ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a description of the working methods and general aesthetic approach of Nyman and Greenaway, before isolating and contextualizing examples of quotation, borrowing and the re-composition of pre-existing material in the soundtracks themselves. Greenaway and Nyman first met in their early twenties and immediately started to share an interest in French and Italian New Wave cinema. A key element in understanding the Nyman–Greenaway collaboration lies in the unique relationship formed between music and image in their work. Greenaway's intertextuality is often highly eclectic and multidimensional. It makes multiple references to art, literature and characters from other films. Greenaway continued to employ a broadly non-narrative approach in many subsequent productions, including The Sea in Their Blood, 26 Bathrooms and Death in the Seine, the latter lying somewhere between historical account, factual representation and fictional reconstruction. The intertextual dimensions apparent in the earlier Greenaway soundtracks almost completely disappear in Nyman's later film scores.
