Program Notes: The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

PROGRAM THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC (1928)

Saturday, May 19 | 8PM

THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC (1928)* Fox Theatre Film Series Luscious Noise: conductor John Stubbs violin Jing Yan Bowcott violin Igor Pandurski viola Caterina Longhi cello Andrew Hayhurst (String Quartet) violin Yumi Cho violin Wesley Precourt violin Hanah Stuart violin Zou Yu viola Qing Liang viola Ethan Pernela cello Chia-Ling Chien cello Xian Zhuo bass P.J. Cinque bass Susan Wulff harp Julie Smith Phillips vibraphone Gregory Cohen vibraphone Andrew Watkins celeste Jeeyoon Kim

STARRING Renée Jeanne Falconetti as Joan of Arc Eugène Silvain as Évêque Pierre Cauchon André Berley as Jean d'Estivet, the prosecutor Maurice Schutz as Nicolas Loyseleur, a canon Antonin Artaud as Jean Massieu, the Dean of Rouen FILM TO BE ACCOMPANIED BY JOHN LUTHER ADAMS In the White Silence (1998)

SCREENPLAY Based on a book by Joseph Delteil and transcripts from Joan's trial

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Carl Theodor Dreyer *The San Diego Symphony Orchestra does not appear on this program.

Due to its continuous dramatic action, there will be no intermission during tonight’s film.

Screening is at the Jacobs Music Center's Copley Symphony Hall

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PROGRAM NOTES | THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC (1928) – MARCH 19

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

ABOUT THE MUSIC

JOHN STUBBS is a violinist with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, music director of the California Ballet Company, the creator and director of Luscious Noise and a violist with the Mainly Mozart Festival.

First, that face. Renée Jeanne “Maria” Falconetti was mainly a stage actress when Carl Theodor Dreyer chose her for his masterpiece The Passion of Joan of Arc. This was to be her only starring role in cinema, and it is considered to be one of the finest performances ever recorded on film. Dreyer’s camera never strays far from that face. As the film progresses her visage becomes a mantra that provides relief from the mocking and skepticism of her interlocutors. The intertitles are directly from the transcript of her trial, making it one of the first courtroom dramas on film. Her innocent but brutally honest answers to questions meant to entrap her could not have been improved by the best script doctors. But that face, showing fear, humility, sadness, resignation; to have that amount of film time on a face is surprising even after almost 90 years.

As music director and conductor of the California Ballet Company, Mr. Stubbs conducts SDSO musicians for California Ballet Company productions ranging from ballet standards such as The Nutcracker, Paquita and Serenade to premieres of new works with music of Bach, Vivaldi, De Falla, Albinoni, George Crumb and Yoav Talmi.

For the CBC Mr. Stubbs has conducted the Colorado Springs Symphony, the Wyoming Symphony and the San Diego Chamber Orchestra at the re-opening Gala of the historic Balboa Theatre.

Most recently he conducted the world premiere of ALICE: Re-imagining Wonderland through Dance, Music and Spoken Word, a collaboration between Art of Élan and Colette Harding Contemporary Dance Company with a commissioned score by composer Joseph Hallman. Mr. Stubbs is married to CBC Prima Ballerina Denise Dabrowski.

As the creator and director of Luscious Noise, an eclectic performance series formerly at local jazz club Anthology, Mr. Stubbs brings new audiences to classical music through the combination of live music and videos in a hip dinner club setting.

John Stubbs has been a member of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra since 1977. n

LUSCIOUS NOISE breaks the barrier of tradition by bringing classical music performances down to earth in unique settings.

Drawing on musicians from the San Diego Symphony, its focus is creating compelling combinations of music, dance and film that are meant to become an experience for the audience that transcends the sum of the parts. n

by John Stubbs

Serendipitously, while listening to John Luther Adams’ In the White Silence one evening I was watching a screening of The Passion and could not believe how this enchanting and haunting score captured the mood of the film without relying on a literal frameby-frame punctuation. His score alternates between static chords that appear to have no beginning or end, occasionally interrupted by the warmth of a string quartet or by the ethereal flecks of the two vibraphones, harp and celeste. The synchronicity between Adams’ In the White Silence and Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc is so remarkable that although created 70 years apart, they seem destined to be combined into this hypnotic mélange.

And that face! n

You cannot know the history of silent film unless you know the face of Renée Jeanne [Maria] Falconetti. In a medium without words, where the filmmakers believed that the camera captured the essence of characters through their faces, to see Falconetti in Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) is to look into eyes that will never leave you.”

– Roger Ebert

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