24Audiovisual heterophony
A musical reading of Walter Ruttmann’s film Lichtspiel Opus 3 (1924)
Introduction
In this chapter I discuss my new musical score for Walter Ruttmann’s short, abstract film Lichtspiel Opus 3 (1924), composed in 2014. During the first section I consider Ruttmann’s artistic background and relationship to his peers, Hans Richter and Viking Eggeling. The film’s spatio-temporal characteristics and inner relationships are closely scrutinised. Overall, Ruttmann avoids montage in favour of a more evolutionary, evenly proportioned time character; meanwhile, the choreographic elements, varied repetitions, strong formal contrasts and fluid rhythmic patterns all appear to spring from the same structural impulse as ...
