A look at DOAS's Soundtrack Characterization
After finishing Death of a Salesman, I thought it’d be interesting to listen to the soundtrack and take a look at what is conveyed musically in the soundtrack. I couldn’t find the music of the 1949 stage play, but I managed to find the OST of the 1951 film. This OST was written by Alex North, who also wrote the music for the Broadway production, so I’m pretty confident that it’s similar to the stage play’s soundtrack.
The soundtrack consists of six songs: Willy, Ben--Willy’s Symbol of Success, Linda, The Boys Meet Ben, Willy’s Affair in Boston, and Good-bye WIlly.
The first track, Willy, starts off with a lone flute, as expected. It’s a haunting melody that seems to be full of nostalgia and longing. It’s reminiscent of pioneers, a melody that carves itself out for the audience, full of long wavering notes and vibrato, almost seeming to suggest that Willy’s character is deeply nostalgic, looking for something that’s perhaps unattainable. After the third return of the melody, the solo violin echoes the flute’s nostalgic melody but the piece gradually becomes more light hearted as the cellos, violas and basses are added. I imagine this is where he walks into his house and sees Linda, a constant source of hope (and also delusion) in his life.The basses provide an unwavering pizzicato that picks up the melancholy melody into a happier one, one that personally reminded me of Bambi, cheerful frolicking music as the flutes come back in with a bouncy and joyous melody this time. But Willy’s piece ends on an uncertain note, a suspended chord, leaving the listener with a bit of tension. It feels as though something is off, unresolved.
Ben’s track begins with a flute again, a clearly nostalgic melody that’s supported by crying violins and a melancholic cello. A clarinet (I think? Nate correct me if I’m wrong I don’t know band instruments) continues the melody as strings add texture and depth. Already, there’s a clear shift from Willy’s track. Ben’s track seems underlyingly ominous, different from the idyllic nostalgia that Willy emulated. Darker things are afoot in Ben’s track as drums suddenly rumble in while the melody fades out. The melody returns in full force, with yearning strings as the trumpets softly chime in beneath them. Suddenly, the idyllic nostalgia is back, carrying on for the rest of the song before it fades down to a single nostalgic clarinet, lingering on a single note as it fades out, unresolved again, promising some unfinished business.
Linda’s track begins with a lone cello (wow they really love doing this) that is answered by a flute. While the flute is sweet and hopeful, the cello remains mellow, almost uncertain by the flute’s bliss. As the flute’s melody continues, the cello begins to provide more harmony as it’s gradually covered by the flute. Eventually, the violins and violas take up the cello’s part, yet the flute continues to sing. These violins and violas gradually begin to overpower the flute, and now it’s the flute that answers the violins and violas. Suddenly, a jittering violin reaches a crescendo as the trumpets burst out in an ominous and almost dissonant ending, as if a horrific conclusion has just been reached.
As the track begins, Ben’s theme returns, but this time, full of ominous drums and horns that echo a joyous flute. Eventually, even the flute holds itself almost threateningly, maintaining its sound despite the dark chords from the saxophones. A dissonant melody emerges, an unsettling line as a trumpet (?) tries to mimic the flute’s joyous line to no avail. This melody gradually emerges into something sweeter as a saxophone bellows out a hesitant and almost unsure melody to compliment the violins. And again, similarly to Ben’s theme, the piece ends without a resolution, a single note that lingers long after the song has finished.
Willy’s Affair was definitely inspired by jazz! Probably big band jazz, which was fairly popular in the 1940s-1950s. Immediately, we’re hit with what seems to be an imitation of a train whistle. A sleazy melody emerges, one that oozes smugness and desire. A saxophone struts alongside the shimmering flute that runs up and down. This track is significantly slower paced than the others, full of empty space as we listen to the lingering music. The flute eventually disappears as it’s dominated by trumpets, saxophones, and clarinets galore. The violins hold a dissonant note (E maybe?) through the saxophone solo and the violas and cellos add a hint of menace as they support the dark melody. The saxophone continues to strut along, wavering and holding until it finally crescendos to a high F that amazingly does give us some closure until it suddenly fades away.
Goodbye-WIlly begins with Willy’s theme again, though it’s now supported by soft strings while sinister drums cut in every now and again. In the middle of the piece, the drums pick up speed as everything turns hurried and frantic: running scales on flutes, terrified chords and dissonant harmonies until everything converges into a single chord. A flute softly emerges out of this dissonance, tired. It begins its melancholic melody again with less wavering and more and more pauses. It doesn’t seem idyllic anymore, it seems, finished. The strings weep alongside the flute until Willy’s theme returns once again. The strings pick up alongside it, mysterious and haunting, almost a good-bye. As just as quietly as it begins, it ends.
I think it’s pretty here some of the characterizations that were developed through the music. Willy’s flute mimics Ben’s, though much lighter and almost ignorant in a way. WIlly’s flute pays no mind to the others in the orchestra, it continues on by itself, much as Willy constantly dismisses facts that don’t fit in with his reality. Ben’s track is characterized by the same idyllic (but almost ominous) melody, a nod to his ruthlessness in obtaining his wealth. In Linda’s track, we hear a glimmer of Ben’s flute before her track delves into dissonance, perhaps noting Linda’s unease around Ben. The flute in Linda’s track represents Willy while the cello is Linda herself, constantly supporting Willy in his delusions. And it ends similarly to Linda’s reaction at the funeral, in disbelief at what Willy has done. The fourth track doesn’t characterize a person, but rather a scene. Ben’s ruthlessness is in full force here. The drums that were sneaked into his track are much more prominent here and his theme is falsely imitated by a trumpet. But the piece ends sweetly but also desperately,, maybe paralleling Willy’s eagerness for Ben to stay. Willy’s Affair is covered by a sultry saxophone beckoning the flute in. There’s danger in this piece, dark chords and harmonies covered under the resounding saxophone that reminds me of how this memory is a hidden bomb in Willy’s sanity. And Good-bye Willy ends with echos of WIlly and Ben’s themes, but now sad and desperate instead of idyllic and joyous. The track ends with a whisper, not a bang, echoing how Willy left his family without telling them of his plan. Much like the play, the ending of this piece isn’t joyous, as one would assume after obtaining $20,000. It’s sad and fades away without barely any recollection of the past 10 minutes, much as how Willy died without making an impact anywhere but his own household.
This was so long if you read all of it you get a gold star
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