Ha, all these years I've commented on the scene/music with Blanche and the young newspaper collector. Don't know if I should be humbled or embarrassed or both having given North so much credit for what turns out to be a kiddie ditty. But I will credit him for its placement and melancholic arrangement with a bit of an added off-kilter Twilight Zoneish effect. Which, in turn, led North to wander off in another direction with equal effectiveness.
The theme proper brings to mind Waxman's "Little Sheba" theme or motif or whatever the next year. And Barry's theme for Peggy Sue that sounded like something of a variation on a common kid's nyah nyah refrain.
Somewhere there's an article by a famous film critic or composer re that song as contrastingly used by North in Streetcar, and by Victor Young in 'Shane': in this clip it's used at the start in the barndance scene, just before 'Goodbye Old Paint', which of course Goldsmith adapted in his 'Wild Rovers' main theme:
But it has to be mentioned that the song (the 'Varsouvienne') is an integral stage direction in Tennessee Williams' original play, which lead North only followed: see here:
Wm do you remember the close of The Human Comedy with the harp and girls singing? "Toby" is watching them from the picket fence. I think the song has a companion feel to the scene/music in my clip.
Does anyone happen to know, when 'Varsouvienne' first appears while the underscore is playing, did North write it this way, or was it created through overlay? I would tend to assume the former, as Goldsmith includes it in his recording. You can hear it come in at the 1:53 mark, and it is somewhat at odds with the rest of the underscore. I find this track, incidentally, to be the most poignant theme in the film. Later on in the track, the focus shifts to 'Varsouvienne" itself.
North adapted it. Kevin Mulhall I see names the tune in his CD booklet notes.
Earlier in the notes, you read this from North himself:
"I believe strongly in tension and relaxation as applied to absolute music in functional music. Because of this, you may find strident string chords over an innocent melody which is definitely going someplace, to punctuate an emotional response; or brass figures interspersing a melodic line to convey the ambivalent nature of human behavior."
Technically, that about sums up Alex's whole philosophy of scoring.
P.S. HowardL .... I can't remember enough about 'The Human Comedy', so I can't comment. It'd likely fit the 'rhyme of fate' commentary the music might adopt.
Blanche's hubby, who was gay, committed suicide after dancing the Varsouvienne. A Williams reference to the 'motherbound cavalier' ethic of the Old South, and the strained polarisation with the very hetero Stanley.
There are two melodic lines playing two different time sigs simultaneously, and they're not in counterpoint. I'm sure an overlay might be easier, but then again, the two still have to converge towards the end. There's no indication on the album that Goldsmith's players overlaid. A really top class orchestra could do this, but it's Charles Ives territory, and very hard to play.
That's pretty much what I was describing above per TZish effect and then "another direction." Waxman and Jeff Alexander did the same thing in episodes of that series if m'memory is not playing tricks. The Alexander score for sure. No counterpoint or anything, just "overlay."
Blanche mentions that she and her husband were dancing the varsouviana, the night her husband shoots himself. The way North plays this, in the wscene with the newspapaer boy, is heartrending.
