Quotations from Brahms’s Piano Music in the Context of the Metamodernist Trends in 21st Century Cinema

Abstract

This article is devoted to quotations from the piano music of German Romantic composer
Johannes Brahms as implemented in three films: “The Phantom Thread” (2017), “We have Always
Lived in the Castle” (2018) and “Little Women” (2019). These films were shot by American
directors Paul Thomas Anderson, Stacie Passon and Greta Gerwig following the genre of drama
movies. The article aims to disclose how the quotations of Brahms' piano music (Waltz in B minor
opus 39 No. 11, Rhapsody in G minor opus 79 No. 2 and Waltz in A flat major opus 39 No. 15)
implements some the features of metamodernism in these films. Based on the works of famous
theorists in its approach, the article focuses on the phenomenon and problems of metamodernism.
The original use of musical quotes from the Brahms’ piano music in the metamodern cinema is
expressed in the filmmakers' interest in the aesthetics of the past, especially Romanticism. The
principles of working with musical quotes in these films consist in neutralizing the composer’s
authorship, deformation of the musical text, manifold repetition of the music, and the dynamics of
the sound of the quoted music. In films, by quoting the Rhapsody in G minor opus 79 No. 2 and
Waltzes opus 39 No. 11 and No. 15 represent the metamodern “structure of feeling” in different
ways. It is expressed in the following factors: a childlike style, emotionality, sincerity, and female
perception. In these three films, by quoting Brahms's music, the film producers experiment with
time, its looping, stopping and expansion.

Keywords: Johannes Brahms, metamodernism, musical quotation, meaning, cinema, structure
of feeling, film music, Paul Thomas Anderson, Stacie Passon, Greta Gerwig.