British Film Music

Abstract

The non-diegetic music of the British counterpart to classical Hollywood cinema had a highly distinct trajectory from its American relation. Since the second decade of the twentieth century, the British film industry has been overshadowed by the more successful and more popular model supplied by Hollywood films. British film music lacked the fully industrialized basis that characterized its American counterpart from the 1930s to 1950s, and also lacked the concomitant tendency towards standardization of forms and functions. However, the continual influence of Hollywood films and their treatment of music held an enormous sway upon British film music, one which could never be disregarded and which was a perennial problem for British film production as a whole. The lack of stable studio employment meant that it was difficult for composers to become specialists. British cinema produced far less films than Hollywood and in the vast majority of cases they included less incidental music than their Hollywood counterparts. Consequently, British composers had to find work across a number of media, often mixing a career composing for the respectable concert hall with film and other less prestigious activities, and in many cases also managing a career teaching about music as well. British film music had a considerable influence from the languages of concert music and, from the 1960s, a quite direct input from popular music, which has differentiated it to some degree from the music in Hollywood films.1