Morse, Fauré and Wagner in TRD
@van-der-woude-00.myweb.nl H. van der Woude
A few weeks ago I had a discussion about the use of the Fauré Requiem in The Remorseful Day (TRD) and since it never left my head (the discussion, I mean).
This friend of mine thought the Fauré Requiem was an excellent choice to be in the background when Morse collapsed at the College in the film of TRD.
I told her that she forgot something: in the novel TRD when Morse is making his last will and testament he orders NOT to play Fauré's Requiem at his funeral: he dislikes the music as being too sweet, too sentimental. As a matter of fact, now trying to remember the contents of the novel which I do not possess myself, I think Morse stated in his last will, that he didn’t want any service or funeral at all in the novel (as he also did in the film) and that he told his dislikes about Fauré at the funeral of somebody else (maybe he told this to Lewis?). In the movie TRD the part ‘In Paradisum’ of the Fauré Requiem is ONLY played after Morse’s interview with this rather sexist doctor, and just before he gets his fatal heart attack.
To make this matter of his last will complete: Morse decided to leave his body to science, so there wasn’t even the opportunity to have a service or a funeral.
I can understand Morse’s taste in this matter of music. Though the Fauré Requiem is a masterpiece in itself, a real Wagner-man like Morse, who himself is not religious at all, particularly didn’t want to have Fauré played in his memory, when there’s so much appropriate Wagner music in stead. In the movie of TRD they played at the end (a very small piece of) the Overture to Parsifal - it could have been the Funeral march from Götterdämmerung as well.
My friend didn’t like the idea of Colin Dexter that Morse didn't want a service OR funeral in the novel. She thought it was selfish of Morse not to let the people he leaves behind the chance to make their good-byes.
I think Mr. Dexter knew very well what he did. Morse knew at the very end (though it was never mentioned, neither in the novel, nor in the film!), that there would be hardly any people around to grieve over him. In the way he always treated people himself, he could only hope that Lewis and Strange would have left some care for him, and other people simply were not there. Again, it is never mentioned, but you can feel this desperation for the coming loneliness (at the beginning of the story it is already clear that Morse will be sent in retirement) when he picks up a new hobby: bird-watching!
I would like the opinion of other readers of this news group on this subject.
Herman van der Woudemailto:herman @ van-der-woude-00.myweb.nl
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http://www.van-der-woude-00.myweb.nl
MzGwenny
can understand Morse not wanting a funeral, not because people wouldn't come
but because maybe they would and he didn't like people around him. I think the
bird watching was totally out of character. I don't think Morse would have
gotten lonely, he loved being alone with his music, books, and an occasional
lady friend. He would have traveled and of course gone to the police station
to bug Lewis with advice which would have made Lewis grumble but he would have
taken it. I think it should have ended with his Morse theme as all episodes
did. I guess you can tell I did not like the film or the book. It just was not
Morse. It was quickly and badly done, just a way to get rid of him. He
deserved better.
George Partlow
> "H. van der Woude" wrote:
> This friend of mine thought the Fauré Requiem was an excellent choice
> to be in the background when Morse collapsed at the College in the
> film of TRD.
>
> I told her that she forgot something: in the novel TRD when Morse is
> making his last will and testament he orders NOT to play Fauré's
> Requiem at his funeral: he dislikes the music as being too sweet, too
> sentimental.
Even though that's true, I thought the use of the music as the
background for the actually seizure was deliciously ironic. And isn't
it supposed to be _actually_ in the scene, i.e. isn't there a choir
reheasing the "In Paradisum" in the chapel, so that Morse hears it being
performed through the windows?
> As a matter of fact, now trying to remember the contents
> of the novel which I do not possess myself, I think Morse stated in
> his last will, that he didn’t want any service or funeral at all in
> the novel (as he also did in the film) and that he told his dislikes
> about Fauré at the funeral of somebody else (maybe he told this to
> Lewis?). In the movie TRD the part ‘In Paradisum’ of the Fauré Requiem
> is ONLY played after Morse’s interview with this rather sexist doctor,
> and just before he gets his fatal heart attack.
>
> To make this matter of his last will complete: Morse decided to leave
> his body to science, so there wasn’t even the opportunity to have a
> service or a funeral.
This doesn't make sense to me; I'm an official "organ donor", and have
just put in my will that I want to be cremated, but (since unlike Morse
I'm a Believer!) I certainly intend to have amemorial service. There's
nothing that sys there has to be corpse present! I've largely picked
the music (I've been writing items in the front of my wife's hymna for
several years), and have NOT included any Faure... although I do enjoy
his Requiem and the "Cantique de Jean Racine", I much prefer Mozart's
and Verdi's Requiems. Not that even _my_ firends are likely to try to
mount a performance for my send-off! ;-) But it did occur to me the
other day to suggest that the _Erbarme Dich_ from the Matthew Passion
would be nice, and perhaps even doable on fairly short notice. Too bad
I won't be there to enjoy it... but presumably I will be otherwise
occupied!
An additional irony is that AFAIK Faure himself was an atheist, despite
making a living as an organist (at the Madeleine, among other places).
I can't immediately discover proof of this in the Web, but I distincly
remember robert Carwithen telling us that when we were reharsing the
Requiem a few decades back, and I reason to have confidence in his
musicological credentials!
I agree that Morse's "aloneness" as well as his loneliness are made very
clear in both book and film, and that they're a major ingredient in the
story's poignancy. This is a tragedy, not a comedy. I've referred in
an earlier post or two to the Socratic references in TRD, and it seems
to me the final scene with Lewis in the morgue is such a reference, if
an extremely subtle one. One can almost imagine Lewis saying, like
Phaedo, "Such was the end, Echecrates, of our firend; concerning whom I
may say in truth that of all men of our time whom I've known, he was
wisest and justest and best".
Whether Morse's wishes are "selfish" or not I wouldn't wish to comment
on, but IMO he was certainly _consistent_.
SPOILER
SPOILER
SPOILER
But as I think I've said before, what upset me about the film was the
ending in which the viewer is left thinking that those handcuffs
belonged to Morse rather than Strange.
George
Shackfords at Thornbury
I love so much. However I do hope that you all realize that Inspector Morse
is/was a fictional character and not as seems a few of us on here, a real
person!! Ooops..Regards, John........a real hero fanatic..
@van-der-woude-00.myweb.nl H. van der Woude
| I don't know much about classical music so I really can't comment on that. I
| can understand Morse not wanting a funeral, not because people wouldn't come
| but because maybe they would and he didn't like people around him.
I still think Morse was aware of his coming loneliness after his retirement. Of course he knew he was not loved among his colleagues. In all those years we read about him or saw him at work w know how he treated Lewis or how he behaved to other colleagues. And he was most certainly intelligent enough to realize that this behaviour wouldn't make him a popular man. He didn't care. But as a consequence of this he also must have realized that his death would be a lonely one, and so would be a funeral or a service.
| I think the
| bird watching was totally out of character.
For a Wagner loving and beer and Glenfiddich drinking man this normally would seem totally out of character, but in Morse's case bird watching was the ultimate act of a lonely man! Don't forget that (in the film) he just received a letter from his girlfriend Adèle Cecil, telling him she wouldn't be coming back to him and thus leaving him alone - as he has always been left alone.
And when he finally discovers a 'passer domesticus' in his garden, it is Lewis who tells him it's just a common sparrow. So much for Morse's bird watching!
| I don't think Morse would have
| gotten lonely, he loved being alone with his music, books, and an occasional
| lady friend.
He loved his music and his books, that's for sure. But it's only music and literature of very dead people! He has no relatives, no friends. In the way he treated Lewis he could never be sure that Lewis was a 'friend'. And as you already put it, an 'occasional lady' is hardly to be called a lasting friendship!
| He would have travelled and of course gone to the police station
| to bug Lewis with advice which would have made Lewis grumble but he would have
| taken it.
Morse 'leaning on a cane', going as an old man to the police station? Could you really imagine that?
| I think it should have ended with his Morse theme as all episodes
| did. I guess you can tell I did not like the film or the book. It just was not
| Morse. It was quickly and badly done, just a way to get rid of him. He
| deserved better.
I agree, it was not the best Morse novel I ever read or the best Morse film I ever saw, but then: what is the best novel and/or the best film?
It was quite obvious that the sole purpose of TRD as a book and as a film was to bring Morse to an end. And in this purpose book and film succeeded. Morse solved his last crime and Morse died (a lonely man, as he always had been).
@van-der-woude-00.myweb.nl H. van der Woude
| > This friend of mine thought the Fauré Requiem was an excellent choice
| > to be in the background when Morse collapsed at the College in the
| > film of TRD.
| > I told her that she forgot something: in the novel TRD when Morse is
| > making his last will and testament he orders NOT to play Fauré's
| > Requiem at his funeral: he dislikes the music as being too sweet, too
| > sentimental.
| Even though that's true, I thought the use of the music as the
| background for the actually seizure was deliciously ironic. And isn't
| it supposed to be _actually_ in the scene, i.e. isn't there a choir
| performed through the windows?
He hears it when he is waiting in the doorway of the chapel, while he is waiting for an opportunity to interview a doctor, who is also a singer in the choir - and even in this case the solist in the 'In Paradisum' piece. I'm sorry, it became a rather complicated sentence and I hope that you still are capable to follow me...
| > As a matter of fact, now trying to remember the contents
| > of the novel which I do not possess myself, I think Morse stated in
| > his last will, that he didn't want any service or funeral at all in
| > the novel (as he also did in the film) [...].
| > To make this matter of his last will complete: Morse decided to leave
| > his body to science, so there wasn't even the opportunity to have a
| > service or a funeral.
| This doesn't make sense to me; I'm an official "organ donor", and have
| just put in my will that I want to be cremated, but (since unlike Morse
| I'm a Believer!) I certainly intend to have a memorial service. There's
| nothing that says there has to be corpse present! [...]
Yes, a memorial service is always possible, and even without a body being present too. In Morse's case however it DOES make sense.
I just asked myself WHY did Morse gave his body away to science? Is it a last act of economy of his part? When giving your body away you don't have to pay for a funeral? Or is it that it was already clear to him that there wouldn't be a service or whatsoever and then how to dispose of the body?
I tend to last 'solution'. It would be in Morse's line. He knows he dies, he doesn't want any service after his death and he 'vanishes'. ('Old soldiers never die, they just fade away'?)
| I agree that Morse's "aloneness" as well as his loneliness are made very
| clear in both book and film, and that they're a major ingredient in the
| story's poignancy. This is a tragedy, not a comedy. I've referred in
| an earlier post or two to the Socratic references in TRD, and it seems
| to me the final scene with Lewis in the morgue is such a reference, if
| an extremely subtle one. One can almost imagine Lewis saying, like
| Phaedo, "Such was the end, Echecrates, of our friend; concerning whom I
| may say in truth that of all men of our time whom I've known, he was
| wisest and justest and best".
I'm sorry that I never had a 'classic education', so I can't comment you on the possible Socratic references in TRD. There's however one other element I want to point to.
Both in the novel and in the film the Parsifal Overture plays a small but significant role.
We know that Morse is moved by Lewis' choice to buy a Knappertsbusch ('Nappertsbush') recording of Parsifal. Wagner was, like Fauré, no believer. Yet he wrote Parsifal, an opera based on the very Christian principles of the 'Redeemer'. And it is this music played, when Lewis kisses Morse on his forehead in the morgue. Morse is 'redeemed'....
| But as I think I've said before, what upset me about the film was the
| ending in which the viewer is left thinking that those handcuffs
| belonged to Morse rather than Strange.
I think, like you, that this abbreviation of the novel did no good to the story and particularly to Morse. It shed a strange light over Morse, which wasn't there in the novel.
On the other hand: we must not forget that Morse himself never was a saint, far from that. I will not give the story away, so I won't go into details, but I can advise readers to read the novel and to watch (on video) the film. There are significant differences between book and film.
@van-der-woude-00.myweb.nl H. van der Woude
"Shackfords at Thornbury" <jsbr...@bleyonder.co.uk> schreef in bericht news:Dz8I6.1794$Ml1.3...@news1.cableinet.net...
Thank you for your concern, but yes, we do realize that Chief-Inspector Endeavour Morse is the sole creation of the author Colin Dexter, that there never was/is a real Inspector Morse, nor a real person like him at work at Thames Valley Police in Oxford, England, and that they work quite differently at Thames Valley Police than is portrayed in the novels by Mr. Dexter or in the movies made for Carlton TV!