Film entertainment came into existence during the 1890s. Because the films were silent and projectors noisy, live music was often performed. This practice began in 1895 in Paris. The following year, a similar practice began in London. In these early days, no effort was made to connect the music to the film.

     The first music intended for a specific film was composed by Camille Saint-Saëns for the 1908 film L’assassinat du Duc de Guise. The music was played live during the film and the idea of music matching the screen action was generally thought to be a good one. The only drawback was the added expense of having to hire a composer and live musicians.

    Another approach was taken by the Edison film company in 1909. They issued a list of well-known classical works that could be used to match certain moods and dramatic situations.  In 1912 an American, Max Winkler, created cue sheets, which told musicians exactly when to start and stop playing certain music to match the action on the screen.

     By 1926 the Vitaphone system was available, allowing music recorded on a phonograph to be synchronized with film. The second film to use this process, The Jazz Singer, with Al Jolson, also included spoken dialogue.

   One of the first movie composers was Max Steiner. Born and educated in Europe, Steiner was the godson of Richard Strauss and also studied with Gustav Mahler. In 1929 he was in Hollywood composing for films. His first major achievement was the score for the 1933 film King Kong. In 1939 he created the score for Gone with the Wind, including “Tara’s theme,” which has become one of the most memorable movie themes.

     Another successful composer from the early days of sound was Bernard Herrmann. He provided the score for Citizen Kane and then went on to work on a number of films by Alfred Hitchcock, including The Man Who Knew Too Much  (both versions) and Psycho. The American composer Aaron Copland was also a successful film composer. He won an Academy Award for his score to the movie The Heiress.

     From the earliest days of film music, composers either took preexisting music and applied it to appropriate scenes or composed new music. This approach still continues. Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is one example. The score uses music by a variety of composers, including Richard Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra and Aram Khatchaturian’s Gayane ballet suite. 

     John Williams is another successful film composer. The music for Star Wars included original music that he composed and preexisting music chosen by George Lucas, including a quote from the score to the movie The Sea Hawk by Eric Korngold.

    The development of the synthesizer had the most profound impact on film scoring. Robert Moog’s invention made it possible for a composer to create synthesized music, completely bypassing live musicians. The score for the 1978 film Midnight Express, which was completely synthesized, won an Academy Award.

     In spite of the ability to compose via the synthesizer, many film composers still score for live ensembles.  The notables John Corigliano and Philip Glass fall into this latter category. Corigliano has scored music for the films Altered States (1980), Revolution (1985), and The Red Violin (1999). Glass is noted for Koyaanisqatsi (1983), The Hours (2002), and Undertow (2004).

     One of the most successful film composers today is James Horner, who graduated from UCLA and worked at the American Film Institute. Among his many film scores is Aliens (1986), for which he won an Academy Award; also the scores for Braveheart, Apollo 13, Titanic, and A Beautiful Mind. 

 QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 

1. Scoring for film requires a programmatic approach to music. The composer must develop sensitivity to the appropriate mood. Some of the worst film experiences can be created when the music doesn’t seem to fit the mood; for example a loud, exuberant passage in a major key set against a sad or tragic scene. 

2. You might ask your students if they have ever seen a silent film. If they have, have they seen a silent film in a theater with a musician or musicians playing along with the film? Does a movie without sound have the ability to affect today’s student, who is used to color film, wide-screen presentation, and digital surround sound? Can acoustic music added to silent film have an impact?

3. The wonderful film Alexander Nevsky was directed by the great Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein in 1938. Sergei Prokofieff produced the film score. The famous battle scene on ice is hailed by film historians and critics as a wonderful blending of movie and music. This movie is available on VHS and DVD.

FURTHER TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

1. What musical elements create a sense of mystery or sorrow? Would a film composer need a different type of music to create a sense of fear?

2. You might try an experiment in class: Show a movie scene with sound and then show it again without the sound. Then add just the dialogue (spoken by students in the class unless you have equipment that will let you extract just the music!). How effective is the dialogue without the music?

3. Is music produced for film “art music”? Can it be great music, of high artistic quality?