Kern–SB, Overture by McGlinn

There will be only one piece of music posted today. It is the Overture that John McGlinn restored and recorded in 1988.

It is 5 minutes and 36 seconds in length, and it is very, very dour. For the most part it dwells on a piece of music called “Misery (theme).” The music in the Overture was meant to highlight the music that should have been sung in the show. However, Florenz Ziegfeld ordered the song to be eliminated from the show because he felt it would be far too negative for a 1927 audience.

Cutting the song was an unfortunate decision because the dramatic nature of the show depends on the theme that life is a struggle. The show and the novel depict life’s happier moments as fleeting; the reality of life is that the forces of darkness are arrayed against the characters on the stage. Andy and Parthy have a terrible marriage; Party is an awful mother to Magnolia. Julie and Steve are about to be banished from the Cotton Blossom. Joe struggles to maintain his equilibrium in a world that is biased against him. Magnolia may find a brief period of happiness with Gay, but he will abandon her and her daughter when times get tough.

“Misery” paints the correct background for the show. We must feel this in the Overture; we must feel the fear of impending doom hovering over the characters on the stage. In counterpoint, the brighter and happier songs provide moments of sunlight in an otherwise dark and dreary day.

The Overture emphasizes this sense of foreboding; it reiterates the music from “Misery” at the very beginning and again at 1:18, 2:28, 3:10 and at 5:10. The mood created by the use of a minor key and heavy orchestration (low tones from the strings) is broken only once: at 4:30, the music bounces into a lively, syncopated, banjo-driven rendition of “Why Do I Love You?”

If you can fully appreciate the Overture, you will really and truly understand the music that follows.