The Mountains of Madness
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''The Mountains of Madness'' is an audiovisual musical adaptation of the works of H. P. Lovecraft by
Tiger Lillies The Tiger Lillies are a cult British musical trio formed in 1989 by singer-songwriter Martyn Jacques. Described as the forefathers of Brechtian Punk Cabaret, the Tiger Lillies are well known for their unique sound and style which merges "the ...
,
Danielle de Picciotto Danielle de Picciotto is an American-born artist, musician and filmmaker. She was born in Tacoma, Washington, USA,. She currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany. In 1989 she founded, along with her partner Dr. Motte, the first Berlin Love Par ...
and
Alexander Hacke Alexander Hacke (also known as Alexander von Borsig, Alex Hacke, Hacke, born 11 October 1965) is a guitarist, bass guitarist, singer, musician, record producer, writer and filmmaker from Germany. He is primarily known as a longtime member of the ...
. It was conceived by Hacke in 2005. Tiger Lillies performs the music with narration by Hacke from selections of Lovecraft's stories.


The Performance

The performance lasts a little more than an hour. An opening monologue blends the opening of Lovecraft's never-completed "
Azathoth Azathoth is a deity in the Cthulhu Mythos and Dream Cycle stories of writer H. P. Lovecraft and other authors. He is the ruler of the Outer Gods, and may be seen as a symbol for primordial chaos. H. P. Lovecraft Inspiration The first reco ...
" with excerpts from a biography. Between a number of the songs, Hacke narrates from other short works by Lovecraft. The music is underscored by soundscapes created and performed by Alexander Hacke and illustrations by Danielle de Picciotto. The lyrics reflect themes of sorrow and despair. The songs: #"Intro" #" The Mountaintops" #" Rats (In The Walls)" #"The Cult of Cthulhu" #" The Butcher" #"
The Music of Erich Zann "The Music of Erich Zann" is a horror short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft. Written in December 1921, it was first published in ''National Amateur'', March 1922. The story is an account of the enigmatic Erich Zann, an elderly musician ...
" #"Subconscious Mind" #"
Charles Dexter Ward ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' is a short horror novel (51,500 words) by American writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in early 1927, but not published during the author's lifetime. Set in Lovecraft's hometown of Providence, Rhode Island, it w ...
" #"Do You Know What's Wrong?" #" Haunter of the Dark" #" Mountains Of Madness" #"Paranoid" #"The Butcher (Revisited)"


Credits

*Accordion/Vocal -
Martyn Jacques Martyn Jacques (born 22 May 1959) is a British musician, singer and songwriter, mostly known as the founder and front man of cult British trio The Tiger Lillies. Life and career Martyn Jacques grew up in Slough. His song on the 1996 The Tig ...
*Drums - Adrian Huge *Bass/Saw - Adrian Stout *Electronic Soundscapes/Narration - Alexander Hackes *Illustrations - Danielle de Picciotto


Home media

The music has not been released on CD, but a DVD featuring the complete premier performance is available. In 2020, the band made the music available as a digital release.


Musical

In 2013 the performance was adapted into ''Necronomicon'', a musical for
Dramaten The Royal Dramatic Theatre ( sv, Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern, colloquially ''Dramaten'') is Sweden's national stage for "spoken drama", founded in 1788. Around one thousand shows are put on annually on the theatre's five running stages. The the ...
in
Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
. The music was rearranged for electronic music and used as the backbone for a storyline. The musical's storyline is a mix of ''
The Music of Erich Zann "The Music of Erich Zann" is a horror short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft. Written in December 1921, it was first published in ''National Amateur'', March 1922. The story is an account of the enigmatic Erich Zann, an elderly musician ...
'', ''
The Rats in the Walls "The Rats in the Walls" is a short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft. Written in August–September 1923, it was first published in '' Weird Tales'', March 1924. Plot In 1923, an American named Delapore, the last descendant of the De la ...
'', ''
The Call of Cthulhu "The Call of Cthulhu" is a short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in the summer of 1926, it was first published in the pulp magazine ''Weird Tales'' in February 1928. Inspiration The first seed of the story's first chapter '' ...
'', "
At the Mountains of Madness ''At the Mountains of Madness'' is a science fiction-horror novella by American author H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931 and rejected that year by ''Weird Tales'' editor Farnsworth Wright on the grounds of its length. It was ori ...
'', ''
The Shadow Out of Time ''The Shadow Out of Time'' is a novella by American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written between November 1934 and February 1935, it was first published in the June 1936 issue of ''Astounding Stories''. The story describes time and ...
'' and ''
The Thing on the Doorstep "The Thing on the Doorstep" is a horror short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft, part of the Cthulhu Mythos universe. It was written in August 1933, and first published in the January 1937 issue of ''Weird Tales''. Inspiration The ide ...
'' http://www.dramaten.se/PageFiles/.../neocronomicon_inspirationsmaterial.pdf The musical follows the young composer Edward Jr. is tasked with showing the archeologist Judith and her daughter Edith the newly opened mine that is owned by Edward's father. But soon they find themselves trapped in the cavern and they are not alone. They find most of the workers dead and are tormented by the insane worker Sebastian.


Plot

The audience is led into a dormitory in a mental ward. Edward Zann Jr. is sitting on a bed with bloody hands and a knife. Caretakers wearing masks appear and restrain him after he has hummed a strange melody. The Head Psychologist appears above the audience and follows the melody (''The Music Of Erich Zann''). The Head Psychologist invite the audience into the auditorium. The audience is led onto a stand. The Psychologists ask Edward Jr to tell them about what happened in the mine of Svartvatten (Black Water). Edward Jr. explains that his father Edward Zann owned a mine in his home town Svartvatten. During digging the workers found "strange geology" in the mine and Judith Grip, an old friend of Edward was sent after. Edward Jr, an aspiring composer, was supposed to meet up with them and lead them into the mine to meet up with Edward. Along with Judith came Edith, Edward Jr's childhood friend. Judith gives Edith the family pendant as she now is an adult. Edward Jr explains that his compositions came from dreams and strange melodies that came to him seemingly from nowhere. As the trio arrives in Svartvatten Edward is nowhere to be found and they decide to go look for him in the mine (''The Mountains of Madness''). The mine is seemingly abandoned and soon the elevator and one way out malfunctions, trapping them. The group discover unnatural
stalagmite A stalagmite (, ; from the Greek , from , "dropping, trickling") is a type of rock formation that rises from the floor of a cave due to the accumulation of material deposited on the floor from ceiling drippings. Stalagmites are typically ...
s that have perfect surfaces like they were sculpted. One of them opens and a pulp of flesh drips out. They quickly realise that this is the remains of the workers. As they try to turn on the elevator the electricity goes out and the stage goes dark. Edward Jr runs alone in the darkness with only a small headlamp to light his way (and the stage). Suddenly a blonde, crazed and hulking worker appears and terrorizes Edward Jr with an insane rant about rats (''The Rats in the Wall''). As the light returns Edward recognises the worker as Sebastian. Sebastian is covered in blood and seemingly delighted by the chaos and horror. He rants about the
Necronomicon The ', also referred to as the ''Book of the Dead'', or under a purported original Arabic title of ', is a fictional grimoire (textbook of magic) appearing in stories by the horror writer H. P. Lovecraft and his followers. It was first menti ...
. Edward Jr, Judith and Edith manage to subdue him and tie him up. They accuse him of killing the worker to which he neither denies or admits. When Edward Jr mentions the music Sebastian reveals he can hear it to and finds it beautiful. Sebastian says he found the Necronomicon in the mine and when he read is he learned the truth about everything and the Old Gods. He directs Edith to the book and she becomes enticed by it. When reading it she realises that the killing of the workers is part of a ritual to awaken the Old Gods and that they will destroy mankind when awakened (''The Cult of Cthulhu''). As the group goes to sleep, Edward Jr remembers the serial killer, the Butcher, who haunted Svartvatten during their childhood (''The Butcher''). Sebastian frees himself but Edward appears with a gun too shot him. Sebastian flees but steals the Necronomicon. When Edward hears that Sebastian has found the lost Necronomicon which was the property of the Zanns for centuries he agrees that Sebastian is trying to awaken the Old Gods. Edward Jr goes away by himself and whispers to himself (''Paranoid''). Sebastian reads from the Necronomicon and throws himself onto a stalagmite which kills him. The whole mine shakes and eldritch symbols appear on the floor. Edith sinks into despair thinking Sebastian has succeeded with his plan (''Haunter of the Dark''). Edward Jr remembers a midsummer when he was a child (''Subconscious Mind''). Edward and Judith had discovered minerals in the local mountains allowing a mine to be opened. But soon after Judith's mother is found murdered by the Butcher. In the mine, Edith finds out that the ritual can be reversed by performing it again. Judith kills Edward to be the sacrifice and forces Edith to read from the Necronomicon. Sebastian suddenly awakens from the dead and attacks the group trying to prevent them from performing the ritual but they manage to kill him again. Edith reads from the book but group notices something is wrong. Suddenly Edith feels pain and falls to the ground. Her pendant is glowing and Judith reveals that she is in fact the consciousness of the Grips ancestral mother who through the pendant has passed on for centuries trying to awaken the Old Gods. Edward Jr stabs Judith but this is in fact how the transmission is concluded: he has killed Edith who is trapped in Judith's body. Sebastian actually tried to stop the awakening but was to insane after learning the truth that he could not tell. Judith burns the Necronomicon preventing the awakening from being stopped but Edward Jr stabs her to death thus robbing her of her prize: seeing and meeting the Gods. The stand is pulled back and the action returns to the hospital. Edward Jr sums up his story. The psychologists start to question his story, but not the fantastical elements. Instead they ask him how he could escape the mine and how he could be at the hospital if the Old Gods were unleashed? In a chilling twist the entire front story is revealed to be the actual delusion: Edward Jr. is still in the cave and the hospital scenario is a defense mechanism. As Edward wallows in his despair in the mine, above the Old Gods destroys all other life on the planet (''Do You Know What's Wrong?'').


Cast

*Eric Stern — Edward Zann Jr *Staffan Göthe — Edward Zann/Head Psychologist *Thérèse Brunnander — Judith Grip/Psychologist *Maia Hansson Bergqvist — Edith Grip/Psychologist *David Book — Sebastian/Psychologist


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mountains of Madness, The Works based on At the Mountains of Madness Works based on The Call of Cthulhu