Program Notes: Metropolis

PROGRAM STARRING Gustav Frรถhlich as Freder Alfred Abel as Joh Fredersen Rudolf Klein-Rogge as Rotwang and Brigitte Helm as Maria / false Maria ORIGINAL SCORE BY Gottfried Huppertz

SCREENPLAY ADAPTATION BY Thea von Harbou (From her novel of the same name) METROPOLIS (1927)

DIRECTED BY

Saturday, March 17 | 8PM

METROPOLIS (1927)*

Fritz Lang *The San Diego Symphony Orchestra does not appear on this program.

Fox Theatre Film Series

organ Russ Peck

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

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PROGRAM NOTES | METROPOLIS (1927) – MARCH 17

ABOUT THE ARTIST

ABOUT THE MUSIC

RUSS PECK began his musical studies with piano in 1965, moving to the organ in 1970, while starting percussion lessons in junior high school. Forming a band called The Young Oldtimers (with Russ on the Hammond organ), he and three high school buddies played Elks Clubs and other small venues throughout San Diego County. Mr. Peck then studied classical organ under a scholarship with Professor Stanley R. Plummer at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington.

Returning to San Diego, Russ joined Voice and Video as a video engineer, staying with the firm for 28 years.

Metropolis is one of those films that gets into your system and never leaves. I know of no cure or inoculation. My first encounter with the picture, years ago, left me emotionally drained. I was truly awestruck.

Specializing in the creation and performance of Silent Era film scores, Mr. Peck is currently the organist for the Fox Theatre Film Series at the Jacobs Music Center in San Diego. In addition to this solo work, he has performed with the San Diego Symphony for silent film presentations. Russ is also the “House Organist” at the Balboa Theatre in San Diego. His other organ work includes being an official guest organist at the Spreckels outdoor pipe organ in San Diego, and guest organist at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Lemon Grove (on a Wurlitzer Theatre pipe organ he helped install and continues to maintain). Not content with just the organ, Russ is Principal Timpanist for the Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra and does “pick-up” percussion work for the Imperial Valley Symphony, the Coronado Concert Band, The Hillcrest Wind Ensemble and other bands and orchestras in San Diego County.

By day, Russ Peck owns and operates V dash V Service, a professional audio, video and musical equipment service (including pipe and electronic organs) throughout Southern California. He is the Rodgers Organ authorized service technician for San Diego County. Mr. Peck also works for L. W. Blackinton and Associates Organ Builders and Shoberg Pipe Organs. In addition, Russ also gives private lessons on all keyboard and percussion instruments. Mr. Peck operates an amateur radio station, KG6CLA, and keeps busy in his spare time by maintaining the growing pile of instruments throughout his home, including reed and electronic organs and a small RobertMorton theatre pipe organ. He currently holds memberships in The American Theatre Organ Society, The American Guild of Organists and The Reed Organ Society.

Mr. Peck’s recent Fox Theatre Film Series performances include The Thief of Bagdad, Nosferatu, several Charlie Chaplin short films, Harold Lloyd’s Safety Last!, The Freshman and My Best Girl, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Mark of Zorro, The Son of the Sheik, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Three Musketeers, The Cat and the Canary, Cyrano de Bergerac, Flesh and the Devil and The Phantom of the Opera. n S AN D I EG O SYM PHONY ORCHES TRA 2017-18 SE ASON M A R C H 20 18

by organist Russ Peck

OK, enough with the superlatives. On to the challenges and responsibilities of creating a score worthy of such a film! I knew I couldn't do it on my own. I needed help. Was there an original score to work from? On to the internet…and lo and behold, an original 159-page piano/conductor score materialized. Would a DVD be available with this same score? Yes, again! I had a start.

This original score for Metropolis was written by GOTTFRIED HUPPERTZ, a very gifted composer who wrote for a number of German silent films. While his composition has many beautiful romantic melodies, it also is full of modernistic touches, such as atonality, dissonance, and complex extended chords. In adapting this score, I found it difficult to give concise names to some of these wonderful chords. As a colleague once said when analyzing such a chord, “That looks like a Demolished 7th to me!” Please don't take this frivolity as disrespect or dislike of such writing.

On the contrary, I absolutely love it and the mood it can create.

One's ear can become so attuned to this “alternate universe” that “normal” music can start to sound a bit bland.

The “piano/conductor” score is an interesting animal itself that could benefit from some explanation. As many of you know, a conductor's score uses a big, tall page of musical staffs (the lines with the notes on them), one staff for each instrument in the orchestra. The larger the orchestra, the more staffs to a page.

On the other hand, a piano/conductor score reduces the main harmonies of a work to piano (right and left hand) form, while adding salient solo and melody staffs above and /or below the piano part. Often, the piano part exists alone in the score as the orchestra is playing in an ensemble mode with no outstanding soloist.

My job is to adapt this piano/conductor score to the organ. This involves some simplification as there are often more parts going than I have hands and feet to cover. In addition, an organist has the ability to move away from the written page to accent action and emotion, something an orchestra can't do without causing a “train wreck.” (This sophisticated musical term is used in every ensemble I have ever played with.)

Lastly, my score has evolved with the changing quality of the film restorations available. I began with a DVD that used explanatory titles to cover about 25 minutes of lost footage. Much of this footage has since been found, and you will see it tonight, along with my revised adaptation.

I hope that you find Metropolis as meaningful an experience as I have had. I'll be at the organ console after the show to hear your thoughts and to answer questions about the performance. Enjoy! n

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