In today’s class, we discussed the role of different time periods on music. As different periods passed, our perspective on what’s racist and what isn’t has drastically changed. What could’ve once been assumed to be racist now, wasn’t then even though the music might contain stereotypes about different cultures. They might have believed this depiction to be accurate because they’re real cultural exposure was limited as they learned about other cultures through paintings viewed and what was learned in the confines of their studies.

Another musical talent was the name of Mendelson who used his life experiences and turned them into art forms. This related to the conversation of racism because in his piece, “Scottish symphony” might sound racist but was only what he thought was a proper depiction of scotland from what he experienced there. Mendelson also wrote a piece that was universally well known which is the wedding march from “A midsummer Night’s dream”.

For plays, composers were paid to write “incidental music” which would be played between breaks in plays and Mendelson was one of them.  His vast educational background, allowed him to understand what Shakespeare’s plays would be most appropriate with. While this piece was intended as incidental music, it is often played by itself because of its depth and individuality.

We also compared the script of the play to the reading in Washington Square. In our discussion of Washington Square, we discussed Catherine’s physical characteristics and the actresses chosen to play her in various films. An actress of simple features would best be fit for Catherine. In this novel, James purposefully set the story back 30 years (1850) because in 1861, the civil war started which James did not want to make part of the story. Economically, 1850 was calm so no economic factors would have to be mentioned because that could drastically change the story. The name of the novel is Washington Square because it evokes a feeling of calamity because the environment is very pleasant, even today. It also makes the storyline vague because if the title was something along the lines of “The heiress”, the readers will already be aware of what the story might be about.

We started with an older movie called the Heiress. In the film Washington Square, Catherine is shown as being very awkward and the disappointment was apparent on Dr.Sloper’s face. But the lines about the significance of the dress Catherine wore was cut out, which is puzzling since it cuts out the fact that Catherine lives to impress her father. In comparison to the Heiress, this was filmed with many more angles, making Catherine seem much more awkward. But the storyline has definitely changed drastically. In the book, Aunt Penniman was supposed to introduce Catherine to Morris Townsend but in the film, Aunt Penniman only saw him after trying to get Catherine out in the open. In the Heiress, she might have been awkward but she was definitely much more elegant. Morris was also displayed as being classier in the Heiress than in the film Washington Square. Another difference is that Morris and Catherine were basically meeting for the first time but in the book and the Heiress, Morris was already aware of who Catherine was.