Music in Nights of Cabiria

The music of the scene inside the theater in Nights of Cabiria drives the action and makes the picture on the screen all the more real for viewers. Although this scene is rather unique because the orchestra in the theater is playing the music, it brings the same effect as the music throughout the movie.

As Cabiria enters the scene, the music played by the orchestra is festive and lighthearted. When the magician begins his attempt to convince her to volunteer, the music fades and takes on a more pensive aura. This adds to Cabiria’s uneasy feelings in regard to the magician and allows the audience to experience firsthand her internal thoughts and feelings.

As the men are hypnotized, the music ceases. Throughout their hypnosis, drum rolls highlight intense moments, while the persistent rowing of their imaginary boat is characterized by the deep tones of horns. This allows viewers to feel the emotions of the men and understand how real this hypnotic state is to them.

When the men come out of hypnosis, cymbals interrupt the silence. This indicates an act of blasphemy as each man experiences a conversion from their sacred out-of-body experience to profane and normal being. Plate argues in his essay on blasphemy that, “The restriction [of blasphemy] to language about ‘God’ or even ‘the divine’ can be a bit strained, since what will be seen in the following is that books, persons, ideas, ideologies, and nations can also seemingly be blasphemed against.” (Page 36). “[The profane] is only the everyday, the ordinary…[and]…in its most literal definition, the sacred is that which is ‘set apart’ from the profane.” (Pages 36-37). Certainly, a state of hypnosis is “set apart” from the everyday experiences of human nature, so the magician’s conversion of each man from hypnosis to consciousness can be considered an act of blasphemy.

The abrupt clanging of cymbals sounds each time the magician changes Cabiria from a hypnotic state to her normal cognizant self (and vice versa). In addition to the blasphemous conversion of hypnosis to consciousness, I believe that the sounding of the cymbals can be characterized as a threshold between the sacred and the profane. Eliade speaks of this in his famous essay The Sacred and the Profane.

Drumrolls indicate Cabiria’s confusion as to why the audience is laughing at her when the magician brings her out of hypnosis. This adds to her facial expressions and shows the audience that she is truly unaware of her actions while hypnotized. In a way, this almost tells the audience how to feel in regards to Cabiria because they can clearly understand her confusion from the drama of the musical score.

Soft, dreamy music characterizes Cabiria’s peaceful aura as the magician recounts a beautiful story of her falling in love. The orchestra even plays a waltz as Cabiria dances with her imaginary lover. This allows viewers a sense of release from reality. Although Cabiria’s imagination is not made visible, the audience can experience her happiness by simply listening to the tone of the music.

Similarly to this scene, the music throughout the film rises with emotional and dramatic situations and fades with more serious encounters. Viewers know how to feel based on the tone and tension indicated by the music. The loud and dissident music in fight scenes allows the audience to feel the tension between characters. The subdued music in serious scenes between Wanda and Cabiria shows the audience the love and care each has for the other. The playful music at the end of the movie indicates Cabiria’s willingness to be happy and celebrate with the parade of young people, despite her unsettling encounter with Oscar at the cliff.  The audience can celebrate along with her.

Although cymbals are not a prominent feature in the musical score throughout the movie and legitimate orchestral music is not present in each and every scene, the overall effect of music in the theater provides the audience with the same experiences of intimacy with characters as the music throughout the film.