Polyphonie als Nymphomanie

Filmische Aneignung von präexistenter Musik aus der Perspektive der Metapherntheorie

Abstract

Using Bach's »Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ« in NYMPHOMANIAC as an example and drawing on metaphor theory, the paper shows that pre-existing music in film comprises simultaneously a cinematic recontextualization of music and its musical editing for the film. Following this, the idea of an »inexistent pre-existence« is presented as a corrective antithesis to the conventional designations of this phenomenon such as »pre-composed music«, »pre-existing music« or »musical quotations«. The concept of »inexistent pre-existence« intends to correct the approach whereby pre-existing film music is reduced to its extra-filmic text (musical scores or extant musical records). Instead, the paper argues for understanding and focusing on the differences between textual variants as a productive music-analytical challenge.