is not heard in Hamlet's monologues until cue 16, the famous "To be or not to be" monologue. In this cue, the Ghost's music is present from rehearsal (2) to rehearsal (5). The music for the monologue begins with Hamlet's Theme, as expected, but then moves into the Ghost's music. This shift, clearly separated by rests, shows that Hamlet is now pondering exactly how to take his revenge on Claudius. When the Ghost's music ends, there is another clear separation, again offset by rests, and Hamlet's music returns, which lets the audience know that Hamlet has made a decision to exact his revenge, and knows how he will do it. Gillespie writes, "Significantly, therefore, the To Be or Not To Be' speech is rendered as Hamlet's internal monologue and is used not to explain vacillation but to justify action" (82). The Ghost's music in cue 25, after Hamlet has left for England, and before he dispatches Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, functions in the same way as in cue. In this cue, there is the addition of the Ghost's voice saying, "Remember, remember [...]." (16) Again, Hamlet has come to terms with his decision, and his theme acquires properties of the Ghost's.

Conclusion

In Grigori Kozintsev's Hamlet, the character of the Ghost is one who controls Hamlet, while the character of Ophelia is consistently controlled by someone else, be it Polonius, Laertes, or Hamlet. In opposition to Hamlet, a character who has a naming theme, the same music is consistently associated with him, and always when he appears on screen, Ophelia's melodic material changes every time. The one constant in Ophelia's music is the use of the harpsichord, which appears every time her character is accompanied by music on screen, and "controls" her. It is only after she is dead that her music can recur because at that point, it is a remembrance. The Ghost's music occurs when he is referenced: in person to Hamlet, in the castle clock tower, and in Hamlet's vengeance. The Ghost's music is unchanging, showing his control over Hamlet. In fact, Hamlet's music changes and becomes rhythmically closer to the Ghost's as Hamlet comes closer to killing Claudius. Shostakovich's music shows that specific musical associations with specific characters need not be melodic, as is commonly the case, but can also be purely based on an orchestration choice. It also demonstrates how music can assist a character with defining his or her role in the film. Shostakovich's longest film score was one with which he was pleased; Riley writes, "After going to see it [the film] eight or nine times, he wrote congratulating Kozintsev" (98). The music of Ophelia and the Ghost supports Kozintsev's vision of the characters and also defines how the characters are used in the film.

Cue           Russian Title    English Title      Approximate use in
                                                   film (17) Part 1

1 * (a)       [TEXT NOT        Overture           0:02:39-0:05:22
              REPRODUCIBLE IN
              ASCII]

2 [degrees]   [TEXT NOT        Decree of the      0:05:23-0:05:31
              REPRODUCIBLE IN  King
              ASCII]

3 *           [TEXT NOT        Military Music     0:07:12-0:07:47
              REPRODUCIBLE IN
              ASCII]

4 *           [TEXT NOT        [Fanfare]          0:09:39-0:09:48
              REPRODUCIBLE IN
              ASCII]

5 (a)         [TEXT NOT        Ball at the        0:09:51-0:11:28
              REPRODUCIBLE IN  Palace
              ASCII]

6 *           [TEXT NOT        [Horatio's Story   0:13:14-0:15:38
              REPRODUCIBLE IN  About the Ghost]
              ASCII]
7[degrees]    [TEXT NOT        Dance of Ophelia   0:015:39-0:16:17;
              REPRODUCIBLE IN                     0:18:44-0:18:52
              ASCII]

8 *           [TEXT NOT        The Ball           0:19:32-0:20:30
              REPRODUCIBLE IN
              ASCII]

9 (a)         [TEXT NOT        The Ghost          0:21:06-0:27:18
              REPRODUCIBLE IN
              ASCII]

10 *          [TEXT NOT        Hamlet's Parting   0:28:16-0:31:40
              REPRODUCIBLE IN  with Ophelia
              ASCII]

11 *          [TEXT NOT        [Palace Music]     Cue unused
              REPRODUCIBLE IN
              ASCII]
12[degrees]   [TEXT NOT        Hamlet's           0:38:28-0:39:18
              REPRODUCIBLE IN  Monologue
              ASCII]

13 (a)        [TEXT NOT        Arrival of the     0:39:24-0:41:17
              REPRODUCIBLE IN  Players
              ASCII]

14 *          [TEXT NOT        [Monologue]        0:43:12-0:44:39
              REPRODUCIBLE IN
              ASCII]

15[degrees]   [TEXT NOT        The Presentation   0:45:14-0:46:15
              REPRODUCIBLE IN
              ASCII]

16 *          [TEXT NOT        [Hamlet's          0:46:16-0:49:09
              REPRODUCIBLE IN  Monologue]
              ASCII]

17 [degrees]  [TEXT NOT        Preparation for    0:54:14-0:54:48
              REPRODUCIBLE IN  the Spectacle
              ASCII]

18 [degrees]  [TEXT NOT        (Royal) Fanfare    0:55:25-0:55:34
              REPRODUCIBLE IN
              ASCII]

19 (a)        [TEXT NOT        In the Garden      0:55:41-0:58:08
              REPRODUCIBLE IN
              ASCII]

20 *          [TEXT NOT        [Side-Show         0:58:08-0:58:19
              REPRODUCIBLE IN  Fanfare]
              ASCII]

21 (a)        [TEXT NOT        Scene of the       1:00:40-1:04:38
              REPRODUCIBLE IN  Poisoning
              ASCII]

22 *          [TEXT NOT        [Playing of        1:05:02-1:05:31
              REPRODUCIBLE IN  Flutes]
              ASCII]
23[degrees]   [TEXT NOT        Conscience         1:09:28-1:11:34
              REPRODUCIBLE IN
              ASCII]

                                                  Part 2
24[degrees]   [TEXT NOT        Hamlet and         1:17:08-1:17:39
              REPRODUCIBLE IN  Gertrude
              ASCII]

25[degrees]   [TEXT NOT        Hamlet on board    1:31:37-1:34:26
              REPRODUCIBLE IN  Ship
              ASCII]

26 *          [TEXT NOT        [The Madness of    1:38:24-1:40:03;
              REPRODUCIBLE IN  Ophelia]           1:40:52-1:41:29
              ASCII]

27 *          [TEXT NOT        The Madness of     1:44:40-1:47:54
              REPRODUCIBLE IN  Ophelia
              ASCII]

28 (a)        [TEXT NOT        [Ophelia]          1:49:31-1:52:28
              REPRODUCIBLE IN
              ASCII]

29 *          [TEXT NOT        [The Graveyard]    1:56:15-1:58:51
              REPRODUCIBLE IN
              ASCII]

30 *          [TEXT NOT        [Hemlet at the     Cue unused
              REPRODUCIBLE IN  Grave of Ophelia]
              ASCII]
31 [degrees]  [TEXT NOT        War March          2:04:34-2:05:09;
              REPRODUCIBLE IN                     2:06:55-2:07:46
              ASCII]
4 *           [TEXT NOT        [Fanfare]          2:10:59-2:11:08;
              REPRODUCIBLE IN                     2:11:36-2:11:45;
              ASCII]                              2:12:15-2:12:24;
                                                  2:12:50-2:12:59

32 (a)        [TEXT NOT        The Duel Between   2:13:33-2:16:49
              REPRODUCIBLE IN  Hamlet and
              ASCII]           Laertes

33 (a)        [TEXT NOT        The Death of       2:16:50-2:17:56
              REPRODUCIBLE IN  Hamlet
              ASCII]

34 (a)        [TEXT NOT        The Funeral of     2:19:13-2:22:32
              REPRODUCIBLE IN  Hamlet
              ASCII]

Legend:
* = found in Collected Works volume 42
(a) = found in Suite, op. 116a
[degrees] = found in neither (unpublished)

Notes

(1) Portions of this article were read at the Fourth Annual Music and Film Conference, as part of the Fourteenth Annual Bradford Film Festival in Bradford, UK. I would like to thank Ian Sapiro, Cory Gavito, and Patrick Doyle for their helpful comments during the writing process.

(2) John Riley, Dmitri Shostakovich: A Life in Film 94. Riley provides a list of both literary and musical adaptations of Shakespeare plays, though obviously not comprehensive. Additionally Boris Pasternak spent a great deal of his life translating Shakespeare plays into Russian, not literally; but poetically, and these translations are what Kozintsev used for his films of Hamlet and King Lear.

(3) Unfortunately, Jorgens does not address any of the music in Hamlet in his seventeen-page chapter on Kozintsev's film, but his analysis of film techniques is extremely thorough.

(4) Please see Erik Heine, "Madness by Design: Hamlet's State as Defined by Music," in Dmitri Shostakovich: A Life in Music and Documents, Andrew Kirkman and Alexander Ivashkin, eds. (London: Boydell and Brewer, forthcoming).

(5) No music accompanies the "Get thee to a nunnery" encounter between Hamlet and Ophelia, immediately after the "To be or not to be" monologue.

(6) Rothwell devotes a fair amount of discussion to Shakespeare films from foreign countries such as India, Sweden, Germany, and France. He devotes the same amount of discussion, if not more, to the adaptations made in Japan and the Soviet Union/Russia.

(7) This type of costuming was done in Hitchcock's Psycho (1960). At first, Marion wears white undergarments, but when she decides to steal the money, she is dressed in black undergarments.

(8) Michel Chion, Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen, translated by Claudia Gorbman (New York: Columbia UP, 1994) 108. He says that rendering is more important and significant than literal truth, particularly for a source of a sound.

(9) For more detail on the songs sung by Ophelia, please see Fiona Ford, "The role of Ophelia's unaccompanied songs in Kozintsev's Hamlet" in the DSCH Journal 26 (Jan. 2007): 24-32.

(10) Every author mentioned thus far, particularly Rothwell, plus several others, discusses the large metal corset over which the gown will be placed, and likens that to imprisonment of Ophelia. It is only when she is no longer in the metal corset that she escapes her imprisonment, and is freed, but ultimately mad.

(11) Richard Taruskin, in his Oxford History of Western Music, Vol, 2, provides examples of highly chromatic and affected music of Bach in pages 363-75.

(12) The music associated with Hamlet, first heard in Cue 1, has the octatonic scale as its scalar basis. The diminished fourth interval, one that is synonymous with the octatonic scale, is featured prominently in this theme.

(13) Another cue was composed that involves both Hamlet and Ophelia, cue number 30, "Hamlet at the Grave of Ophelia." This cue is unused in the film because this scene is not in the final cut of the film. The scene occurs near the end of Act V, Scene 1 in the play, but kozintsev chose to omit it from the film. This cue contains only two instruments, the solo violin and the harpsichord. The violin starts by playing Hamlet's Theme beginning on E, a minor third above the original. The theme then moves back and forth between the harpsichord and violin, each instrument playing a fragment of the theme. Ophelia is dead, but because her memory is evoked, her instrument is not gone. Second, Hamlet is the person who, more or less, drove Ophelia into committing suicide, so now his music burdens the instrument of Ophelia. He has difficulty letting go of her, therefore, her instrument is still used. Again, this is the only cue that Shostakovich composed that was not used in the film.

(14) Riley writes that instead of eerie music, the Ghost receives a full fanfare that instills terror, 97.

(15) In the film, Hamlet is literally pushed back by the force of the wind seemingly created by the Ghost. However, once the Ghost and Hamlet begin their conversation, the Ghost no longer has power over the wind. It is clear that the Ghost is meant to be an otherworldly presence, but the ability to manipulate the wind and affect mortals through it should not just disappear because of a discussion!

(16) The Russian text is [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] The Ghost also ended his encounter with Hamlet with the same words.

(17) The timings come from the Ruscico DVD version of Hamlet, released in 2005. All Russian titles are directly from the cue names in the old edition of Shostakovich's Collected Works, Vol. 42. The new edition, published by DSCH Publishers, has not yet been released. The English translations and corresponding cue numbers can be found in Hulme's Shostakovich catalogue.

Works Cited

Dawson, Anthony B. Hamlet. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1995.

Ford, Fiona. "The role of Ophelia's unaccompanied songs in Kozintsev's Hamlet.'' DSCH Journal 26:1 (2007): 24-32.

Forsyth, Neil. "Shakespeare the illusionist: filming the supernatural." The Cambridge Companion Shakespeare on Film. Ed. Russell Jackson. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2000. 280-302.

Egorova, Tatiana. Soviet Film Music: An Historical Survey. Trans. Tatiana Ganf and Natalia Egunova. Amsterdam: Overseas Publishers Association, 1997.

Gillespie, David. "Adapting foreign classics: kozintsev's Shakespeare." Russian and Soviet Film Adaptations of Literature, 1900-2001. Ed. Stephen Hutchings and Anat Vernitski. London: Routledge, 2005. 47-58.

Hamlet ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII). Dir. Grigori Kozintsev. Perf. Innokenti Smoktunovsky, Anastasiya Vertinskaya, Mikhail Nazvanov, and Elza Radzini. Lenfilm Studio, 1964.

Hulme, Derek C. Dmitri Shostakovich: A Catalogue, Bibliography, and Discography, 3rd ed. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2002.

Jorgens, Jack J. Shakespeare on Film. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1977.

Kliman, Bernice W. Hamlet: Film, Television, and Audio Performance. Cranbury: Associated UP, 1988.

Kozintsev, Grigori. "Hamlet and King Lear. Stage and Film." Shakespeare 1971: Proceedings of the World Shakespeare Congress. Ed. Clifford Leech and J. M. R. Margeson. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 1972, 190-99.

--. Shakespeare: Time and Conscience. Trans. Joyce Vining. New York: Hill & Wang, 1966.

Riley, John. Dmitri Shostakovich: A Life in Film. London: Tauris, 2005.

Rothwell, Kenneth S. A History of Shakespeare on Screen: A Century of Film and Television,, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2004.

Taruskin, Richard. Oxford History of Western Music: Vol. 2. New York: Oxford UP, 2005

Erik Heine

Oklahoma City University