Page - 91 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 05/01

Individual musical works recur many times during the film, prompting us to talk in terms of consonant scenes. But this affinity on a musical plane is never casual; rather it generates logical continuity within the film, in leitmotifs which for the director are markers of significance. We will see what these are by ana- lysing each of the motifs, considering both their role in the film and some of the characteristics of the works themselves. Here too, as in relation to the Gospel, we are dealing with narrative structures,17 albeit very different from those to which we are accustomed. MUSICAL THEMES AS SEMIOTIC LEITMOTIFS Pasolini chose his music with great care, requiring us in turn to consider contexts of origin attentively, comparing them with their position in the film and the se- ries of consonant scenes thus formed. Although this approach in itself brings out many of the meanings associated with the musical motifs, we also need to conduct a broader analysis of the image (pictorial references, geographical places, props, costumes) to complete the whole. The link between image and sound that was Pasolini’s constant goal must always be kept firmly in mind. With the exception of one motif, the whole soundtrack is extradiegetic: it falls outside the plane of reality of the characters in the film, heard only by view- ers. The sole exception is a piece entitled “Tre fronde, tre fiori” (“Three fronds, three flowers”), composed by Bacalov for the scene containing Salome’s dance. The theme accompanies the dance of the young girl, and the music, which has a simple rhythm, is performed on flutes and tambourines by an inconspicuous group of musicians in Herod’s court. The piece takes its name from the flow- ering fronds with which Salome partially conceals her face during her perfor- mance. THE GLORIA Moving on to the more numerous extradiegetic pieces, the first musical motif is perhaps the best-known one of the whole film: the Gloria from the Missa Luba, a collection of songs for the Latin Mass performed in styles traditional to the Con- go. The piece was first performed in 1958 by a choir from the city of Kammina, in the Katanga region. It was composed by a Belgian friar, Father Guido Haazen, who involved the Troubadours du Roi Baudoin, an adult and children’s choir, in recording a number of musical compositions in various local styles. It would be an exaggeration to say that Father Haazen was the composer of the Missa given that none of the songs were transcribed into notation. 17 Buttitta 1979, 101. The Soundscape of The Gospel According to St. Matthew | 91www.jrfm.eu 2019, 5/1