Music in Hardy’s Novel Far from the Madding Crowd and Its Latest Film Adaptation by Thomas Vinterberg

• Main Author: Katarzyna Mosionek
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Polish Association for the Study of English 2015-06-01
• Series: Polish Journal of English Studies
• Subjects: music; film adaptation; thomas hardy; thomas vinterberg; far from the madding crowd
• Online Access: http://pjes.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/K.-Mosionek-Music-in-Hardys-Novel-PJES-12015.pdf

This article discusses the use of musical elements in Thomas Hardy’s novel Far from the Madding Crowd and its 2015 Thomas Vinterberg adaptation of the same title. First of all, the author discusses the use of music in the novel, both in its linguistic composition and actual music playing. The idea is to present not only Hardy’s knowledge of and deep sensitivity towards various kinds of music, but also to show the complexity and symbolism of music in the novel. The second part of this article is devoted to an analysis of the musical elements in the latest film adaptation. Here, the author’s main goal is to present the choice of music and to prove by comparison with the novel that the filmmakers recognised the richness and potential of the music within Hardy’s work and applied that musical knowledge in the film without impoverishing its symbolic value.