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Sylvester Levay tells stories through music
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THOUGH composing Hollywood film scores has always been what 69-year-old Hungarian Sylvester Levay wanted to do, he sees creating theatrical works as a more attractive job now because the music is a bigger part of the story.
Born in Subotica, Serbia, in 1945, Levay started his musical studies at the age of eight and won a music arrangement competition at 15. He toured around Europe as a music arranger and lyricist until 1972 when he stopped in Munich, where he met Michael Kunze.
With Kunze he has recorded a number of successful records including the Grammy award-winning “Fly Robin Fly” in the 1970s.
The two teamed up again in the 1990s, after Levay had been working on Hollywood film scores for two decades. They worked together in creating original musicals like “Elisabeth,” “Marie Antoinette” and “Rebecca.”
The musicals are considered the foundation of a new genre in contemporary musical theater, called the drama musical.
“In a musical, music should be of an equal importance with the story. Music should help tell the story rather than just enhancing the pictures as what film music always does,” Levay says.
Composing a musical is an attractive challenge for Levay, who says they often take four to five years to complete. “It is a big work, but great,” Levay says.
And his 20 years of experience composing film scores has helped greatly in completing the underscore for every dialogue scene in a musical.
“Every dialogue has its own reason, feeling and atmosphere. It makes no sense to have the characters talking while music stops,” he adds.
With the musical “Elisabeth” being staged at Shanghai Culture Square since this month, Levay has been in Shanghai to help with the opening preparations. He talked with Shanghai Daily about some of his ideas in creating a musical about the legendary Austrian empress.
Q: Why do you use pop and rock elements in a story about a royal family?
I knew that it is a story set over 100 years ago, and I needed to use classical music, of course, but not necessarily for everyone throughout the story. Lucheni is telling the story to the audience, he is in the present. So, I made him a little bit of a rocker and modern.
Death is from past, present and future everywhere. Death is not a dark figure. He is a good-looking young man who has to do his job — to take the people in the book ready to go. For the first time in his zillions of years in life, he falls in love with Elisabeth. So I gave him some pop, rock and electronic music to show him from every side, but also a melancholy melody to show he is not an ice-cold skeleton. He has also human qualities.
When Elisabeth sings, regardless of all the classical instruments used, she has pop elements in there. Elisabeth was one of the first women in history that fought for her freedom, just like a modern woman.
For Franz (the emperor) or Sofia (the emperor’s mother), I did not give them pop or rock as they are typical figures. Therefore, there is a combination in the music, as we move through time, spaces and levels.
Q: What kind of features do you plan to show through each melody for a principal character?
When I searched for the theme for each role, I tried to come very close to him or her, to get inside and feel what he or she feels. Then I started to write the melody out of these emotions. By doing so, I feel not only their emotions but also their characters as human beings.
Take Lucheni for example. I gave him not only rocky but also aggressive melodies that support his behavior.
Franz is a soft guy who loves his wife and is eager to get away from the court. So, there is always a sadness in his melody. Elisabeth sings her theme song, “I Belong to Me,” when she feels abandoned by her husband. In that song, it should reveal not only her emotions, but also her state of mind. First, I have to give her the sad feeling of being abandoned, and then build it up as a melody of her growing up and saying no to the puppet-like life.
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