The Fall of the House of Usher
Synopsis
Jean Epstein and Luis Buñuel’s adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” is a haunting combination of the Impressionist and Surrealist approaches of the film’s director (Epstein) and writer (Buñuel). The film follows an unnamed Narrator as he visits an ailing friend and his wife: Sir Roderick Usher and Madeline. The pair live in isolation in their “dilapidated mansion,” where Roderick obsessively paints Madeline’s portrait. Her health wanes, and eventually she expires and is buried. Roderick, though, is convinced that she is not dead, a conviction that is validated in the final moments of the film, when she rises from the grave to rejoin her husband. As Madeline returns, the house begins to collapse, and its inhabitants (along with the Narrator) flee the wreck.
Program Note
Made in 1928, La Chute de la Maison Usher is classified as a “silent” film. Contradicting this description, however, films made between 1895-1930 were generally accompanied by music. Audiences here in Los Angeles, for example, could attend screenings at the Orpheum or El Capitan accompanied by the grandiose tones of “Mighty Wurlitzer” organs. The pipe organ—and the Wurlitzer in particular—was favored for film accompaniment on the basis of its economy and its musical range. Only one musician was required to play it, and an impressive console of stops and levers allowed that one musician to operate a wide range of musical instruments pneumatically, while producing organ melodies and sound effects. In other words, with the Wurlitzer a theater had access to all the music it needed while paying just one musician (instead of the many musicians that make up an orchestra). But the Wurlitzer could not realistically reproduce the sound of the human voice, nor could it fill in for the dialogue audiences read on cue cards interspersed throughout the footage.
A chorus, like a Wurlitzer organ, can produce a wide range of sound effects and musical sounds, but it can also produce speech, sung and spoken. It is this quality of choral singing that inspired C3LA to collaboratively compose original a cappella vocal accompaniment for La Chute de la Maison Usher (though we haven’t taken away the cue cards). Existing somewhere between traditional score and opera, our Fall of the House of Usher features the work of twelve member-composers, each of whom interpreted a different section of the film. The process somewhat resembles a round of cadavre exquis or “exquisite corpse,” a Surrealist party game in which participants take turns drawing sections of a body on a sheet of paper. Each section is concealed so that the artists cannot see what the whole will look like until the paper is unfolded. Free play, collaboration, chance, moving beyond the real and the expected: these central Surrealist motivations also form the core of C3LA’s motivations as an ensemble, and we are thrilled to present our very own exquisite corpse to you.
~Morgan Woolsey, Project Coordinator
A chorus, like a Wurlitzer organ, can produce a wide range of sound effects and musical sounds, but it can also produce speech, sung and spoken. It is this quality of choral singing that inspired C3LA to collaboratively compose original a cappella vocal accompaniment for La Chute de la Maison Usher (though we haven’t taken away the cue cards). Existing somewhere between traditional score and opera, our Fall of the House of Usher features the work of twelve member-composers, each of whom interpreted a different section of the film. The process somewhat resembles a round of cadavre exquis or “exquisite corpse,” a Surrealist party game in which participants take turns drawing sections of a body on a sheet of paper. Each section is concealed so that the artists cannot see what the whole will look like until the paper is unfolded. Free play, collaboration, chance, moving beyond the real and the expected: these central Surrealist motivations also form the core of C3LA’s motivations as an ensemble, and we are thrilled to present our very own exquisite corpse to you.
~Morgan Woolsey, Project Coordinator
SCENE 1 - SAUNDER CHOI
cond. Jaco Wong
A. Opening Credits
B. Sickness
C. Journey to the House (Soloists: Drew Corey, Diana Woolner, Morgan Woolsey, Saunder Choi, Fahad Siadat)
B. Sickness
C. Journey to the House (Soloists: Drew Corey, Diana Woolner, Morgan Woolsey, Saunder Choi, Fahad Siadat)
TEXT & TRANSLATION
|
Meilleur seul ami, je suis malade et inquiet. Ma femme Madeline meurt. Mon tour viendra. Je te supllie de venir à nous.
Roderick Usher. "Auriez-vous une voiture pour me conduire ce soir même à Usher?" |
My dearest and only friend, I am sick and worried. My wife Madeline is dying. My time is coming. I beg you, come help us.
Roderick Usher. "Would you drive me to the house of Usher tonight?" |
SCENE 2 - DREW COREY
cond. Jaco Wong
A. Roderick and Madeline (Soloist: Fahad Siadat)
B. Entering the House (Soloist: Diana Woolner)
B. Entering the House (Soloist: Diana Woolner)
TEXT & TRANSLATION
|
Dans ce manoir menaçant ruine, Sir Roderick tenait dans une étrange réclusion sa femme Madeline, la dominant par sa nervosité tyranique.
"Ah, non! Pour tout l’or de votre Seigneurie je ne ferai pas faire un pas de plus à mon cheval!" L’accablante mélancolie des environs d’Usher semblait surnaturelle. |
In this dilapidated mansion, the tyrannical Sir Roderick was keeping his wife Madeline hidden away.
"No! I wouldn’t drive my horse one step further for all the gold in the world!" The overwhelming gloom surrounding the House of Usher seemed supernatural. |
SCENE 3: The Portrait of madeline usher - ALLEN W. MENTON
cond. Saunder Choi
TEXT & TRANSLATION
|
La maladie de Lady Madeline, femme de Roderick Usher, bafouait la science de son médecin.
Une curieuse hérédité voulait que chacun des Usher s’adonnât avec passion à peindre le portrait de sa femme. "C’est là qu’elle est vivante!" "Cher Roderick, comme vous brûlez de fièvre!" |
The illness of Lady Madeline, Roderick Usher’s wife, had long baffled the skill of her doctor.
By some quirk of heredity, every male descendent of the Usher family ardently devoted himself to painting a portrait of his wife. "That is where she is alive!" "Dear Roderick, how you burn with fever!" |
SCENE 4: roderick's guitar - MORGAN WOOLSEY
cond. Saunder Choi
Speaking Soloists: Allen Menton, David Harris, Alice Dryden, Diana Woolner
Speaking Soloists: Allen Menton, David Harris, Alice Dryden, Diana Woolner
TEXT & TRANSLATION
|
"Sa Grâce se sentant fatiguée prie qu’on excuse son absence à table."
"C’est là qu’elle est vivante!" L’étrange passion de peindre s’empare à nouveau de Roderick. Il ne songe qu’a se retrouver seul avec Madeline, son modèle unique. Comment écarter le visiteur ami devenu importun? |
"Her ladyship feels weary and begs you to excuse her absence from the table."
"That is where she is alive!" The strange urge to paint seizes Roderick anew. He can only think of finding himself alone with Madeline again, his one muse. How can he rid himself of his intrusive friend? |
SCENE 5: stroll before bed - KC DAUGIRDAS
cond. Saunder Choi
Soloist: Tiffany Ho
Soloist: Tiffany Ho
TEXT & TRANSLATION
|
Tordu comme par une tempête, l’arbre généalogique des Usher menace le dernier survivant de la race, Roderick, de la plus lourde hérédité.
"Que votre sollicitude me touche, mon seul ami. Main prenez aussi soin de vous-même. Quelques pas de promenade vous feront du bien avant le repos." |
Twisted as if by a storm, the Usher family tree threatens Roderick, the last of the line, with degeneracy.
"I am so touched by your concern, my dear friend. But take care of yourself as well. A walk would do you some good before you rest." |
SCENE 6: madeline's death - DIANA WOOLNER
cond. Fahad Siadat
TEXT & TRANSLATION
|
Le pinceau de Roderick était comme une baguette magique. À chaque coup le portrait s’animait d’avantage, mais Madeline pâlissait plus. La jeune femme semblait donner à l’image peinte les forces qu’elle perdait.
"En vérité, c’est la vie même!" |
Roderick’s paintbrush was like a magic wand. With every stroke, the portrait came to life more and more, but Madeline grew even paler. The young woman seemed to be giving the painting all the strength that she was losing.
"Truly, it is life itself!" |
SCENE 7: theories of magnetism - the coffin - MOLLY PEASE
cond. Fahad Siadat
TEXT & TRANSLATION
|
Hanté par tous les mystères, Roderick avait longuement médité les théories du Magnétisme.
"Je vous le dis, Docteur! Elle n’est peut-être pas morte!" "Elle ne me quittera pas! Nous l’enterrerons ici même!" |
Fascinated by mysteries, Roderick had long pondered the theories of magnetism.
"I tell you, Doctor! She may not be dead!" "She will not leave me! We shall bury her right here!" |
SCENE 8: The funeral march - DAVID HARRIS
cond. David Conley
TEXT & TRANSLATION
|
"J’interdis… Entendez-vous, j’interdis qu’on cloue…"
|
"I forbid… Listen, I forbid that we nail…"
|
SCENE 9: NAILS IN THE COFFIN - NILO ALCALA
cond. David Conley
Soloist: Tiffany Ho
Soloist: Tiffany Ho
TEXT & TRANSLATION
|
Depuis l’enterrement de Madeline, les heures, les jours s’écoulaient dans une effrayante monotonie, dans un silence accablant.
|
Since Madeline’s burial, the hours and days dragged on in a frightening monotony, in an oppressive silence.
|
SCENE 10: Frightening Monotony - JOSEPH THEL
cond. Diana Woolner
Soloists: Heather Ogilvy, Vera Lugo, Saunder Choi, Kevin Dalbey, David Harris
Soloists: Heather Ogilvy, Vera Lugo, Saunder Choi, Kevin Dalbey, David Harris
TEXT & TRANSLATION
|
Tous les nerfs tendus, Roderick semble guetter on ne sait quel signe. Le moindre bruit l’exaspère…
|
His nerves on edge, Roderick seems to be on the lookout for some sort of sign. The slightest sound provokes him…
|
SCENE 11: reading the book - MATTHEW BROWN
cond. Diana Woolner
Soloist: Molly Pease
Soloist: Molly Pease
TEXT & TRANSLATION
|
Roderick n’ose plus répéter cette folle persuasion qui l’étouffe… Madeline…
La nuit s’annoncait orageuse et comme chargée d’électricité. Il y a un Silence double; l’un est le silence corporel; ne le crains pas. Mais si quelque urgente destinée te fait rencontrer son ombre, elfe sans nom qui hante les solitaires régions que ne foule aucun pied humain… recommande-toi à Dieu! "L’entends-tu, maintenant?!" |
Roderick dares not repeat the crazy conviction that is haunting him… Madeline…
The night looked stormy and alive with electricity. There is a duel Silence; one is the silence of the body, do not fear it. But if by some implacable destiny you should encounter its nameless ghost that haunts deserted lands where no human foot has trod… commend yourself to God! "Do you hear it now?" |
SCENE 12: Ethelred - DAVID CONLEY
cond. David Harris
TEXT & TRANSLATION
|
"Roderick, vous ne devez pas voir cela ! Venez plutôt vous distraire à quelque lecture."
Et Ethelred leva bel et bien sa massue et avec quelques coups fraya bien vite un chemin à travers les planches de la porte, avec sa main gantée de fer; et tirant vigoureusement a lui, il fit craquer et se fender Et Ethelred jeta sa massue et frappa sur la tête du dragon qui tomba devant lui et rendit son souffle empesté avec un rugissement si épouvantable, si âpre et si perçant à la fois Et le brave champion s’avança maintenant courageusement sur le pavé d’argent du château, vers l’endroit du mur où pendait le bouclier, lequel, en vérité, n’attendit pas qu’il fut arrivé tout auprès, mais tomba à ses pieds avec un puissant et terrible |
"Roderick, you must not behold this! Come distract yourself with some reading instead."
And Ethelred lifted his mace outright, and with several blows quickly cleared a hole in the planks of the door, with his hand gloved in fire; and pulling vigorously towards himself, he cracked and tore it And Ethelred threw his mace and struck upon the head of the dragon, which fell before him and gave up its reeking breath with a roar that was at once very terrible, very harsh, and very piercing And now the fearless conqueror advanced courageously over the silver cobblestone of the castle to where the shield hung upon the wall, which fell down at his feet the moment he drew near with a powerful and terrible |
SCENE 13: The Fall (usher pastiche) - DREW COREY
cond. David Harris
TEXT & TRANSLATION
|
"Oui, j’entends. J’ai entendu depuis longtemps. Depuis le premier jour…"
"Nous l’avons mise vivante dans la tombe!" |
"Yes, I hear. I have heard for a long time. Since the first day…"
"We buried her alive!" |
For composer bios, check out our Members page.
