Accustomed?though?we?are?to?speaking?of?the?films?made?before?1927?as?
“silent”,?the?film?has?never?been,?in?the?full?sense?of?the?word,?silent.?
From?the?very?beginning,?music?was?regarded?as?an?indispensable?accompaniment;?
when?the?Lumiere?films?were?shown?at?the?first?public?film?exhibition?in?the?
United?States?in?February?1896,?they?were?accompanied?by?piano?improvisations?
on?popular?tunes.?At?first,?the?music?played?bore?no?special?relationship?to?
the?films;?an?accompaniment?of?any?kind?was?sufficient.?Within?a?very?short?
time,?however,?the?incongruity?of?playing?lively?music?to?a?solemn?film?became?
apparent,?and?film?pianists?began?to?take?some?care?in?matching?their?pieces?to?
the?mood?of?the?film.
As?movie?theaters?grew?in?number?and?importance,?a?violinist,?and?perhaps?a?
cellist,?would?be?added?to?the?pianist?in?certain?cases,?and?in?the?larger?
movie?theaters?small?orchestras?were?formed.?For?a?number?of?years?the?
selection?of?music?for?each?film?program?rested?entirely?in?the?hands?of?the?
conductor?or?leader?of?the?orchestra,?and?very?often?the?principal?
qualification?for?holding?such?a?position?was?not?skill?or?taste?so?much?as?the?
ownership?of?a?large?personal?library?of?musical?pieces.?Since?the?conductor?
seldom?saw?the?films?until?the?night?before?they?were?to?be?shown(if?indeed,?
the?conductor?was?lucky?enough?to?see?them?then),?the?musical?arrangement?was?
normally?improvised?in?the?greatest?hurry.
To?help?meet?this?difficulty,?film?distributing?companies?started?the?practice?
of?publishing?suggestions?for?musical?accompaniments.?In?1909,?for?example,?the?
Edison?Company?began?issuing?with?their?films?such?indications?of?mood?as?“?
pleasant”,?“sad”,?“l(fā)ively”.?The?suggestions?became?more?explicit,?and?so?
emerged?the?musical?cue?sheet?containing?indications?of?mood,?the?titles?of?
suitable?pieces?of?music,?and?precise?directions?to?show?where?one?piece?led?
into?the?next.
Certain?films?had?music?especially?composed?for?them.?The?most?famous?of?these?
early?special?scores?was?that?composed?and?arranged?for?D.W?Griffith’s?film?
Birth?of?a?Nation,?which?was?released?in?1915.
