Hrvatski filmski ljetopis, broj 26 (2001) - Hrvatski filmski savez

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learned to play contrabass and piano, but eventually devoted
himself to composing. Numerous prizes he received for
his music and an abundant filmography already say enough
about this artist. Apart from composing for different genres,
he also composed music for radio plays and television
shows, orchestral and chamber music and ballets.
Analysing Tomislav Simovi}’s scores the author analyses the
relationship between the music of animation and motion
pictures, focussing on the issue of synchronisation of music
and picture, musical form as a structuring part of a cartoon
and musical themes and leitmotivs in his scores.
The analysis is mostly based on the score for the animated
series Professor Baltazar. Tomislav Simovi} composed scores
for first 25 (of 59) films, which have marked the series and
set its future narrative and musical form. Using a number of
common elements for all the films of the series, composer
Simovi}, along with the authors Grgi}, Kolar and Zaninovi},
repeatedly created interesting contents of one of the most
popular animated series home and abroad.
Besides the series Professor Baltazar, the author dedicates
several chapters to the analysis of music in the animated
films Slide-Crawl by Zlatko Grgi} (1969) and Surogate by
Du{an Vukoti} (1961) and motion pictures I have two moms
and two dads (Kre{o Golik, 1968) and House (Bogdan @i`i},
1975).
On the basis of her analysis, the author concludes that
Tomislav Simovi} is a composer who perfected his skill primarily
working on animated films. This can be felt in his
entire opus. The conjunction between motion pictures and
cartoons is the strongest in children’s films where Simovi}
Hrvatski filmski ljetopis 26/2001.
could write ’serious’ scores composing as if they were
intended for cartoons. However, composing scores for animated
films turned out to be a much more complex and serious
work than he might have expected at first glance.
Simovi} knows that children are the harshest critics. The
greatest acknowledgement to the author is when children
are satisfied with the cartoon and never even realize that
music has led them through the story. This may be an even
greater praise than the golden statue named Oscar, which
was awarded by the members of the Film academy to the
creative team of the animated film Surogate, a group of
artists from a small country, unknown to most people. In
any case, working in Zagreb film and other film studios in
Croatia, Tomislav Simovi} greatly indebted Croatian cinema
and one very neglected art in Croatia — film music.
ANALITICAL CONTENT: Professor Baltazar — the
famous Croatian professor / Music and picture synchronisation:
different possibilities / Music and picture synchronisation:
Starlight quartet (1969) / The consequences of music
and picture synchronisation: fragmentary music /
Insturmentation and tonality in the service of caricature /
Themes and thematic work: Professor Baltazar’s themes /
Themes for particular episodes of the series / Music as a
constituent part of animated film / Slide-Crawl (1968): jazz
in the service of sound creation / Surogate (1961): musical
’tapestry’ / The basis of the ’tapestry’ is rhythm /
Functionality, nevertheless / Something like a leitmotiv /
Philosophy, morals, view of the world / An excursion in the
motion pictures: I have two moms and two dads (1968) /
Opening titles and two themes / Jazz in children’s film /
House (1975).