Musical Sincerity and Transcendence in Film

Examining a wide range of movies from the last thirty-five years, Timothy Cochran traces two recurring assumptions implied by self-conscious music-making in recent cinema: that music is a potent means of expressing sincerity and experiencing humanistic depth, and that music can provide varied forms of transcendence and psychological escape.

Timothy Cochran is Associate Professor of Music History at Eastern Connecticut State University. His articles on Olivier Messiaen and Claude Debussy have appeared in The Journal of Musicology, Theoria, 19th-Century Music, and Twentieth-Century Music. His additional research interests include composer Bernard Herrmann and music in Indiewood.

Introduction: Musical Reflexivity Chapter 1: Enduring Romanticism: Spirit-Realms, Mass-Mediation, and the New Sincerity Chapter 2: The Sounds of Sincerity: Hearing Post-Irony in Indiewood Film Chapter 3: On Social Alienation and the Promises of Music Chapter 4: Performing on Musical Playgrounds Chapter 5: "I'm Afraid You're Just Too Darn Loud:" The Music Technological Sublime in Film Chapter 6: Searching for Lost Time in Debussy's "Clair de lune" Epilogue