Cinema scholars categorize city symphony films of the 1920s and early
1930s as a subgenre of the silent film. Defined in visual terms, the
city symphony organizes the visible elements of urban experience
according to musical principles such as rhythm and counterpoint. In
City Symphonies Daniel Schwartz explores the unheard sonic dimensions
of these ostensibly silent films. The book turns its ear to the city
symphony as an audible phenomenon, one that encompasses a multitude of
works beyond the cinema, such as musical compositions, mass
spectacles, radio experiments, and even paintings. What these works
have in common is their treatment of the city as a medium for sound.
The city is neither background nor content; rather, it is the material
through which avant-garde works express themselves. In resonating
through the city, these multimedia pieces perform experiments that
undermine the borders between sight and sound. Applying an
interdisciplinary approach, City Symphonies expands our understanding
of the genre, breaking out of the confines of the cinema and onto the
street.
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Sound and the Composition of Urban Modernity, 1913–1931
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780228021421
Publisert
2025
Utgiver
ACP - McGill Queen's University Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter