M.D. Chertok On the issue of using authentic military music in movies dedicated to the Fatherland war of 1812

Abstract: the article attempts to determine the degree of authenticity of the battlefield music in movies dedicated to the Fatherland War of 1812. The author analyzes the feature films by Russian and foreign cinematographers and concludes that the true Napoleon-era battlefield music is almost never used by both Russian and foreign cinematographers. The exception is the 1965 motion picture “War and Peace” by S. Bondarchuk, which uses authentic recordings of the French Republic Guard orchestra conducted by A.A. Skrya bin, an immigrant nephew of the famous Russian composer. The explanation for this is not only ignorance of modern composers and sound engineers, but also the lack of the sources of music itself (sheets, or descriptions in academic sources or memoires). The article is addressed towards moviemakers to assist them in achieving more authentic correspondence of historic facts and cinematography based on them.

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