Brigadoon - The Music

In writing the music for Brigadoon, Frederick (Fritz) Loewe tried to follow the example of Richard Rodgers as heard in Oklahoma! - taking the features and essence of the folk music of the area concerned and using them to construct his own melodies and harmonies.

The resulting score is undeniably Scottish in flavo9ur, but in rather a superficial and obvious way. The use of bagpipe drone in choral harmonies, the racey dotted thythms of reels along with the alternating of reels and jigs, or jigs and waltz time, are almost 'too' Scottish in a Hollywood sort of way (just as the Highland dress itself is).

Some of the faster reels are more reminiscent of Irish (American) folk rather rhan the more lilting, softer, curved melodies of Scotland. Strangely, it is possibly in the solo ballads with their haunting melodic lines that the Scottish feeling omes through most genuinely.

While there is a definite Celtic feel to much of the part singing, the treatment of the 4 or 5 parts is often more familiar to the Welsh than it would be to the Scots.

The main gain from using the folk idiom in such a way is a certain timelessness - appropriate for Brigadoon. Interestingly, no attempt was made to bring 18th Century elements into the music.

The orchestration features oboe (very similar in tone to the bagpipe chanter) and 'bouncing' piano, such as heard in Scottish dance bands - but the bands of the 20th Century, not the 18th!

Two of the instrumental numbers stand out as being more Scottish than the rest - the 'Entry of the Clans' and the beautiful Pibrochead ('Lord Lovitt's Lament' - marked as traditional), both of which rely on uncomplicated modal melody over a drone bass.

The slightly jazzy style of Tommy's song 'Almost Like Being in Love' demonstrates his changing feelings as it turns to the slower gentle style for verse 2 as Fiona joins in, only to return (with Fiona) to the syncopation for the last few phrases. This is the only real musical representation of the merging of two cultures and eras - possibly an opportunity missed?!

(Click on the image to return to the Brigadoon web page.)