Bach, Kojima and the “Musikalisches Opfer” of the 21st Century
/Prelude: A Theme
Every work of art or song consists of atoms or tones, which playing together create beauty, emotions, mechanics tying it all together as gameplay. These atoms create nuclear explosive hits or disappear having short half-life. Atoms are tones, Atoms are basic gameplay elements. Bringing an item from point A to point B is a gameplay atom.
”Do not be so serious” song is heard right in the beginning of the game. It is a hidden message to all game developers.
Just like Bach, creating a complex fugue from a simple theme given by Friedrich the Great; Kojima when creating Death Stranding took the basic most boring game atom/theme - delivery quest, and created a complex spectacular fugue: a technical and mathematical experiment in multiple variations of the theme and counterpoint, an exercise, a canonical work of art equaling Bach’s Musikalisches Opfer.
Episode 1: Friedrich der Grose and Bach.
In 1747 Frederick the Great or Friedriech Der Grose – Prussian king, Patron of arts and a Military theorist and a Musician, wanted to show Bach a musical invention – the fortepiano. Fortepiano solved the problem of monotonous sound of harpsichord and allowed to play music both loudly or quietly.
During that meeting Bach and Frederick most likely had conversed about music theory, canons, fugues, improvisation and counterpoints. When trying the 15 Silbermann Forte-pianos, The Old Bach gave himself the challenge. He asked a King for a theme in order to immediately execute a fugue without preparation. The King gave him a theme that was irregular and highly chromatic (with tones which do not belong to the key it is in)
The royal theme given by Frederick the Great.
Bach executed it the magnificent manner in 3 parts. After that Bach returned home and composed the Thema received from the King (the royal theme) in six parts added multiple strict canons and had it engraved under the title: Musikalisches Opfer. Musical offering. The notes had an inscription: RICERCAR – Regis Iussu Cantio Et Reliqua Canonica Arte Resoluta - At the Kings Command, The Song and the Remainder Resolved with Canonic Art.
Ricercar is an Italian word meaning to seek – or research. It also was used to name the special style of late Renessainse and Baroque instrumental composition. Canonic is a play on two words: cannons and “in the best possible way” to tease Fredrick who loved both music and cannons.
“24 years after Bach death King still remembered this and talked about it with Baron Gottfried van Swieten: “A chromatic fugue subject which he had given this old Bach, who on the spot had made of it a Fugue in four parts, then in five parts and finally in eight parts.
To give an idea of how extraordinary a six part fugue is, in the entire Well Tempered Clavier, containing forty eight fugues, only two have 5 parts and nowhere is there a six part fugue. One could probably liken the task of improvising a six part fugue to playing sixty simultaneous blindfolded games of chess and winning them all.”
Episode 2: Canons and Fugues
To understand Death Stranding by Kojima you need to understand Canons and Fugues
Canon is the one single theme that plays against itself.
This is done by having musical copies of the theme played by various participating voices. All the canons in a set must be based on the same theme and the more complex the theme is the harder it is. The simplest example of a Canon is the round canon. Here the theme enters in the first voice, after a fixed time delay a copy of it enters, in precisely the same key. After the same delay a third voice enters carrying the theme and so on.
Canon - Three Blind Mice
Canons can escalate in complexity in multiple ways
One escalation of complexity: Pitch
Notes Stagger not only in time but also in pitch. For example, first voice can start in C (major) second voice might sing the identical time shifted in time but 5 notes higher on G, Third voice starting on the D another five notes higher on D.
Another escalation of complexity: Speed
Notes in second voice can be played 2x and third voice 3x slower and must provide melody
Faster is called diminution (reduction) the slower is called augmentation, since the theme seems to shrink or expand.
Third escalation of complexity: Inversion
Wherever the original theme jumps up; when the original theme jumps down – new voice jumps up by exactly same number of semi-tones.
Simple example of inversion is - Good King Wenceslas.
With the right melody, setting it apart for an octave, or staggering with time delays can create a very pleasing result.
Very complex of multiple variations – Original Version of a Canon + Retrograde inversion played simultaneously
Crab Canon
One of the most esoteric of copies is the retrograde copy where the theme plays well both forward backwards in time and in both directions at the same time. Such canon is called Crab Canon.
Bach’s Crab Canon (which plays both backwards and forwards and well at the same time.
Endless Canon
And finally, there is an endlessly rising Canon or Canon per Tonos.
Successful modulations lead listener to hear constantly rising tones. Bach intended this to feel endless and inscribed his creation “As the modulation rises may the Kings Glory.
Canon per Tonos
This endless canon uses so called Strange Loops, which by moving upwards or downwards let us find ourselves where we started yet feel that we are constantly going up or going down.
This endless effect was later developed into a so called Shepard Risset Glissando. Such Glissando effect is often used by Christopher Nolan in his films and was also used in Mario stairs in 1996
“The complexity of creating canons is not only in creating melodies but also understanding how voices work together vertically, in order for a theme to work as a canon theme, each note of the theme must serve in a dual or triple or quadruple role.
It must be part of the melody, and secondly it must be part of the harmonization of the same melody. Each note of the theme must act in two distinct harmonic ways AND melodically. Each note in a canon has more than one musical meaning; the listener year and brain automatically figure out the appropriate meaning, by referring to context. ”
Kojima uses canons, inversions, pitch changes, going into opposite direction, strange loops and never ending canons connecting the territories, all working together in expanding his main theme, creating harmony and telling the story; and this brings us to the subject of fugues.
Episode 4: The fugue
What is a Fugue
A fugue is an exercise in musical logic, theory, thought and development.
A fugue is not a strict form but is a process of development
The fugue is an expression of a compact idea (a theme) by a definite number of voices in repetition, imitation and improvisation (within a canonical restriction).
It is a technique of writing where voices independent of each other form a melody when played together and provide harmony and immense satisfaction to the ear. melody created can be completely different and non recognizable from the main theme. But main theme or and variations of the main theme must be present.
The fugue always starts with a theme, expands on it and plays with it; sometimes in very precise technical ways, sometimes in a very creative free way. Some fugue parts add an extra voice (instrument) to provide additional harmony or mood, but it always, always plays on the theme.
To give you an example of how a modern fugue might sound listen to this short fugue on a theme by Lady Gaga.
And here is the Bach 6 Part Masterpiece.
“The telltale sign of a Fugue is the way it begins: with a single voice singing its theme. Then a second voice enters, then a third. Meanwhile the first voice goes on, singing the “counter subject”: a secondary theme, chosen to provide a rhythmic, harmonic, and melodic contrasts to the subject.
Each of the voices enters in turn, singing the theme to the accompaniment of the counter point in some other voice, with the remaining voices doing the whatever fanciful things entered composer’s mind. ”
Just like Bach’s fugues Kojima’s masterpiece starts with one basic atom - theme, adds new voices and counter points and once all voices enter creatively plays them against each other creating a harmonious piece of work.
Episode 5: Death Stranding - Do not be so serious.
Just like with Bach’s fugues everyone finds his own context and harmony in Kojima’s music.
Some people say that this is an advanced truck simulator or a next generation of a walking simulator.
Some say its the game about connections in the modern world; inspired by Trump’s America or Brexit.
Some say it is a realistic depiction of the near future where people sit in underground homes appearing to each other through through holograms to amazon’s porters who carry goods from city to city, from hologram to hologram.
Daniel Cook - Spry Fox co-founder - often talks about atoms of game design: promoting the theory that every work of art or song consists of atoms or tones, which playing together create beauty, emotions or mechanics of gameplay. These atoms create nuclear explosive hits or die and disappear having short half-life due to bad combinations. Atoms are tones, Atoms are basic gameplay elements. Bringing an item from point A to point B is a gameplay atom.
”Do not be so serious” song is heard right in the beginning of the game. It is a hidden message to all game developers.
Just like Bach, creating a complex fugue from a simple theme given by Friedrich the Great; Kojima when creating Death Stranding took the basic most boring game atom/theme - delivery quest, and created a complex spectacular creation: a technical and mathematical experiment in multiple variations of the theme and counterpoint, an exercise a work of art equaling Bach’s Musikalisches Opfer.
Death Stranding is not a game – it is a Fugue - a Video Game Offering.
PS. While we know who gave Bach the theme, we do not know who personally made a decision to fund Death Stranding.
Please if you know the Sony’s Frederick the Great - let us know. He or She deserves recognition.
By Maxim Zasov.
Recommended Reading
Escher Godel Bach by Douglas Hofstadter. Amazing work on math, music and system design and on how cognition emerges from neurological mechanisms. This book was the main influence and inspiration for this post.