Music For Film

Film Music: The Material, Literature, and Present State of Research
Author(s): Martin Marks

Source: Notes, Second Series, Vol. 36, No. 2 (Dec., 1979), pp. 282-325
Published by: Music Library Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/940186 .
Accessed: 03/12/2013 05:56
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Music Library Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Notes.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
FILM MUSIC:
THE MATERIAL, LITERATURE,
AND PRESENT STATE OF RESEARCH
BY MARTIN MARKS
L The Material
From the time of' the first public demonstration of a Lumiere
Cinematographe, for which a pianist is said to have improvised an
accompaniment, until today's wide-screen features with their multi-
channeled, tape-recorded scores, there has always been music for motion
pictures.' The pictures have fostered an abundant and rich variety
of music making, which for more than eight decades has affected us
in ways both simple and subtle. Yet most of us have a very poor knowledge
of what film music is all about. Why should there be this discrepancy?
Why are the facts of film music not widely understood? Why should
Peter Odegard, in a review of two recently published musicological
reference works, have to take both to task for all but ignoring film
music, "the most widely dispersed repertoire being performed today,
and hence in its peculiar way, the most influential"?2
The answer, first of all, derives from the nature of the medium.
Because film communicates (at least potentially) through a conjunction
of visual and auditory signals, research into film music requires an
understanding of not one but two nonverbal systems of communication,
as well as the problematical jargons with which we attempt to describe
each of them in speech. In this age of specialized studies, few scholars
have been able to master more than half of the subject. Those in
film have been preoccupied with the broad essentials of its history
Martin Marks is in the Ph.D. program in music history at Harvard University, and is engaged
in writing a doctoral dissertation on music for silent films.-Ed.
'Inventors August and Louis Lumiere were the first to project motion pictures for public amusement,
within the Salon Indien of the Grand Cafe on the Boulevard des Capucines, Paris, 28 December
1895, according to Kenneth MacGowan, Behind the Screen: The History and Techniques of the Motion
Picture (New York: Dell, 1965), pp. 80-81. Although the presence of a pianist at the premiere
is asserted in many books, few give more specific information; but Oscar Messter, who premiered
films in Berlin during October 1896, wrote in his autobiography Mein Weg mit dem Film (1936):
"Ich kenne kein offentlichen Filmvorfuhrungen ohne Begleitmusik"-cited by Konrad Ottenheym,
"Film und Musik bis zur Einfuhrung des Tonfilms," Diss. Friedrich-Wilhelm, Berlin 1944, p. 3.
2Review of the Dictionary of Contemporary Music, ed. John Vinton (New York: Dutton, 1974) and
The New Oxford History of Music, Vol. X: The Modern Age, 1890-1960, ed. Martin Cooper (London:
Oxford, 1974) in Journal of the American Musicological Society 19 (1976): 155.
1979 by the Music Library Association, Inc.
282

Film Music 283
and theory, with the result that music has been granted mostly cursory
consideration.3 The subject also stands on the periphery of musicology.
That discipline, little older than film itself, has emphasized the historical
study of Western fine-art and folk idioms, along with the ethnological
study of music in other cultures; relatively little attention has been
given to recent music in the professional and popular idioms-the
idioms through which film music usually communicates.4 Even as
musicological attention to recent music grows, moreover, film music's
share remains minimal. The reference works reviewed by Odegard
are good examples; and more generally, when music textbooks bring
up film music, they do so only to mention a respected composer's
venture into the film world.5 Otherwise, this peculiar hybrid idiom
is ignored.
Film music is indeed a peculiar subject, not only because it straddles
two disciplines, but also because its material poses many problems for
the researcher. This is a point that even Odegard apparently overlooks.
Through his choice of words he associates film music with concert
music as comprising a "repertoire," from which (presumably) selections
are "performed." Between these two kinds of music, however, a funda-
mental distinction must be made: unlike concert music, film music
does not usually come out of, or go into, a repertoire; it exists only
as an accompaniment to a film. (One may, however, speak of a repertoire
of arrangements of film music for concert use, sheet music sales,
soundtrack albums, and so on.) Furthermore, since the invention of
synchronized sound, film music has been heard not in continuous live
performance, but through mechanical reproductions of many fragmen-
tary performances assembled by recording "engineers." In other words,
there not only is no repertoire of film music, there also are no "pieces
of film music" at all-only pieces of film, with music photographically
or electromagnetically inscribed on a band alongside the image. The
primary material of film music, both for the audience and the researcher,
is not a recording or a score, but the film itself.
3But music has fared somewhat better at the hands of theoreticians than historians, as in the
chapter "Music," in Siegfried Kracauer's Theoryof Film: The Redemption of Physical Reality (London:
Oxford, 1960), pp. 133-56; for other examples, see nn. 40-43.
Charles Seeger defines these idioms in "The Music Compositional Process as a Function in a
Nest of Functions and in Itself a Nest of Functions," a revision of a 1966 essay in his Studies in
Musicology (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1977), pp. 139-67. On the
problems of using words to describe music, see his "Speech, Music, and Speech about Music," pp.
16-30.
5As in Daniel Kingman's American Music: A Panorama (New York: Schirmer, 1979), in which
film scores of Copland, Bernstein and Thomson are discussed. William V. Austin's Music in the
20th Century(New York: Norton, 1966) indexes the following names under "film music": Auric-Cocteau,
Chaplin, Copland, Eisler, Hindemith, Honegger, Milhaud, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and Stravinsky.

284 MLA Notes, December 1979
It would thus appear that for scholarly inquiry into film music to
advance, film ought to be studied with music at the center of observation
rather than on the periphery-but this is far from an easy thing to
do, at least when inside a theater. As we view a film, our minds must
contend with the ever-changing content of the moving image and the
soundtrack. The individual elements (not just music, but also lighting,
camera angle, editing, and so forth) are submerged into the flow of
images on the screen. Hence the engrossed audience rarely perceives
these elements consciously; it is simply carried along by the stream
of sights and sounds.
The film-viewing experience is in some fundamental sense a passive
one; yet film study, like the study of any subject, requires an active
state of mind. This problem has been formulated in many ways, but
perhaps never more eloquently than by Walter Benjamin in his profound
study of "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction."
That essay, while primarily concerned with the political implications
of twentieth-century art, contains this illuminating passage on the
psychology of film perception:
Let us compare the screen on which a film unfolds with the canvas of a painting.
The painting invites the spectator to contemplation; before it the spectator can aban-
don himself to his associations. Before the movie frame he cannot do so. No sooner
has his eye grasped a scene than it is already changed. It cannot be arrested. Duhamel,
who detests the film and knows nothing of its significance, though something of
its structure, notes this circumstance as follows: "I can no longer think what I want
to think. My thoughts have been replaced by moving images." The spectator's process
of association in view of these images is indeed interrupted by their constant, sudden
change. This constitutes the shock effect of the film, which, like all shocks, should
be cushioned by heightened presence of mind.6
Film's ability to "arrest" our contemplative faculties, advises Benjamin,
should be countered by a "heightened presence of mind." For the
purposes of film study, however, such mental preparation may not
suffice. Even the most attentive (in the analytical sense) viewer has
great difficulty in comprehending all there is in a film-likewise in
remembering just what has been seen and heard after leaving a theater.
One must find other ways of taking the film in. For example, it helps
both to see a film many times over and to see many films, because
repeated viewing dulls the "shock effect" of the medium. One can
also use special viewing machines such as movieolas, which facilitate
frame-by-frame analysis. (Indeed, such machines can be said to convert
a film into a succession of paintings that "invite the spectator to
bThe essay first appeared in the Zeitschriftfir Sozialforschung, V (1936); the translation by Harry
Zohn is in Benjamin's Illuminations, ed. Hannah Arendt (New York: Schocken, 1969), p. 238.

Film Music 285
contemplation.") Finally, one can consult supplementary materials:

scripts for the film and for the music, cue sheets, scores, and recordings.
Of course, all of these materials lead us away from the film as we
normally (are meant to) experience it toward inadequate substitutes.
"Films cannot be studied in any other way than by seeing them," Raymond
Spottiswoode cautions students; "Nothing effective in film corresponds
to the text of a play or a musical score."7 The point is well taken.
No written language can adequately transcribe what the camera sees
and the microphone hears. The film text is, in fact, as another writer
has put it, an "unquotable text."8 Yet scholars need these other materials,
whether deficient or not. For as Benjamin has shown, seeing a film
and studying a film can be very nearly antithetical experiences, and
the above-named supplements help bring them together. Moreover,
each of these noncelluloid items has some unique value of its own
for research.
Of all these materials, scripts are the most widely used. They are
of two different kinds.9 (1) The preproduction or shooting script guides
the making of a film. Like a musical score or the text of a play, it
provides a set of directions for a performance, but with an important
difference. Scores and play texts are always required to determine each
performance anew; however, once a film has been completed, the
shooting script loses its original function. (It might be said that a film
always is given an identical "performance"; and this peculiarity distin-
guishes it from the older dramatic arts.) Thus, like an architect's
blueprints or a composer's sketchbook, the script documents one or
more stages in the making of the work. In retrospect it helps to clarify
the writer's contribution to this, the most collaborative of arts.' (2)
The postproduction script, usually assembled by someone other than
the filmmaker or writer, aids in the close analysis of a film's structure.
Publications of this kind have been criticized for falling far short of
what is desirable. For example, when Vlada Petric reviewed all the
texts in the Simon & Schuster series of Classic and Modern Film Scripts,
he found that "no less than 90 percent of their breakdown of visual
and auditory structure is inaccurate, and therefore useless for serious
7A Grammar of the Film: An Analysis of Film Technique, rev. ed. (1950; reprinted. Berkeley and
Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969), p. 3.
8Raymond Bellour, "The Unattainable Text," Screen 16, no. 3 (1975): 20-cited by Claudia Gorbman
in "Vigo/Jaubert," Cini-Tracts, 1, no. 2 (1977): 65-80.
9The distinction comes from Roger Manvell, "Screenwriting," The International Encyclopediaof Film
(New York: Crown, 1972), p. 449.
'But even the writer's best ideas may not be written down, according to Gore Vidal; citing his
comical adventures in Hollywood, he illustrates the serious difficulties involved in answering the
question "Who Makes the Movies?" New YorkReview of Books, 25 November 1976, pp. 35-39.

film study." "Useless" is too strong a word. Even the vaguest of scripts
can be preferable to reliance on frequently unreliable memories. Petric
is right, however, to push for more accurate publications. There are
too many scripts that try to pass themselves off as plays or novels
(or still worse, "novelizations") instead of as what they really are:
inadequate but necessary transcriptions of what we see and, to a lesser
extent, hear.
The cue sheets that composers use are much less widely known than
scripts, but in principle they are little different, being a kind of setting
down of sequences from a film in shorthand. Their function, however,
is quite special: to link the music to the rest of the film. In the silent
period cue sheets provided a series of suggestions for music to be
used in accompaniment, "cued" to the titles and action on the screen.
(These will be discussed further below, as part of the literature of
film music.) Sound film cue sheets, normally prepared by a film's "music
editor," describe the action, dialogue and (some) sound effects of scenes
for which the composer is to write music. Often the composer works
solely from these cue sheets after first viewing the film; hence,
they become important clues to the compositional process, telling us
what details the composer thought deserving of musical emphasis.'2
Often details from cue sheets are copied into scores of film music,
as an aid to the conductor during recording sessions. This combination
of cue sheet and score may actually provide a more detailed transcription
of (segments from) a film than does a script. By themselves, however,
scores pose certain problems for research. In the silent period a score
was like a Platonic "ideal." That is, it was shadowed more or less faithfully
in each theatrical cave, with fidelity to the text dependent upon such
matters as the number of musicans available and the taste of the music
director. Indeed, most silent film music consisted of improvisations
and compilations of preexistent pieces. Original scores were unusual
(though we do not really know how unusual, since no attempt at a
count has been made). As Charles Berg has noted, the very concept
of an "original score" was ambiguous, since many a score said to be
"original" was actually a mixture of new and old music "composed
by" (read "arranged by") a compiler.'3 In short, music for the silent
""From a Written Film History to a Visual Film History," Cinema Journal 14, no. 2 (1975): 21.
This issue is given over to a "Symposium on the Methodology of Film History," sponsored by the
International Federation of Film Archives in Montreal, 1974; in the "Transcript of Discussion,"
pp. 47-64, several participants challenge Petric's point of view.
For examples of sound film cue sheets, see the manuals of Dolan, Hagen, Skiles, and Skinner
listed at the end of this article. (N.B., in most cases in the notes I give only abridged references
for books devoted to film music; full citations are given in the Bibliography, Section III.)
'3See Charles Berg, Investigation of the Motives for and Uses of Music to Accompany the American
Silent Film, 1896-1927 (New York: Arno, 1976), p. 158.

Film Music 287
film was a detachable, ever-changing accompaniment; sound film music,

on the other hand, is an integral part of an unchanging soundtrack,
with the performed score attached unambiguously to the film. But
the value of the score as a tool for study is diminished somewhat by
the film's integral character. With the exception of the cue sheet transfers
mentioned above, scores tell us only about a film's music, without
indications of simultaneous dialogue and sound effect. As of yet no
very satisfactory method of transcribing a whole soundtrack has been
found, any more than has a method of transcribing film images.'4
Only recordings can provide us with integral soundtracks. Unfortu-
nately, most commercial soundtrack albums are as inaccurate in their
own way as script publications. The problems with such albums are
(1) the music has often been newly arranged or recorded (in which
case the album is now usually dubbed an "original motion picture
score"-"original" again being an ambiguous term); (2) even genuine
"motion picture soundtracks" are usually abridged and limited to music
alone; and (3) they go rapidly out of print and into a highly expensive
collector's market.'5 It should be noted that film composers often prefer
recordings such as these, simply because they allow the most important
music to be clearly heard. For scholarly purposes, however, the most
desirable recordings are the studio originals, comprising both the
separate components of a soundtrack and the final "mixed" version.
The accessibility of all these materials is at present a serious problem.
Only scripts and soundtracks have been issued in any great number
(with the drawbacks already noted).'6 For the most part scripts, cue
sheets, scores and recordings are scattered in private collections, libraries,
and film studios, often uncatalogued. To track any of these items down
for a particular film requires inordinate amounts of money and time.
The studios, moreover, have allowed a great deal of materials to be
lost or destroyed. They are still the first place one should inquire,
but there is every possibility that the door will be closed to the researcher
or that the shelf will be empty.
The picture is dark, to be sure, but the materials are not altogether
invisible. At least some studios seem more and more disposed to make
their holdings available. Warner Brothers' scores, for example, are now
'4The problem, and various attempted solutions, are discussed by Gorbman, "Vigo/Jaubert" (n.
8); in the survey of the literature below, I shall describe one of those attempts, by Manvell and
Huntley in The Techniqueof Film Music (1957).
5See Ken Sutak, "The Investment Market in Movie Music Albums," High Fidelity (July 1972);
62-66.
'6Clifford McCarty's PublishedScreenplays:A Checklist,Seriff Series [of] Bibliographies and Checklists,
no. 18 (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1971), lists 388 films, with an introductory survey
of the history of screenplay publications; Manvell, in "Screenwriting" (n. 9), lists seven complete
shot-by-shot analyses of films.

on deposit at the Burbank Public Library and can be consulted by

the serious scholar. Moreover, many archives and libraries have shown
themselves increasingly sensitive to the matter of film music. The two
leading institutions in this regard are the Museum of Modern Art
in New York and the Library of Congress. The former contains a
very large collection of silent film scores, and both silent and sound
film scores can be found in abundance at the latter. At this very moment
at the Library of Congress a project is underway to collect, catalogue,
and preserve on microfilm the many scores deposited in the Music
Division and in the Copyright Office (one of the great "archives" of
twentieth-century music)-with the hope that studios and composers
will be encouraged to make further large deposits.'7 Other significant
collections can be found at the Free Library in Philadelphia'8 and
at the following universities: California (Los Angeles), California State
(Long Beach), Oregon, Southern California (USC), Wisconsin, and
Wyoming.'9 Of these, USC should be singled out for having taken
a significant step forward: the creation, in 1976, of the Alfred Newman
Memorial Library, where not just scores but all the materials pertinent
to that composer's career will be stored.20
What is still greatly needed is a large-scale film music archive.21
Although there are now more than eighty film archives around the
world,22 most of them are not capable of fulfilling this need. Their
limited budgets are marked for the preservation and study of films,
not film music. Inevitably, their holdings reflect this bias.23 Thus, for
many years to come the only feasible approach may be to strive for
a "web" archive: a cooperative network of studios and institutions like
those named above. The idea may seem far-fetched, but it is not
inconceivable, given the loose bonds which already link the American
'7For information on the project, contact Gillian Anderson, music reference librarian at the library;
see also "Early Film Music Collections in the Library of Congress," Main Title (published by the
Entr'acte Recording Society) 2, no. 2 (1976): 8.
'8See Arthur Cohn, "Film Music in the Fleischer Collection of the Free Library of Philadelphia,"
Film Music Notes 7, no. 3 (1948): 11-13.
'9See the lists in Motion Pictures, Television, and Radio: A Union Catalogue of Manuscript and Special
Collectionsin the WesternUnited States, ed. Linda Harris Mehr (Boston: G. K. Hall, 1977)-the only
book in which film music holdings have been indexed; some recent acquisitions of California State
and the Library of Congress are mentioned in Notes 33 (1977): 577-79.
20Page Cook assesses the Newman Library in "The Sound Track," Films in Review 17 (1976):
369- 72.
2'See Robert Fiedel, "Saving the Score-Wanted: A National Film Music Archive," American Film
3, no. 1 (1977): 32, 71.
22These are listed in the International Film Guide, 1979, ed. Peter Cowie (London: Tantivy Press,
1978), pp. 400-404. An excellent, though now dated guide to several important American archives
and libraries is "Our Resources for Film Scholarship," Film Quarterly16, no. 2 (1962): 34-50.
23To cite one example: the British Film Archive (est. 1935), though among the world's largest
and oldest, has obtained scores for only half a dozen films. The extraordinary collection of the
Museum of Modern Art, acquired over many years, is largely a result of its longstanding tradition
of screening silent films with live music.

Film Music 289
Film Institute to the Library of Congress, and the world's archives

into an International Federation.
Undoubtedly progress will be made, for there is an ever-strengthening
tendency to take films seriously in all their aspects-as historical
documents, as sociological phenomena, and as works of art. Scholars
have written recently of an "explosion" in film study.24 The larger
context is the explosive growth and change within the medium itself.
What was at the turn of the century a crude, lower-class entertainment
has become a massive medium, a connoisseur's fine art, and a conglo-
merate industry. Likewise film music has been transformed from the
tinny piano accompaniments of "invisible" pit musicians to the "Dolby
Stereo" scores of "star" composers-in an idiom that makes use of
popular songs, concert works, jazz, commercialized and genuine folk
music, synthesizer, and sitar. Films and their music are both peculiar
hybrids, and far from easy to work with. As we look into them, we
find ourselves confronted by materials that seem to withhold as much
information as they give. If we push further, it is because, like Benjamin,
we feel the urge to come to grips with the work of art in the age
of mechanical reproduction. In order to smooth the course of inquiry,
I now propose to examine how others have wrestled with film music's
recalcitrant materials, to see what they have written.
II. The Literature
Is there a literature? The tendency has been to suppose not. Thus
the most recent book on film music is called A Neglected Art (New
York: New York University Press, 1977), and at the outset author Roy
Prendergast puts forward a case for his title:
This book is the first attempt at a comprehensive look at the history, esthetics,
and techniques of film music. Seldom in the annals of music history has a new
form of musical expression gone so unnoticed. While the use of music to accompany
film is a relatively new phenomenon, beginning in the last decade of the nineteenth
century, its relatively new appearance should not have precluded a body of intelligent
and perceptive writing on the subject.
The fact remains, however, that there is no such body of critical literature on
film music, with the notable exception of a few penetrating articles by critic Lawrence
Morton. [From the "Foreword," p. xiii; Morton's own contribution to, and view of,
the literature will be discussed below.]
Certainly film music is a neglected art. Both scholars and audiences

have paid it less than its due, partly for reasons considered in the
first part of this article. Nevertheless, Prendergast's assertion that the
subject has gone "unnoticed" in print is misleading. There is in fact
24Roger Manvell, "The Explosion of Film Studies," Encounter37, no. 1 (1971): 67-74; Jean Cohen,
"The Visual Explosion: The Growth of Film Literature," Choice (March 1973): 26-40.

an extensive literature on the subject that becomes, after a bit of sifting,

an "intelligent and perceptive" literature. However, it is far from easy
to come by, and this is one reason for its own neglect. Books on film
music pass speedily out of print, while articles lie scattered and buried
in ephemeral or out-of-reach journals. The bibliographies that seek
to resurrect them are equally obscure, besides being much too error-
prone, and far from comprehensive.25 Also, the literature has been
neglected in the sense that no one has written much about it. There
are only two surveys, and each is so brief that it can only point at
some sources in passing.26
The following survey also does its share of rude pointing at selected
items. It is written, however, with a different end in view: to chronicle
some of the most important methods and tendencies of film music
research. (It has been limited to sources in English, French, German,
and Italian; discographies and film musicals have not been considered.)
The resultant "montage" of long shots and close ups, it is hoped, will
clarify the principal patterns of thought that have been inspired by
this "new form of musical expression."
* * *
The process of recording sound photoelectrically alongside an image

on a single strip of film was not adopted for commercial use until
the late twenties. Before this time, despite various attempts to synchronize
sound and film mechanically, the movies were mostly silent, accompanied
by live music.27 As has already been noted, this music was not all of
a piece; it consisted of improvisations, compilations, and original scores,
mixed in many ways. The tens of thousands of theaters across Europe
and America varied enormously in size and decor, and in the number
and types of musicians employed.28 There were amateurs and profes-
25See, however, Win Sharples, Jr.'s excellent compilation of sources in Cinema Journal (1978),
cited with other principal bibliographies in the Bibliography, Section I.
26Zofia Lissa's "Literatur uber den Tonfilm," in Aesthetik der Filmmusik (1965), pp. 9-16, cites
about fifty mainly theoretical works; Harry Geduld's "Film Music: A Survey," Quarterly Review of
Film Studies 1 (1976): 186-204, is an uncritical introduction to a few books on music and musicals,
and also soundtracks. I have been unable to consult Alicja Helman's survey of the literature in
Kwartalnikfilmowy no. 2 (1961), but her study of "Probleme der Musik in Film," Film (Frankfurt)
5 (1964): 687-707, contains very thoughtful discussion of much theoretical literature.
27The most recent extended discussion of the history of synchronized sound is Geduld's The
Birth of the Talkies: From Edison toJolson (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975). Kurt London
reviews some of the experimental devices used in the silent period to achieve synchronization in
Film Music (1936), pp. 66-70: see also Samuel Peeples, "The Mechanical Music Makers," Films in
Review 24 (1973): 193-200.
28Two books on silent film theaters are Dennis Sharp's The Picture Palace and Other Buildings
for Movies (London: Hugh Evelyn, 1969) and Ben M. Hall's The Best Remaining Seats: The Story
of the Golden Age of the Movie Palace (New York: Bramhall House, 1961). Hall's is much the less

Film Music 291
sionals, pianists, organists, small ensembles, and orchestras. Rather like

musicians of the baroque period, these silent film players enjoyed a
great deal of freedom to realize their music according to talent and
circumstance; for though "playing to pictures" owed something to
nineteenth-century traditions of theater music from opera to pantomime,
it was fundamentally as new an art as playing from a figured bass
had been three centuries earlier. And just as in the baroque period
there accumulated a large number of books written to guide players
in the choices they had to make, in the silent period a literature developed
that was designed to aid in the preparation of an accompaniment.
This was the first literature of film music: a mass of materials fulfilling
a variety of practical functions.
Its first function was to guide musicians in the selection of music
for individual films. It was to this end that beginning in 1909 the
Edison Company, a leading film producer, printed brief "Suggestions
for Music" for its weekly film rentals in the Edison Kinetogram. The
suggestions were welcomed, other companies followed suit, and "cue
sheets," as they came to be called, remained in use until the demise
of the silent film.29 In general, rather than name specific pieces of
music, which musicians might not have owned or been able to play,
early cue sheets specified only a tempo, or mood, or kind of music
appropriate to the situation on screen. The forewarned player could
then either improvise something appropriate or, if time permitted,
select a suitable piece to fit the cue.
As publishers sensed the growing need for such "suitable"-and readily
handy-music, they began to bring out anthologies containing assorted
popular favorites, classical selections (often newly "arranged"), and
original "incidental" pieces of cinema music. They also brought out
indexes of their music geared for use by the cinema player. That is,
these anthologies and indexes classified music along the same lines
as the cue sheets-by mood, dramatic situation, tempo, and so forth.
In this sense they constitute the first typologies of music for film. (For
an annotated list of representative publications, see the Bibliography,
Section II-A.)
Cue sheets, anthologies and indexes all helped in the preparation
of accompaniments, but they tell us nothing directly about how the
accompaniments were to be played. Some information of this kind
technical; it gilds the subject with nostalgia, but reveals more about music in the most splendid
of the "palaces."
29Berg sketches the early history of cue sheets (to about 1915) in his Investigation (1976), pp.
102-12; Hofmann reproduces five examples in Soundsfor Silents (1970), and Max Winkler explains
his own important role in their development (though he was not, as he claims, their "inventor"),
in "The Origins of Film Music," Films in Review 2, no. 10 (1951): 34-42, reprinted in Limbacher,
Film Music (1974), pp. 15-24.

might be included in an introduction, however, as in Erno Rapee's

Encyclopediaof Music for Pictures (1925; reprint ed. New York: Arno,
1970). In fifteen highly compressed chapters the author (famed as
a composer of original scores, and as the conductor at New York City's
Capitol Theatre) gives detailed advice on such matters as the kinds
of music appropriate to the various film genres, the uses of the organ,
and ways to organize and rehearse theater orchestras. The Rapee
introduction was an offshoot of a second branch of silent film literature
(see the Bibliography, II-B), of which the principal function was to
advise players on both What and How to Play for Pictures. This was
the title of an early little manual written by Eugene Ahern in 1913,
and published in Twin Falls, Idaho-far away from New York and
quite different in tone from Rapee's much later work. Ahern's advice
is geared to the small town pianist. He stresses not to call attention
to oneself by playing too loudly, not to change the music too often
in the course of the picture, but to be sure to vary one's playing from
week to week lest audiences get bored.
Manuals such as Ahern's were the first books on film music. They
multiplied rapidly, and were addressed variously to pianists, organists
and conductors. Often they provided instruction in music theory, on
all levels from the rudiments of reading music to advanced harmony-
one indication of the great disparity of musical practice from theater
to theater. Their principal value to us perhaps consists precisely in
this disparity: they convey all kinds of information about performance
practices throughout the period (and, more broadly, about the nation's
musical culture).
On a smaller scale, one finds similar information begin to crop up
in one of the fledgling industry's most important trade weeklies, Moving
Picture World.The earliest volumes of this magazine, founded in 1907,
contain advertisements for mechanical instruments, anthologies of music,
and specially compiled and composed scores. From 1909, alongside
advertisements there appear editorials, letters, and articles calling for
the improvement of music; and in the next year, a column of advice
on "Music for the Picture."30 This column, which ran for more than
eight years, published sample cue sheets and addressed itself to many
problems: the types of music appropriate for various film genres;
whether a piano, organ, or orchestra was preferable; the place of sound
effects in an accompaniment; and the value of special scores. Often
30The first editorials on film music were "The Musical End" and "Musical Accompaniments for
Moving Pictures," Moving Picture World 5 (1909): 7-8 and 559. The first column of "Music for
the Picture," ed. Clarence Sinn et al., is in 7(1910): 1227, and the last in 39 (1919): 1359. Important
early articles are Louis Reeves Harrison, "Jackass Music," 8 (1911): 124-25, and W. Stephen Bush,
"Giving Musical Expression to the Drama," 9 (1911): 354-55.

Film Music 293
the editors ran letters on these matters from across the country. In
this way the column-and others like it-became national forums on
film music, drawing together thousands of isolated musicians (like
Eugene Ahern) who welcomed the chance to communicate with others
of their profession.31
Cue sheets, anthologies, columns, and handbooks all first appeared
at very nearly the same time (around 1910). The sudden development
of a literature seeking to improve music in the theater, by example
and advice, is a phenomenon partly to be explained in economic
terms-as in these words from the editorial introduction to the first
column of "Music for the Picture": "The demand for good music is
such that it is now as much of a rivalry between exhibitors to brag
of their good orchestras as it is of bragging of [sic] the quality of
their pictures."32 The sentence, despite the grammatical lapse, makes
sense. At the time, theaters were growing rapidly in number and size.
Pictures were becoming both more popular and more respectable. "The
growth of picture houses in America in the period 1910-20 was
phenomenal. 'Movie Madness' pervaded society, and by the middle
of the decade it has been estimated that 25,000 picture theaters were
in use and the average daily attendance was in the region of six million
people."33 To compete for the widening audience, theater managers
installed spectacular organs, expanded their orchestras and musical
shows, and hired better musicians. "Good music" became one of a
theater's selling points (just as specially composed scores were often
used to promote important films like The Birth of a Nation). In response
to competition, managers became entrepreneurs and film music and
its literature thrived.34
It continued to thrive until the end of the silent film. Cue sheets
and manuals became more detailed and sophisticated, anthologies more
encyclopedic (like Rapee's). At the same time, musicians within the
trade and critical observers from outside never ceased to ponder how
to "reform" film music. Various kinds of reform were envisaged: the
introduction of more "classical" music into the theater (with better
playing), more original scores, and better systems of compilation whereby
the music would produce a much greater dramatic effect.35
31See Berg's account of this and other columns in Investigation, pp. 112-23.
32J[ohn] M. B[radlet], Moving Picture World7 (1910): 1227.
3
Sharp, The Picture Palace, p. 70.
34Moving Picture World contains many articles that establish a correlation early on; see especially
James S. McQuade's account of the budding career of the silent film's greatest theatrical entrepreneur,
Samuel L. ("Roxie') Rothapfel, "The Belasco of Motion Picture Presentations," 10 (1911): 796-98.
35See, e.g., Carl Van Vechten, "Music for the Movies," in Music and Bad Manners (New York:
Knopf, 1916), pp. 44-54; Sherwood K. Boblitz, "Where 'Movie Playing' Needs Reform," Musician
(June 1920): 8, 29; and Richard Holt, "Music and the Cinema," Musical Times 65 (1924): 426-27.
Van Vechten wanted a new kind of music, but he was very unspecific as to what kind it should

Better compilations were the object of the period's most sophisticated

and wide-ranging book: Hans Erdmann and Giuseppe Becce's Allge-
meines Handbuch der Filmmusik, edited by Ludwig Brav, in two volumes
(Berlin: Schlesinger, 1927). Erdmann, Becce, and Brav had all composed
for silent films, and campaigned for improvement of musical practice.36
The Handbuch was the culminating synthesis of their efforts. Its first
volume is given over to an essay, unique in the literature of the period,
surveying the theory, history and techniques of film music "Vom Atelier
bis Theater." The second volume contains a "Thematisches Skalenregis-
ter," or index, which follows the most elaborate system for categorizing
musical moods ever attempted in this kind of literature. Music of several
publishers is included, with abundant cross-references from one category
to another. In its attempt to be so systematic and comprehensive, the
Handbuch surpassed all earlier indexes and manuals. It opened a door
to altogether new kinds of research-a door, however, which no one
at the time passed through. It was an unusually complex book, and
published too late in the day to have much impact.
The year 1927 marked the phenomenal success of The Jazz Singer.
The silent film then entered its twilight phase, and synchronized sound
began its triumphal rise. Within a few years, silent films, along with
their musicians, had slipped into obsolescence. No longer functional,
the music and literature of the period were mostly forgotten.37
The transformation was more in the nature of a slow "dissolve" than
a quick "wipe." For a time silent and sound films shared the screen,
and also music. Many of the early "talkies" were given continuous
synchronized accompaniments little different from those which had
been heard in silent theaters. (Except for the sung portions, Louis
Silvers' score for TheJazz Singer is very much in the tradition of silent
film scoring.) The quality of recorded sound, however, was at first
much inferior to live music. Hence, some deplored the "symphonic
hurly-burly" created by the sound film; as late as 1929, film critic
Harry Alan Potamkin could still assert that the best way to combine
"Music and the Movies" was to use live chamber ensembles rather than
synchronized orchestras.38
be; Boblitz stressed the value of playing classical accompaniments as a means to educate the young;
and Holt lambasted nearly all movie music, with kind words only for an original score (film not
named) by Eugene Goosens.
36Becce was the most prominent of the three, as composer of a number of original scores and
of the popular Kinothekanthologies; his career is traced by Hans Thomas in Die deutsche Tonfilmmusik
(1962), pp. 81-83. Music and literature of all three authors is indexed by Herbert Birett in
Stumm-Filmmusik(1970).
37On the plight of silent film musicians see Maurice Mermey, "The Vanishing Fiddler," North
American Review 227 (1929): 301-7; on publishers, see Winkler's "Origins" (n. 29).
38Musical Quarterly 15 (1929): 281-96. "Music for the Movies" is the first article on film music
to appear in this journal-one example of how the sound film brought forth a new literature from
new quarters and quarterlies; for others, see nn. 44, 52, and 53.

Film Music 295
Potamkin was one of the writers who remained loyal to the silent
film. Indeed, many theorists had based their reasoning on the premise
that the medium was purely a visual one, and sound seemed to them
to be a blemish on that purity. But there were many others who welcomed
the transformed medium with enthusiasm. Sound triggered "an ava-
lanche of manifestos," full of prophecies, speculations, and attempts
to establish principles governing sound.39 A trio of Russian film-
makers-Eisenstein, Pudovkin, and Alexandrov-set the tone with their
brief manifesto-like "Statement on the Sound Film" of 1928: "The
first experimental work with sound must be directed along the line
of its distinct non-synchronization with the visual image."40 They were
disturbed by the prospect of an excessively literal use of sound-its
use, in other words, merely to confirm things already visible on the
screen-because such mechanistic synchronization threatened the theory
and practice of montage as it had been developed during the twenties.
Though more progressively minded than Potamkin, these writers, too,
felt their loyalties divided.
In subsequent films, however, they left the esthetic of silence behind,
and Eisenstein and Pudovkin continued to amplify and revise their
ideas in many books and articles.41 Parallel to their efforts, Rudolf
Arnheim published his theory of Film als Kunst, a complex work with
a complex section on sound. He incorporated some of the Russians'
terminology-using such words for sound as "contrapuntal" and
"asynchronous"-but also wrote in favor of more "naturalistic" uses
of sound.42 Like Arnheim, Bela Balazs stressed film's naturalistic
character when combined with sound, in his own treatise, Der Geist
des Films; and he even foresaw the day when musical accompaniments
would become naturalistic too: a "program music" made from abstract
and natural sounds, into "symphonies of noise."43
"9The phrase is Marian Hannah Winter's, in "The Function of Music in the Sound Film," Musical
Quarterly27 (1941): 153. Winter cites as an example Guido Bagier's Der kommendeFilm: eine Abrechnung
und eine Hoffnung (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlag-Anstalt, 1928). Cf. the sources summarized in Thomas's
overview of the time "Zwischen Stummfilm und Tonfilm," Die deutsche Tonfilmmusik, pp. 11-17.
40Zhisn Iskustva, 5 August 1928; the English translation is from Sergei Eisenstein's Film Form:
Essays in Film Theory, trans. & ed. Jay Leyda (1947; reprinted. New York: Harcourt, n.d.), pp.
257-60.
41See the Bibliography of Eisenstein's writings in English in The Film Sense, trans. & ed. Leyda
(1947; reprinted. New York: Harcourt, 1970), pp. 269-76-and in the same book, the essay on
Prokofiev's music for AlexanderNevsky,"Form and Content: Practice," pp. 155-216. Vselvod Pudovkin's
essays from the thirties are gathered in Film Techniqueand Film Acting, trans. & ed. Ivor Montagu,
rev. ed. (1958; reprinted New York: Grove, 1970). See esp. "Asychronism as a Principle of Sound
Film" and "Dual Rhythm of Sound and Image," pp. 183-93 and 308-316.
42See the section on "The Sound Film" in Film, trans. (from Film als Kunst, 1930) L. M. Sieveking
and Ian F. D. Morrow (London: Faber, 1933), pp. 201-208.
43See "Tonfilm," in Der Geist des Films (1930; reprinted. Frankfurt: Makol, 1972), pp. 142-85.
Balazs's first book on film, Der sichtbareMensch,oderdie KulturdesFilms (Vienna: Deutsch-Osterreichische
Verlag, 1924) also contains a brief section on "Musik ins Kino," pp. 143-44; ideas from both books
are incorporated, in revised form, into Theoryof the Film: Characterand Growthof a New Art, trans.
Edith Bone (1952; reprinted. New York: Dover, 1970), pp. 194-241.

All four of these writers, as well as others whose manifestos have

nearly vanished into the settling dust, kept their discussions of music
abstract. They were not musical professionals, like the writers of silent
film manuals and the compilers of anthologies; they were filmmakers
and theorists, whose knowledge of music appears not to have been
very deep. (Balazs, however, had written the libretto for Bluebeard's
Castle.) Yet it is interesting to observe how many writers who were
musically educated adopted a similar style-especially in Europe and
especially in the periodicals Die Musik and Melos. From the year 1928
to 1933 these two journals brought out a very large amount of film
music literature by musicians; and much of it floats on the same abstract
plane as the literature cited above.44
From 1928 to 1929, most of the articles in Die Musik appeared under
the general heading of "Mechanische Musik"-that is, the music of
phonograph, radio, and film.45 This mechanical music was the product
of what Paul Valery called a "new intimacy of music and physics."46
That intimacy, it seemed, had brought forth powerful new sources
of patronage and creative stimulation. Much excitement was generated
in the musical world by films of all kinds, and it spilled over into
print.47 Soon, however, disappointment set in, as music's place within
commercial films dwindled. The public's attention was directed toward
talkies full of talk but not much music, and toward musicals full of
song and dance. (In fact, the two categories overlapped, since songs
44The following are the most theoretical articles from Die Musik: Ali Weyl-Nissen, "Stilprinzipien
des Tonfilms-Versuch einer Grundlegung," 21 (1929): 905-7; Walter Gronostay, "Die Technik
der Gerauschanwendung im Tonfilm," 22 (1929): 42-44; A. Lion, "Erreichtes und Erreichbares:
Zur Frage der Naturlichen Klangwiedergabe im Tonfilm," 22 (1930): 473-74; and Franz Benedict
Biermann, "Tonfilm und Musik," 24 (1931): 250-54. From Melos, see Hanns Gutman "Der tonende
Film," 7 (1928): 6-9; Bagier (cf. n. 39), "Der akustiche Film: Sein Wesen und seine Bedeutung,"
7 (1928): 163-66; Hans Luedtke, "Filmmusik und Kunst," 7 (1928): 166-70; Becce, "Der Film und
die Musik: Illustration oder Komposition," 7 (1928): 170-72; W. Mechback, "Grundgedanken zur
Filmmusik," 8 (1929): 24-29; Adolf Raskin, "Grundsatzliches zum Klangfilmproblem," 8 (1929):
249-51; Gronostay, "Die Moglichkeiten der Musikanwendung im Tonfilm," 8 (1929): 317-18; Kurt
London, "Kinoorchester und Tonfilm: Organisationsfragen der Filmmusik," 9 (1930): 247-50, and
"Filmstil und Filmmusik," 11 (1932): 404-6; and Leonhard Furst, "Filmgestaltung aus der Musik,"
12 (1933): 18-22.
45Cf. Constant Lambert, "Mechanical Music and the Cinema," Music, Ho! (New York: Scribners,
1934), pp. 256-68. (See also n. 56.)
46From the essay "La Conquete de l'ubiquite," (in Dc la musique avant toute chose, 1928), trans.
Ralph Mannheim in Valery's Aesthetics(New York: Pantheon, 1964), p. 225; Benjamin cites a passage
from this essay at the head of his own (n. 6).
47See, e.g., these reviews of the 1928 and 1929 Baden-Baden Music Festivals, where many films
with avant-garde scores were screened: Heinrich Str6bel, "Film und Musik: Zu den Baden-Baden
Versuchen," Melos 7 (1928): 343-47; Oscar Thomson, "More Fun, Less Music," Modern Music 6,
no. 1 (1928): 38-40; and Strobel, "Die Baden-Baden Kammermusik, 1929," Melos 8 (1929): 395-400.
Other reviews in Melos are: Hans Mersmann on Der blaue Engel 9 (1930): 188; H[ellmuth] G[6tze]
on "Vier Tonfilme," 10 (1931): 371-72; and London on "L'Arlisienne: Ein Tonfilm mit Musik von
Bizet," 11 (1932): 53-54. For a very good discussion of the avant-garde's approach to film music,
both in the late silent and early sound periods, see Dietrich Stern, "Komponisten gehen zum Film,"
in Angewandte Musik der 20erJahre, ed. Stern (Berlin: Argument-Verlag, 1977), pp. 10-58.

Film Music 297
were apt to be inserted into any kind of film, no matter how awkward
the context.) By 1931, moreover, the public's appetite for musicals
was exhausted; and their decline in popularity coincided with the general
abandonment of accompanimental music.48 (One rationale for the
spreading silence was that in the "naturalistic" context of the sound
film music was as out of place as the stylized, exaggerated gestures
and facial expressions of silent film actors.) Owing to this downward
turn of affairs, when musicians wrote about music they dwelt mostly
on the exciting, exceptional examples of creative use of sound, and
on the theoretical future rather than on the immediate present. Of
the movies as they were, they had formed a pretty low opinion.49
In the mid-thirties, however, opinions and opportunities began to
improve. From Hollywood, in 1933, came Forty Second STreet and King
Kong-two movies less important in themselves perhaps than as signals
of "comebacks" of both musicals and background scores. (The songs
of the former were by Al Dubin and Harry Warren; the music of
the latter was by Max Steiner.) In each case, the comeback was made
with a fresh set of techniques that quickly became established as
conventions. Commercial film music was back on its feet, and in the
following year Hollywood granted it official recognition with the institu-
tion of the Academy Awards for outstanding scores.50
Recognition of a more inquiring kind was granted at the first
International Congress of Music (ICM) in Florence, 1933, where a
session was held on "La Musica e il film."51 This marked the beginning
of a new outpouring of literature across all of Western Europe. A
special issue of La Revue Musicale was devoted to "Le Film Sonore."52
New periodicals were established: Cinema Quarterlyand Sight and Sound
in Great Britain, Bianco e nero in Italy; and each of them published
many articles by composers, critics, and theorists.53 From the city of
48My overview of the early sound period follows Thomas, Die deutsche Tonfilmmusik, pp. 11-30;
and Manvell & Huntley, The Technique of Film Music, pp. 31-53; see also The Movie Musical: From
"Vitaphoneto "42nd Street"as Reported in a Great Fan Magazine [i.e., Photoplay,from 1926 to 1933],
ed. Miles Kreuger (New York: Dover, 1975).
49Leonhard Fiirst, "Musikkritik und Tonfilm," Melos 12 (1933): 92-97.
5See "Academy Award Winners and Nominees for Music: 1934-1972," in The CompleteEncyclopedia
of Music and Jazz: 1900-1950, ed. Roger D. Kinkle, Vol. 4 (New York: Arlington House, 1974),
pp. 2029-39; in the early years, awards went to the studio's music department, rather than to the
composer(s): see Frank Varity, "The Sound Track," Films in Review 15 (1964): 295-97, 300.
'See the Atti del primo congressointernazionaledi musica, Firenze, 30 aprile-4 maggio 1933 (Florence:
Le Monnier, 1935), pp. 209-216, for the session on "La musica e il film." (Furst's paper for this
session was a re.working of his Melos article cited in n. 44.) There was also a session on "Radio,
Film, Grammofono"-see esp. Adriano Lualdi, "Due novi vie per la musica: Radio e film," pp.
43-52.
52 [No.
151], December 1934. There are nineteen articles under four headings: "Esthetique,"
"Technique," "Dessin anime," and "L'Ecran pedagogique." More than a third of the issue is given
over to these articles by composer Arthur Hoeree: "Essai d'esthetique du sonore," pp. 45-62; "Le
Travail du film sonore," pp. 63-79; and with Honegger, "Particularit6s du film Rapt," pp. 88-91.
53Sight and Sound, begun in 1932, was published by the British Film Institute from 1934, and
at that time commenced to run articles on film music, including: Ernest J. Borneman, "Sound Rhythm

London, moreover, came the first two books on music in the sound
film.
Leonid Sabaneev's Music for the Film: A Handbookfor Composersand
Conductors (1935) and Kurt London's Film Music: A Summary of the
Characteristic Features of Its History, Aesthetics, Technique and Possible
Developments(1936) were as different as their subtitles suggest.54 Each
had its own antecedents. Sabaneev's handbook revived the tradition
of the silent film manuals, avoiding abstractions (except, to some degree,
in a chapter on the "Aesthetics of the Sound Film"), and describing
in practical terms each stage of the film-scoring process. London's
summary followed Erdmann and Becce in attempting to survey the
whole subject systematically.55 Yet in one respect the two books were
very much alike: they shared a fascination with the concept of "Music
for the Microphone." The theme was a popular one in the literature
of the time (like that of "Mechanical Music," to which it was closely
related), but it was Sabaneev and London who gave it the most play.56
Each author explained in detail how the acoustics of the recording
studio altered the sounds (for better and worse) made by instruments
alone and in groups. From these observations, each tried to generate
idiomatic principles of film composition and orchestration. As it turned
out, however, neither their observations nor their principles endured
for long. Recording technology was changing so rapidly that large
portions of each book soon became obsolete.57
and the Film," 3, no. 10 (1934): 65-7; John Grierson, "Introduction to a New Art," 3, no. 11
(1934): 101-4; and M. D. Calvocoressi, "Music and Film: A Problem of Adjustment," 4, no. 14
(1935): 57-58. Cinema Quarterly (Edinburgh) ran from 1933-35, then merged with the monthly
WorldFilm News (WFN ); under both titles it featured many articles by composers, including: Alexandr
Hackenschmied, "Film and Music," trans. Karel Santar, 1 (1933): 152-55; Walter Leigh, "The Musician
and the Film," 3 (1935): 70-74; and Hanns Eisler, "Music and the Film: Illustration or Creation?"
WFN (May 1936): p. 23 [cf. Becce's art., n. 44]. Bianco e nero began at the Centro sperimentale
di cinematografia in Rome, 1937, and offered many theoretical studies beginning with Sebastiano
Luciani, "La musica e il film," 1, no. 6 (1937): 3-17.
54Compare London's subtitle with the first sentence of Prendergast's book, quoted on p. 000.
55London, however, did not make the connection; all he says of the Handbuch is that it "dealt
with directions for cinema conductors playing musical accompaniments to silent films, which soon
after became superfluous . . ." (p. 12).
56"Film music," wrote Walter Leigh, "must be written specifically for performance through the
microphone, with full regard to its various needs and possibilities"-from "Music and Microphones,"
WFN (August 1936): 40; Benjamin Britten gave Walton's score for As You Like It a negative review,
complaining that "One cannot feel that the microphone has entered very deeply into Walton's scoring
soul," in WFN, (October 1936): 46. Other examples: Eric Sarnette, "Musique et electricite," La Revue
Musicale [No. 151] (December 1934): 80-87; Libero Innamorati, "I problemi della registrazione
musicale," in the Atti del sec. cong. . . . 1937 (Florence: Le Monnier, 1940), pp. 261-64; Carlos
Chavez, Toward A New Music: Music and Electricity (New York: Norton, 1937); and, from more
technical points of view, W. F. Elliott's Sound Recordingfor Films (1937) and Ken Cameron's Sound
and the DocumentaryFilm (1947), both published in London by Pitman.
57London's book, though published one year after Sabaneev's, became obsolete sooner, because
it was based on developments prior to 1933; cf. George Antheil's reviews: "Good Russian Advice
about Movie Music," and "On the Hollywood Front," both in Modern Music 13, 14 (1936, 1937):
53-56, 107-8.

Film Music 299
London had anticipated this "possible development." He called for

the creation of a "Microphone Academy" for the scientific study of
the microphone's properties and for the training of a new generation
of composers. No such academy was created, however. Nor did any
books come to join these two until after World War II. Sabaneev and
London rode a wave of interest in film music at its crest, but by the
end of the decade that wave had broken on the shoals of politics and
war. Literature continued to issue from Europe, but slowed to a trickel.
The main achievements of those years were the second ICM at Florence
(1938), which sponsored three sessions on film music, and Konrad
Ottenheym's dissertation (completed in 1944) on the history of silent
film music in Germany.58
At the same time a much stronger "new wave" of literature began
to pour from the United States, swelled by the great number of refugee
filmmakers, composers, and critics. In the thirties, American literature
had followed its own course. It was, in general, less concerned with
theoretical problems than with descriptions of techniques and trends
written for a lay audience.59 This practical, popularizing tendency set
it apart from much European writing. A comparison of two articles
from 1937 is instructive: French composer Maurice Jaubert was
preoccupied by the aesthetic principles of "Music on the Screen," while
Max Steiner (Viennese-born, but in matters of film music, Hollywood-
bred) described the processes and history of "Scoring the Film."60 It
was not that Steiner lacked ideas about what film music should do,
but that he displayed them as the fruits of his working experience
rather than as theoretical precepts in the manner of Jaubert. One
magazine that combined both approaches was ModernMusic. Like Melos,
it had, since the late twenties, functioned as a promoter of the avant-
garde's ideas about film music.6' Then in 1936 it took the innovative
step of hiring one of the avant-garde's members to be its film music
reporter and critic of news "On the Hollywood Front." For four years
"8Nine papers on film music are contained in the Atti of the second ICM (n. 56); its other theme
was "Music and the Public." Besides Ottenheym's dissertation there were two others-unavailable
to me-by Wilhelmine Fey and Friedrich Robbe (see Bibliography III).
59See, e.g., "Music in the Movies Wins New Place" (in the Academy Awards), Musician 40, no.
1 (1935): 14; Douglas Moore, "Music and the Movies," Harper's 171 (1935): 181-88; and Antheil,
"Hollywood Composer," Atlantic Monthly 165 (1940): 160-67; also, Prendergast cites many articles
from the New YorkTimes and Herlad Tribune.
60The titles of the sources contrast in the same way: Jaubert's essay comes from Footnotesto the
Film, ed. Charles Davy (New York: Oxford, 1937), pp. 101-115; and Steiner's from We Make the
Movies, ed. Nancy Naumburg, (New York: Norton, 1937), pp. 216-38. see also Herbert Stothart's
"Film Music," in Behind the Screen, ed. Stephen Watts (New York: Dodge, 1938), pp. 139-44.
61As in these articles: Darius Milhaud, "Experimenting with Sound Films," 7, No. 2 (1930): 11-14;
Hans Heinsheimer, "Film Opera-Screen vs. Stage," and Richard Hammond, "Pioneers of Movie
Music," 8, no. 3 (1931): 10-14 and 35-38; Virgil Thomson, "A Little More about Movie Music,"
10 (1933): 188-91; Ernst Toch, "Sound-Film and Music Theatre," 13 (1936): 15-18; and John Gutman,
"Casting the Film Composer," 15 (1938): 216-21.

George Antheil held the job, writing in a lively, thoughtful fashion

of his experiences both as an observer and as a participant.62
Hollywood in those years was an ever more lively place for music,
so there was a great deal of news to report. Lengthy symphonic scores
had become normal accessories to feature films. Much of the music
was derivative, but some composers (such as Steiner, Newman, and
Korngold) had found distinctive ways of adapting nineteenth- and early
twentieth-century idioms to films. At the same time more "modern"
composers (like Antheil himself, as well as several who had come over
from Europe) tried their hand at films with varying but rarely over-
whelming success. In 1940, Alfred Newman was appointed Music
Director at Fox, and Steiner and Erich Korngold were enthroned at
Warner Brothers; Antheil wrote only one film score in that year, and
then gave up on Hollywood until after the war. Describing its hostility
to modern music, he called Hollywood a "closed proposition."63 The
best openings many composers could find were in documentaries. Thus,
in 1940 the following composers were credited with documentaries:
Marc Blitzstein, Paul Bowles, David Diamond, Hanns Eisler, Louis
Gruenberg, Roy Harris, WernerJanssen, Gail Kubik, and David Raksin.64
Of these, only Raksin had much Hollywood experience.
As composers wrote more and more film music, they wrote more
and more about film music, with as much diversity in the latter sphere
as in the former. What they wrote depended on where they stood:
inside the Hollywood circle or out. Aaron Copland, for example, was
one of the more successful outsiders; consequently his feelings about
Hollywood were amiably ambivalent.65 But Antheil and Eisler, who
both tried and pretty much failed to get "in" (though in different
ways), painted pictures of Hollywood in dark tones. Antheil's tales,
however, often read like black comedy, whereas Eisler's Composingfor
62"On the Hollywood Front" ran through vols. 14-16 (1936-39) and continued as "On the Film
Front" under Paul Bowles, 17-18 (1939-41) and Jean Latouche and Leon Kochnitsky, 19 (1941-42);
as "Films and Theater," under Bowles and Elliot Carter, 20 (1942-43); as 'Theater and Films,"
under Carter, 20-21 (1943); and back "On the Hollywood Front," under Lawrence Morton, 21-23
(1944-46). Morton gives a fine summary of Antheil's views in 22 (1945): 135-37.
63In his autobiography, Bad Boy of Music (New York: Doubleday, 1945), p. 314. Cf. Oscar Levant's
characterization of the place as "pretty much a closed shop for specialists," in his own autobiography,
A Smattering of Ignorance (New York: Doubleday, 1940), p. 111. Both of these books, along with
Hans W. Heinsheimer's Menagerie in F Sharp (New York: Doubleday, 1948), tell a great deal about
film music in Hollywood in the forties.
64See the credit listings in Clifford McCarty's Film Composersin America (1953). Kubik wrote that
"composers in the documentary field have more often been allowed the luxury of writing what
they have felt than have our colleagues in the more commercial films," in "Music in Documentary
Film," Writer'sCongress:Proceedingsof the ConferenceHeld in October 1943, by the Hollywood Writers'
Mobilization Committee (Los Angeles: Univ. Cal. Pr., 1944), p. 256.
65As expressed in the chapter on "Music in the Film," Our New Music (New York: McGraw-Hill,
1941), pp. 260-75. An earlier version of this chapter appeared in Moder Music 17 (1940): 141-47,
under the ambivalent title "Second Thoughts on Hollywood."

Film Music 301
the Films (1947) has no light touches. Indeed, it is as severe a critique

of Hollywood music as has ever been published.
The book began as a seemingly scientific collaboration between Eisler
and Theodor Adorno. In the early forties both were at the New School
in New York, Adorno investigating radio music, and Eisler heading
a "Film Music Project," funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.66 But
although Eisler had once described this project in terms of a laboratory
experiment-with theoretical determination of special problems,
experiments, and public tests of the results67-Composing for the Films
contains passages of Marxist rhetoric so high-pitched that they defy
all notions of dispassionate research:
. . .it is preposterous to use words such as "history" with reference to an apocryphal
branch of art like motion-picture music. The person who around 1910 first conceived
the repulsive idea of using the Bridal March from Lohengrin as an accompaniment
is no more of a historical figure than any other second-hand dealer. Similarly, the
prominent composer of today, who, under the pretext of motion-picture requirements,
willingly or unwillingly debases his music earns money, but not a place in history.
The historical processes that can be perceived in cinema music are only reflections
of the decay of middle-class cultural goods into commodities for the amusement
market. ... It would be ludicrous to claim that motion-picture music has really
evolved, either in itself or in its relation to other motion picture media [p. 49].
The ideological tone has turned more than one American reader away.
Prendergast goes so far as to term the book "testy and relatively valueless"
(A Neglected Art, p. 3); but much of what Eisler writes is of great
value. This includes the fascinating report on the original project
(unfortunately too brief and relegated to an appendix). Moreover, the
book is conceptually on firmer ground than most others about film
music, because it so unyieldingly affirms its main point. For Eisler,
the point was that modern music (particularly twelve-tone music) was
an ideal style for the film medium, but that the film industry, with
its barriers of "prejudices and bad habits" (enumerated in the first
chapter), made it impossible for such music to be heard.68
As for the composers who got along very well in the "industry,"
they wrote about it far more brightly. Two examples in book form
are British composer Louis Levy's memoir of a life spent making Music
for the Movies (1948), and Hollywood composer Frank Skinner's step-by-
66For explanation of the book's complicated history, including why Adorno's name did not appear
on the first edition, see his "Postscript" in the reprint edition published in 1971 (Freeport, New
York: Books for Libraries Press)-this postscript being a translation of "Zum Erstdruck der Original
Fassung," appended to the German edition published in 1969 as Kompositionfur den Film (Munich:
Rogner & Bernhard) under both authors' names. A summary of these matters is given under Eisler
in Bibliography III.
67See "Film Music-Work in Progress," Modern Music 18 (1941): 250-54.
8See Lawrence Morton's review, "Hanns Eisler: Composer and Critic," Hollywood Quarterly [HQ]
3 (1948): 208-211.

step manual Underscore (1950). The latter is a cheerful case history

of Skinner's experiences while composing the music for one very ordinary
film. (The film at least seemsordinary, tojudge by the cue sheets published
in the book. It was made at Universal, called The Irishman,and apparently
never released.) Skinner's attitudes as reflected in the book were normal
for the pragmatic Hollywood professional, but he was far from being
the most Pollyanna-like of writers. That credit may well belong to
Nathaniel Finston, Music Director at Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM),
for claiming that "every film today contains in its making the painstaking
efforts of the best minds in the musical world."69
Finston and Eisler would have had difficulty coming to terms. Yet
in one sense they wrote for the same reason: to bring their art into
public light. Some desired this because they believed, with Finston,
that film music was good and getting better, and so deserved to shine;
others maintained that only when the eye (and ear) of the public was
directed toward "background music," and it was brought into the
foreground, would the public become aware of how bad it was. This
was Eisler's position, except that he linked improvement of film music
not just to public awareness but to changes in the whole socioeconomic
structure of our culture.
English critic Hans Keller took a somewhat simpler but still negative
view, in several articles and, most pertinently, in a lively pamphlet
on The Needfor CompetentFilm Music Criticism (London: British Film
Institute, 1947). He wanted critics equally knowledgeable in film and
music to "thrust" film music from the "unselective preconsciousness
into open consciousness, in fact into an aural close-up," so that "film
music will be heard for what it isn't worth" (p. 21).70
At the time Keller took up the pen, it appeared as if the above-named
need was being satisfied. The profession of film music criticism suddenly
took on many practitioners both in England and the United States.71
69"The Screen's Influence in Music," in Music and Dance in California, ed. Jose Rodriguez (Hollywood:
Bureau of Musical Research, 1940), p. 124. Cf. the claim that "the great and the near-great of
the musical world are finding their way to Hollywood to try their skill in the new medium"-from
an anonymous pamphlet on The Men Who Writethe Music Scores(Hollywood: Motion-Picture Producers
and Distributors of America, 1943), p. 2.
70For other Kellerian thrusts, see "Film Music: Some Objections," and "Hollywood Music: Another
View," Sight and Sound [S & S] 15 and 16, nos. 60 and 64 (1946 and 1947): 136 and 168-69;
see also nn. 71 and 73.
71In England, criticism was written on a regular basis by Ernest Irving, "Film Music," Tempo
nos. 1-3 (1946-47); Keller, "Film Music," Music Review vols. 9-17, 19-20 (1948-56, 58-59), Music
Survey vols. 1-3 (1949-51), and Musical Times vols. 96-97 (1955-56); Antony Hopkins, "The Sound
Track," S & S, Vols. 18-19 (1949-50); and John Huntley, "The Sound Track," S & S, 19-24 (1950-55).
In America the critics were Antheil et al. for "On the Hollywood Front" (n. 62); Kurt London,
"Film Music of the Quarter," Films nos. 1-4 (1939-40); Walter Rubsamen, "Music in the Cinema,"
Arts and Architecture,June 1944 to January 1947; and Lawrence Morton, "Film Music of the Quarter,"
HQ 3-7 (1947-52). Also, Film Music Notes contained criticism in every issue from 1941 to 1957.

Film Music 303
They were all very much interested in seeing film music improve, but
their common goal did not prevent them from sparring just as much
as composers over such issues as the relative merits of American and
European film music, and the state of the art in Hollywood. The critic
who described that state with perhaps the nicest blend of wit, sympathy,
and insight was Lawrence Morton.72 Morton engaged in his share of
debate, especially with English critics.73 His writing, however, is distin-
guished from everyone else's by its pointed precision. Morton expressed
precisely what he thought, without the hyperbole that seemed to come
naturally to a writer like Keller. Moreover, rather than summarily
condemn or approve, he gave reasons for his opinions and rested them
on solid factual ground.
This is most obvious in his pioneering study of "The Music of Objective:
Burma," published in Hollywood Quarterly, 1 (1946): 378-95. In this
article for the first time a score is analyzed cue by cue. After listing
the six main themes, Morton describes every one of the twenty-four
"separate compositions," with several score excerpts provided. Then
he concludes the article with this assessment of the composer and his
milieu:
"Musicality" is an inclusive term, and it is not axiomatically applicable to everyone
who writes music. A wit once remarked that "the only difference between Alban
Berg and other Viennese atonalists is that Berg was musical." Franz Waxman is
one of no more than a dozen composers for whom the same can be said in Hollywood.
It was a polemical age. Sweeping evaluations were common. But Morton's
analysis makes every attempt to define the Waxman score's "musicality"
(harmonic, thematic, and structural) in terms of the relationship of
music and drama. Few other critics were able to justify their opinions
with such carefully marshalled evidence-although Frederick Sternfeld
followed Morton's lead with four comparable but less compelling
articles.74 Earlier on in his article, Morton called himself "counsel for
72See especially the balanced perusal of both sides of the question "Film Music: Art or Industry?"
in Film Music Notes 11, no. 1 (1951): 4-6.
73Two examples: (1) Morton's "Rule, Britannia!" in HQ 3 (1948): 211-14, was a negative review
of both Huntley's British Film Music (1947) and Cerald Cockshott's pamphlet on Incidental Music
in the Sound Film (London: British Film Institute, 1946), and Cockshott responded with "Comments
on a Review," in the next issue of HQ 3 (1948): 326-27; (2) Antony Hopkins described American
film music as "orchestration run riot" in "Music: Congress at Florence," S & S 19 (1950): 243-44;
Morton replied to the charge in his column on "Film Music of the Quarter," HQ 5 (1951): 282-88;
the reply was reprinted (incomplete) with a rebuttal by Hopkins in S & S 20 (1951): 21-23; Keller
got into it with "Film Music and Beyond: The Dragon Shows His Teeth," Music Review 12 (1951):
221-25; and Morton showed his teeth once more with "Composing, Orchestrating and Criticising,"
HQ 6 (1951): 191-206.
74Sternfeld analyzed Hugo Friedhofer's score for The Best Years of Our Lives in "Music and the
Feature Films," Musical Quarterly33 (1947): 517-32; Miklos Rozsa's for The Strange Love of Martha
Ivers in "The Strange Music of Martha Ivers," HQ 2 (1947): 242-51; "Gail Kubik's Score for C-Man,"
HQ 4 (1950): 360-69; and "Copland as a Film Composer [for The Heiress]," Musical Quarterly
37 (1951): 161-75.

the defense" (p. 394, where he acknowledges Tovey's Essays in Musical

Analysis as the source of the phrase). Film music was considered to
be on trial; so was Waxman, for becoming a part of that world; and
so was the idea that film music could be deserving of serious analysis.
Very little could be taken for granted by writers seeking to end public
and professional neglect.
Was the neglect passing? It had already seemed so to Kurt London
several years earlier. After emigrating to America, he was hired by
the short-lived but prestigious periodical Films (1939-40) as a critic
of film music. In his last column he optimistically wrote of a change
in attitudes:
Slowly but surely, motion picture professionals and laymen are coming to recognize
that music for the movies is not a mere by-product of film-making, but an important
part of the cinematic art. We have had various signs of this awakening during the
past year [no. 4, p. 25].
The "signs" to which London pointed were the Film Music Project
under Eisler and the formation of a Federation of Film Music Clubs
across the country-developments which might indeed have appealed
to "professionals" on the one hand and "laymen" on the other. And
in fact, one sees similar signs all through the period. An "awakening"
could be said to have begun with Antheil's criticism in Modern Music,
which pointed the way to a flourishing profession after the war. The
formation of film music clubs led to the establishment of Film Music
Notes,the first and longest-lived (1941-1957) of periodicals to be devoted
to the subject.75 Beginning in the same year, a number of sophisticated
studies of the aesthetics of film music were published, as innovative
in their own way as the analytical studies already cited.76 Above all,
composers wrote about their craft. Some, like Bernard Herrmann and
Adolf Deutsch, did so in individual articles.77 More common, however,
and perhaps more in keeping with the spirit of those years, were collective
publications and anthologies representative of common views. Thus,
at one end of the decade came a symposium of mostly east coast
composers; in the middle, a series of publications focussing on Hol-
7'For its various titles and a description of its contents, see Bibliography III.
76Paulo Milano, "Music in the Film: Notes for a Morphology,"Journal of Aestheticsand Art Criticism
1, no. 1 (1941): 89-94; [Claude] Roland-Manuel, "Rhythme cinimatographique et musical," in Cinima:
Cours et confirencesd'IDHEC (Paris: L'Institut des hautes etudes cinematographiques, n.d.), pp. 3-5;
Robert U. Nelson, "Film Music: Color or Line?" HQ 2 (1946): 57-65; Pierre Schaeffer, "L'Elment
non-visuel au cinema," Revue du Cinima 1, nos. 1-3 (October-December 1946): 45-49, 62-65, 51-54;
and Nazareno Taddei, "Funzione estetica della musica nel film," Bianco e nero 10, no. 1 (1949):
5-11.
77Herrmann, "Score for a Film" [i.e., Citizen Kane], New York Times (25 May 1941): Section
9, p. 6; Deutsch, "Three Strangers," HQ 1 (1946): 214-23. Each composer explains how he wrote
his score. Such articles appeared in virtually every issue of Film Music Notes, beginning with 1,
no. 1 (1941), in which Herrmann's article is reprinted.

Film Music 305
lywood; and at the end, the Seventh ICM in Florence-this one entirely
given over to film music, primarily as seen through the eyes of film
composers in Europe.78
From the "Hollywood Front" to the Florence Congress, the literature
expanded impressively. What had come awake with full force was the
urge to explain film music-its functions, it methods, its quality, and
its possibilities for improvement. Yet though in a general sense the
range of the literature was always broadening, taken piece by piece
its narrowness is undeniable. Most writers were caught up by ideas
and music of the moment and did not attempt to catch the overall
drift. Retrospective views were rare enough;79 scholarly work was rarer
still.80 So it is not surprising to read this description of the literature
by Morton, written in 1953:
If the truth be told, it is not very distinguished. Some of it is pertinent but uninteresting,
or interesting but fanciful; much of it is mere reportage, spot news; little of it has
any permanent value. As opinion, as judgement, it represents a varied assortment
of ant's-eye views of film-music events in isolation, a great deal of special pleading,
and a still larger amount of prejudiced derogation. Its short-comings have not prevented
it, however, from being made the basis of broad generalizations. These exist, for
the most part as catch-words, epithets and imprecations. They do not reflect, in
any true sense, a general view with either critical or historical perspective.8'
Morton's "general view" of the literature covers a lot of ground, including
his own: as a critic, he too was obliged to view "film-music events
in isolation." And what is his study of "The Music of Objective:Burma,"
if not "special pleading" (indeed, by a "counsel for the defense") on
behalf of Franz Waxman's virtues as a film composer?
We shall return to the question of the literature's value, permanent
or otherwise, later in this article. For the moment, let it be acknowledged
that Morton's description contains a good deal of truth. Moreover,
it applies just as well to much of the literature written since. There
have never ceased to be "ant's-eye views" of contemporary events, and
78See"Musicin Films: A Symposiumof Composers,"Filmsno. 4 (1940): 5-20; Musicand Dance

in California, ed. Jose Rodriguez, and Music and Dance in California and the West,ed. Richard Drake
Saunders (Hollywood: Bureau of Musical Research, 1940 and 1948); and the symposium on "Music
and the War,"in Writer'sCongress(n. 64). As far as the seventh ICM is concerned, although the
bibliography under "Film Music" in Grove's 5th edition lists a volume of Proceedings, I have been
unable to locate such a publication. However, in conjunction with the congress, Bianco e nero published
a special double issue on "La musica nel film," ed. Luigi Chiarini & Enzo Masetti, 11, nos. 5-6
(1950), issued.the same year in book form. The 1959 anthology on Musica e film, ed. S. G. Biamonte
(Rome: Ateneo) also includes some papers read at the congress. It was this congress that sparked
the second debate described above (n. 73).
9But Alberto Cavalcanti wrote a history of the use of "Sound in Films," for Films no. 1 (1939):
25-39, and Marion Hannah Winter wrote one of film music, misleadingly titled "The Function
of Music in the Sound Film," Musical Quarterly27 (1941): 146-64 (cited above-see n. 39).
8The best examples: Ottenheym's dissertation, and some ground-breaking bibliographies-see
The Film Index and Nelson, Rubsamen, and Zuckerman under Bibliography I.
81From the "Foreword" to McCarty's Film Composersin America (1953), p. xi.

"special pleading" for, or prophecies of, improvement-always depen-

dent upon the latest technical and stylistic trends in filmmaking. Thus
(to cite one set of examples out of a number too large and too scattered
to be contained in this article), Films in Review has, from 1952 until
the present, run a column on "The Sound Track," little different (except
in its longevity) from its predecessors as a repository of capsule reviews,
too-brief essays, and summary judgments. Currently it is being written
by Page Cook, whose colorful and emotional prose make him one of
film music's most passionate critics.82
Yet in the literature of the fifties, one begins to perceive signs of
a second, more scholarly "awakening." Films in Review, for example,
has published not just spot criticism, but also many articles calling
attention to silent film music, as well as studies of important Hollywood
composers.83 During this decade, moreover, various musical reference
works begin to include film music surveys and bibliographies.84 A still
brighter sign was the book for which Morton wrote his description
of the literature (from which he quite rightly excepted the new work):
Clifford McCarty's checklist of Film Composersin America (1953). This
book was the first to tackle the formidable problem of gathering accurate
music credits for thousands of films; and because of McCarty's slow
and careful research, the book is still the most successful reference
work of its kind.85
82Contrast, e.g., Cook's damning of composers who write "noise" instead of music (Neil Hefti,
Quincy Jones, et al.) in Films in Review 19 (1968): 162-63, 166, with his effusive praise of Scott
Lee Hart in 26 (1975): 235-39. Principal contributors to "The Sound Track" have been Gordon
Hendricks in 3-5 (1952-54); Edward Connor, 6-10 (1955-59); T. M. F. Steen, 12-13 (1961-62);
and Page Cook, 14-29 (1963-79).
83Articles on silent film music include: Winkler, "The Origins of Film Music" (n. 29); John Griggs,
"The Music Masters," 5 (1954): 338-42; McCarty, "Film Music for Silents," and "Victor Herbert's
Filmusic," 8 (1957): 117-18, 123, and 183-85; John Ripley, "Song Slides," 22 (1971): 147-52; Peeples,
"The Mechanical Music Makers," (n. 27); and a column on "authoritative source material," 27 (1976):
493-94, 499. For studies of American composers, see Theodor Huff, "Chaplin as Composer," 1,
no. 6 (1950): 1-5; Dmitri Tiomkin, "Composing for Films," 2, no. 9 (1951): 17-22; Jack Jacobs,
"Alfred Newman," 10 (1959): 403-414; Harry Hauer & George Raborn, "Max Steiner," 12 (1961):
338-51; Anthony Thomas, "David Raksin," 14 (1963): 38-41, and "Hugo Friedhofer," 16 (1965):
496-502; Ken Doeckel, "Miklos Rozsa," 16 (1965): 536-48; Rudy Behlmer, "Erich Wolfgang Korngold,"
18 (1967): 86-100; Cook, "Bernard Herrmann," 18 (1967): 415-30, "Franz Waxman," 19 (1968):
398-412, and "Ken Darby," 20 (1969): 335-56.
84See especially, Ernest Irving, H. Keller, and Wilfred Mellers, "Film Music," in Grove' Dictionary
of Music and Musicians, 5th ed. (New York: MacMillan, 1955); Edmund Nick & Martin Ulner,
"Filmmusik," Musik in Geschichteund Gegenwart(Cassel: Barenreiter, 1955); George van Parys, "Film,"
Encyclopidie de la musique (Paris: Fasquelle, 1959); and Roman Vlad, "Musica per film," La musica,
1: Enciclopedia storica (Turin: Ed. Turinese, 1966).
85Its only predecessor was Claire Reis's Composersin America: Sketchesof ContemporaryComposers
with a Record of Their Works, rev. ed. (New York: MacMillan, 1947), a book praised by Morton
as the first reference work to put "Film Music in the Mainstream," HQ 3 (1947): 101-4-but it
is a general work, with limited space afforded to film musicians. The only successor is James L.
Limbacher's Film Music: From Violins to Video (1974), a book more inclusive and up to date, but
so flawed that it must be used with the greatest caution. McCarty, though obviously not an unbiased
observer, nonetheless wrote a devastating review of Limbacher for Notes 31 (1974): 48-50.

Film Music 307
A work as important as McCarty's, but for different reasons, is Roger

Manvell and John Huntley's The Technique of Film Music (1957). It
is important as the first example of the kind of book that has predomi-
nated in recent years: the "general view." By this is meant a book
that presents the subject within a variety of perspectives: history, theory,
and criticism either mix or take turns. The Technique of Film Music
is of the turn-taking sort, since each of its five chapters has little to
do with the other four. The first two cover the history of music, first
in silent, then in early sound films (to 1939). The next chapter attempts
to categorize the functions of music in the sound film, and offers analyses
of excerpts from several films. Four of these excerpts are laid out
in vertical alignment with dialogue, descriptions of sound effects and
action, plus photographic stills-one of the more interesting and lavish
attempts to quote the "unquotable text"-but unfortunately the authors
say nothing about them. The significance of this group of "analyses"
rests purely in the method of transcription.86 The fourth chapter,
moreover, drops analysis entirely for a discussion of the role of the
music director and recording practices in the film studios. The final
chapter shifts to a presentation of "The Composer's View"; that is,
the views of fourteen composers are cited on such matters as their
feelings about being a member of a "team," their freedom to experiment,
and the problem of writing music to accompany dialogue. The book
concludes with three appendices: a chronology of film music's history
(told through yearly lists of "principal events and film music composi-
tions"), reprints of a few examples of film music criticism, and a
bibliography.87
It is clear that The Technique of Film Music is not just about film
music's "technique." (The misleading title was chosen so that the book
could be included in "The Focal Press Library of Communication
Techniques" series, since all the titles in the series begin with the same
three words.) It is difficult, perhaps impossible, to put the book's contents
into focus. Full as it is of interesting information and ideas, little of
the information is accounted for, and few of the ideas are taken beyond
a page or two. One isn't given any explanation, for example, why
the authors consider the films listed in the "chronological outline" to
be the "principal film music compositions"; nor is there any way to
86See Gorbman's dissection of this and other methods of transcription, referred to above (n. 8).
The films analysed in this way are Henry V, pp. 96-107; Louisiana Story, pp. 117-25; Julius Caesar,
pp. 130-32; and Odd Man Out, pp. 139-49.
The bibliography is extensive, and owing to its chronological ordering, has been very helpful
to the writing of this survey; but it contains many errors and inconsistencies, and these have not
been corrected in the second edition (1975). Some examples are given in the eleventh entry under
Bibliography I.

correlate them with the rest of the text, for they are not included
in the index. In short, the book is a hodge-podge, which cannot be
swallowed altogether. It contains morsels both tender and tough, rather
like an untrustworthy pot-pourri.
Before The Techniqueof Film Music, the number of books that followed
this recipe was small: Erdmann & Becce's Handbuch (1927), London's
Film Music (1936), and to some extent Eisler's Composingfor the Films
and Huntley's solo British Film Music (both 1947). Compared to this
rate of one or two such books every decade, the subsequent pack has
crowded one another's heels. Here is a list of the nine that followed
Manvell & Huntley's Technique:
Georges Hacquard, La Musique et le cinema (1959).
Hans Thomas, Die deutsche Tonfilmmusik (1962).
Henri Colpi, Defense et illustration de la musique dans le film (1963).
Zofia Lissa, Aesthetikder Filmmusik (1965).
Francois Porcile, Presencede la musique l'icran (1969).
Tony Thomas, Music for the Movies (1973).
Irwin Bazelon, Knowing the Score (1975).
Mark Evans, Soundtrack(1975).
Roy Prendergast, A Neglected Art (1977).
Most of these books have suffered from the same kinds of problems:
diffuseness of approach, lack of focus, and a consequent clumsiness
of organization and language. Colpi and Porcile, for example, are both
uneasy combinations of history, theory, criticism, and biographical
dictionaries (though the latter are very useful). The works of Tony
Thomas and Evans are primarily historical surveys of American sound
film music, with descriptions of the lives and works of several prominent
composers. Bazelon's Knowing the Score is divided into two parts: a
section of abrasive polemical criticism, jumping from film to film, and
a series of interviews with fifteen composers. Of all these writers, perhaps
Evans uses language most carelessly; and the following description of
Newman's style may be taken as an example of this kind of literature
at its weakest:
Often countermelodies, in a lyrical mode appropriate for an operatic aria, would
be offset against the main theme. Newman's melodies were characterized by wide
leaps, often harmonized in thirds or sixths. Like Strauss, he knew how to manipulate
the colors of the harmonic palette. His scores are always tonal, his uncanny ability
to use deceptive cadences, to alternate between major and minor, and to infuse
his music with a breathless, surging quality of emotionalism accounts for much of
its unique quality [p. 52].
One wonders, among other things, whose arias (with "counter-melodies")
Evans has in mind; and what is "unique" about a composer whose

Film Music 309
style seems derived from devices used by a host of composers including

Strauss and (apparently) Schubert?
Writing of much greater strength is to be found in three works
from the list above: Hans Thomas's carefully documented survey of
German sound film music, Lissa's abstract and scholarly study of film
music aesthetics, and Prendergast's attempt to develop a more sophisti-
cated critical awareness of the neglected art. These books do not adhere
so closely to the normal motley pattern. Within their respective spheres
of history, theory, and criticism, they have been wrought with a more
controlled and pointed balance of general concept and specific detail
than the others.88
Over the last twenty years there have appeared many books besides
those taking a "general view." Our stocks of anthologies of the literature,
reference works, biographies, and manuals have all been rising.89 Of
particularly high value however, are three works that lie outside these
categories: Herbert Birett's Stummfilmmusik (1970), a compendium of
primary source materials relating to the silent period in Germany; Robert
Faulkner's sociological investigation of the careers of Hollywood Studio
Musicians; and Charles Berg's Investigation (1976) of silent films in
America.90 As can be judged from the topics (and full titles) of these
books, they have been written by scholarsfor the use of scholars-quite
a change from the "by musicians for musicians" character of the literature
from the silent period, and an indication that the "explosion" in film
studies has begun to shake even this peripheral area of research.
Moreover, today we see many other indications of the same phenomenon.
Various publishers have reprinted forgotten early works that are now
of value primarily to the scholar.9' Dissertations have appeared and
88See, however, my negative review of Prendergast, "Focus!" in Pro Musica Sana (published by
the Miklos Rozsa Society) 6, no. 4 (1978): 14-18.
"Anthologies: Biamonte, Musica efilm (1959-see n. 78); Engmann, Filmmusik: eine Dokumentation
(1968); and Limbacher, Film Music (1974), first half. Reference works: Hippenmeyer,Jazz sur films
(1973); Limbacher, Film Music, second half; and Meeker, Jazz in the Movies (1977). Biographies:
Tiomkin & Bucanelli, Please Don't Hate Me (1961); L. Korngold, Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1967);
Lazarou, Max Steiner and Film Music (1971); Porcile, Maurice Jaubert (1971); Previn & Hopkins,
Music Face to Face (1971), Hugo Friedhofer: An Oral History (1974); Palmer, Miklos Rozsa (1975);
and Johnson, Bernard Herrmann (1977). Manuals: Mancini, Sounds and Scores (1962); Dolan, Music
in Modern Media (1967); Hagen, Scoring for Films (1971); and Skiles, Music Scoring for TV and Motion
Pictures (1976).
90Another retrospective work of somewhat less weight is Hofmann's Sounds for Silents (1970). One
should also be aware of a group of books comprising a separate category of their own, viz., "studies
of music in the modern media"; some examples: Die drei grossen "F" (1958), Prieberg, Musica ex
Machina (1960), Jungk, Musik im technischen Zeitalter (1971), and Bornoff & Salter, Music and the
Twentieth Century Media (1972). These books continue to offer variations on the theme of "music
and the microphone," referred to above (n. 56).
91Arno Press, for example, has brought out five: Lang & West, Musical Accompaniment of
Moving
Pictures (1920; 1970); London, Film Music (1936; 1970); Rapee, Encyclopedia (1925; 1970);
Huntley,
British Film Music (1947; 1972); and Rapee, Motion Picture Moods (1924; 1974).

are in progress.92 As was noted in the first part of this article, many
libraries and research centers are taking a more active interest in film
music and its materials.93 Finally, the literature is being enriched by
articles heretofore in short supply: close scholarly looks at special
problems.
In the fifties and sixties, the periodical literature was of three main
types: (1) the topical, typified by "The Sound Track" column of Films
in Review; (2) the retrospective articles designed to reawaken interest
in some part of film music's past (as in the examples cited in note
83 from the same periodical); and (3) probings of abstract problems
by composers and theorists.94 Since 1970, however, a new strand has
been weaving through the periodical fabric, spun out of articles that
combine careful scholarship with a sensitivity to fundamental ques-
tions-questions which must be addressed if film music research is
to advance. Most of these articles have been the work of three writers
(the third trilogy to be named in as many paragraphs)-Douglas Gallez,
Fred Steiner, and Claudia Gorbman.95 Most of their articles have been
92Berg's Investigation originated as a dissertation at Iowa; others include Gerrero, "Music as a

Film Variable," 1969; Schwartz, "Film Music and Attitude Change," 1970; Hanlon, "Improvisation,"
1975; and Hamilton, "Leith Stevens," 1976. I know of four more in progress: Gorbman on the
early scores of Jaubert and some of their theoretical implications (see n. 95), University of Washington;
Scott Smith on Alex North, Ball State University; Fred Steiner (n. 95) on Alfred Newman, USC;
and mine on music for silent films.
93The AFI has been quite innovative in this regard, in taping and transcribing oral histories
of composers Friedhofer and Bronislau Kaper (in progress), as well as sound editor George Grove.
The Feldman Library of the AFI (Los Angeles) also possesses transcriptions of seminars with several
composers, including Elmer Bernstein, Jerry Goldsmith, John Green, Henry Mancini, Alex North,
and Dory Previn.
94Of these should be mentioned Pierre Schaeffer, "Les Nouvelles Techniques sonores et le cinema,"
and "Le Contrepoint du son et del'image," both in Cahiers du Cinema no. 37 (July 1954): 54-56
and no. 108 (June 1960): 7-22; Lissa, "Formprobleme der Filmmusik," in the FestschriftKarl Gustav
Fellerer, ed. Heinrich Hischen (Regensburg: Bosse, 1962), pp. 321-35; "Le Bande-Son," a collection
of four articles in Cahiers du Cinima no. 152 (February 1964): 19-44; Yves Baudrier, Les Signes
du visible et de l'audible, premiere partie: Le Monde sonore (Paris: IDHEC, 1964); Helman, "Probleme
der Musik in Film" (n. 26); Rolf Urs Ringger, "Filmmusik sucht sich selbst," Melos 33 (1966): 313-19;
"Colonna sonora," a special issue of Bianco e nero, 28, nos. 3/4 (March/April 1967): 3-111; Hanns
Jelinek, "Musik in Film und Fernsehen," Ost. Musikzeitschrift23 (1968): 122-35; Leonard Rosenman,
"Notes from a Sub-Culture," Perspectives of New Music 7 (1968): 122-35; William Johnson, "Face
the Music," Film Quarterly 22, no. 4 (1969): 3-19; Win Sharples, "The Aesthetics of Film Sound,"
Filmmaker' Newsletter8, no. 5 (1975): 27-32; and Sergio Miceli, "Musica e film: La colonna sonora
ha cinquant'anni. E possibile un bilancio?" in (Nuova) Rivista Musicale Italiana 11 (1977): 349-63.
95Gallez, "Theories of Film Music," Cinema Journal 9, no. 2 (1970): 40-47; "Facing the Music
in Scripts," CJ 11, no. 1 (1971): 57-62; "Satie's Entr'acte: A Model of Film Music," CJ 16, no. 2
(1976): 36-50; and "The Prokofiev-Eisenstein Collaboration: Nevsky and Ivan Revisited," CJ 17, no.
2 (1978): 13-35. Gorbman, "Music as Salvation: Notes on Fellini and Rota," Film Quarterly 28, no.
2 (1975): 17-25; "Clair's Sound Hierarchy and the Creation of Auditory Space," Film Studies Annual
(West Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue Research Found., 1976), pp. 113-23, and "Vigo/Jaubert" (n. 8); Steiner,
"Herrmann's 'Black and White' Music for Hitchcock's Psycho,"Film Music Notebook1, nos. 1-2 (1974):
28-36 and 26-46; and "An Examination of Leith Stevens' Use of Jazz in The Wild One," FMN
2, nos. 2-3 (1976): 26-34 and 26-34. Besides these, the best recent articles I know of are by Dietrich
Stern, "Komponisten gehen zum Film" (n. 47); Charles Berg, "Cinema Sings the Blues," CJ 17,
no. 2 (1978); [1] -12; and Jon Newsom's excellent "David Raksin: A Composer in Hollywood," Quarterly
Journal of the Library of Congress 35 (1978): 142-72, which comes with a 45 r.p.m. disc of recorded
examples.

Film Music 311
analyses of music within specific films, but unlike their predecessors

in this genre, these writers have been concerned as much with providing
a context for the analysis as with the analysis proper. Thus, Gallez
relates his understanding of Satie's music for Entr'acte to present-day
compositions and film music aesthetics. Steiner uses a study of Leith
Stevens' music for The Wild One to trace the development of jazz idioms
in film scoring. Gorbman goes perhaps furthest of all beneath the
surface analysis. She plunges the depths of semiological and structural
modes of film criticism in order to come up with new analytical methods
and new ways of talking about film music.96
The literature, in recent years, has found new ways to proceed, and
followed the old ways as well, at an accelerating pace. The same can
be said of film music itself. In theaters today one encounters a wide
spectrum of new styles ranging from popular songs of the hour to
the latest avant-garde techniques.97 Yet there are many recent scores
that resonate with allusive meanings, in parody and homage to the
past.98 For all kinds of scores have "worked"-that is, have been used
in films both artful and profitable. Moreover, even as film music's
"golden age" disappears from view (and for different people this can
be any time from the twenties to the fifties), sound tracks resurface
and film music societies do their best to bring the age back.99 Thus
film music research is being pushed forward by waves of scholarship
and nostalgia.
Film is still a babe among the arts, but it has outlived several generations
of makers, composers, and researchers. Behind us, the origins of film
music recede and even sink (no matter the waves of nostalgia); before
us, the art opens unto unknown but exciting horizons. Research attempts
96Cf. Michael Little's semiological analysis of the "Sound Track [of] The Rules of the Game," CJ
13 no. 1 (1973): 35-44.
The 1975 edition of The Techniqueof Film Music contains discussions of "Four Films since 1955,"
chosen for their "different approaches toward film music": The Devils, with both seventeenth-century
French music and original work by Peter Maxwell Davies; 2001: A Space Odyssey,with prerecorded
works by Johann and Richard Strauss, Khatchaturian, and Ligeti; Second Best, with a somewhat
more traditional score by Richard Arnell; and Zabriskie Point, with an amalgam of popular music
by groups such as the Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd. Of more recent examples one could cite
the synthesizer-based score by Giorgio Moroder for Midnight Express and Denny Zeitlin's superb
blend of music and sound effects for Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
98Examples are Obsession (1976), in which the music by Bernard Herrmann deliberately recalls
his score for the film's "double," Vertigo (1958); L'Histoire d'Adile H. (1975), for which Francois
Porcile constructed a score entirely out of compositions by film composer Maurice Jaubert; and
Star Wars (1977), with, at least in John Williams' main title music, distinct echoes of Korngold's
swashbuckler style.
9The four American societies established in recent years are the Max Steiner Music Society (1965),
the Miklos Rozsa Society (1971), the Entr'acte Recording Society (1974), and the Elmer Bernstein
Filmmusic Collection (1975). Each offers both recordings and a journal, called, respectively, the
Max Steiner Music Society Newsletter,Pro Musica Sana, Main Title, and Film Music Notebook-all listed,
with further information, in Bibliography III. Foreign societies, clubs, and soundtrack newsletters
are listed by Sharples in his 1978 bibliography for CinemaJournal.

to move in both directions. But given its present state, will it be able
either to recapture the past or to keep abreast of the present?
III. The Present State of Research

into Film Music
Within this survey, five powerful currents of literature have surfaced,
with these points of origin and tendencies:
(1) The Edison Company's "Suggestions for Music," 1909: aids for the preparation
of accompaniments.
(2) Eisenstein, Pudovkin, and Alexandrov's "Statement," 1928: theoretical speculation
on the principles and potentials of the sound film.
(3) Antheil's "On the Hollywood Front," 1936: explanations and debates focused
on music in contemporary films.
(4) Manvell and Huntley's The Technique of Film Music, 1956: general views of film
music's theory and history, amplified by criticism.
(5) Gallez's "Theories of Film Music," 1970: scholarly studies of narrow topics with
broad implications for further research.
Charting the literature in this way, we have only skimmed its surface.
Each of these currents has for a time been on top, but a more detailed
study would reveal them all mixing and guiding the general flow. Still,
we have seen enough to make clear that the literature is heterogeneous
and abundant. Much of it has been written for a lay audience, some
for professionals; some of it is technical, much of it is not; it has been
written by composers (they have perhaps contributed the most), critics,
filmmakers, theorists, interested observers, and scholars (who have
certainly contributed least). Hence, it is difficult to generalize about
its usefulness for research. One must place every piece of literature
into its context, defining the position of the writer with respect to
his or her audience.
Because Prendergast and Morton, in their negative assessments, failed
to do this, they underestimated the literature's value. When Morton,
in 1953, described the literature as mostly "mere reportage," "ant's-eye
views" and "special pleading," generally with no "permanent value,"
he had in mind the third current of writing, which had predominated
in America for nearly twenty years. The primary example of the kind
of literature Morton wished to see-the "general view" written from
"either a critical or historical perspective"-was London's Film Music
(1936), a book very much out of date. Since the fifties, such views
have become more common; and if they in turn seem "not very
distinguished," it is partly because they do so little with the literature
that precedes them. The perspectives of books by writers such as Bazelon,
Evans, and Prendergast are too closed-in. Prendergast complained of

Film Music 313
a lack of "intelligent and perceptive writing," but we have seen instances

of such writing in every phase of film music's history. What continually
changes is the direction in which the intelligence and perception are
applied. The author of A Neglected Art (1977) wished to end neglect
through the development of a "critical literature." By this he presumably
meant careful, critical studies of film music within a historical context
(for that is what his own book attempts to be). But if such studies
are to be of much use, they must begin to swim with the literature's
earlier currents.
It is the very impermanence of the older literature, the speed with
which it disappears beneath the surface, that makes it useful for research.
If, for example, we look for "general views" in the manuals of Eugene
Ahern and Frank Skinner, we will be disappointed; but we can make
use of them as informative sources on (1) silent film music as heard
in rural communities and small towns from 1910 to 1915, and (2)
the composer in Hollywood from 1945 to 1950. The obsolete anthologies
and indexes of music from the silent period have become keys to the
buried treasure of that bygone aesthetic; they can help both to establish
control of that vast repertoire and to develop a typology of music
for film (and, by extension, to shed light on the age-old questions
concerning the "meaning" of music). The "mere reportage" of Film
Music Notes will lend assistance to historians of film music in the forties
and fifties, as will Moving Picture World and its companions for earlier
decades. The "special pleading" of writers such as Eisler, Keller, and
Morton (along with Eisenstein, Arnheim, Pudovkin, and so forth) have
become important texts for film music's criticism and theory.
These are some examples of how, owing to the growth of scholarly
interest in film music, yesterday's research can become today's primary
resources. As of yet, however, these examples remain largely hypotheti-
cal. Careful scrutiny both of the literature and of the music itself is
increasing, but we can not, like London, take the encouraging signs
for the whole pattern. Scholarly research may have begun to awaken,
but it is still quite early in the day. The very fundamentals elude us.
We lack comprehensive indexes, biographical data, and editions (critical
or otherwise) of film music. Our histories have not progressed much
beyond unsubstantiated generalizations and anecdotes, which, however
amusing, do little to sort out what is imaginary and what is real in
an industry that delights in confusing the two. Our analyses wrestle
with the basic problem of what an analysis of film music should do.
Indeed, the materials are so scattered and the methods so tentative
that a true "state" of research can hardly be said to exist. Instead
of a community of scholars working with a common set of procedures

toward a set of mutually agreed upon goals, we are isolated individuals,

coping as best we can with the materials and methods we can come
up with.
We face the following fundamental tasks:
1. To find the materials (films, scores, literature, and so on).
2. To make the materials available for research (at the proper facilities, in catalogues
and editions).
3. To devise methods of analyzing the materials so that we can come to an understand-
ing of film music, both
a. in its own terms-that is, the function of music within the audio-visual whole;
and
b. in its social context-that is, the history of this music and its relationship to
other kinds of music past and present.
To carry out these tasks, if only for the first half century of film
music's existence, may well require another half century of patient
teamwork. It will certainly require changes of attitude on the part
of studios, composers, and scholars. It will be a long time before we
have a Ripertoire Internationale des Sources Musicales du Cinema, or a
Riemanns Filmmusiklexikon. In the meantime, lines of communication
must begin to open up, while scholars chisel at projects bit by bit.
And these tasks must be kept ever in view. Without them, research
is sure to drift, in the power of one current or another; with them,
we may presently arrive at a true state of research, in which our
understanding of film music, and thus the art itself, can flourish.
A Selective Bibliography
of Film Music Publications
Note: Items with an asterisk are discussed in the text of the article.
I. Bibliographies
Bibliographie des Musikschrifttums, 1950- . "Composers on Film Music: A Bibliogra-

2nd & 3rd ser. Var. ed., publ., d. Last 11 phy." Films no. 1 (1940): 21-24.
vols., Mainz: Schott, 1969-77.
Entries under "Filmmusik." Very good Mostly articles from the thirties by in-
on central European sources. fluential composers. Published in con-
junction with a symposium on "Music in
Catalogue of the Book Library of the British Films," pages 5-20.
Film Institute, vol. 3: Subject Catalogue. Bos-
ton: G. K. Hall, 1975.
The Critical Index: A Bibliographyof Articles
Extensive, eclectic listings under "Anima- on Film in English, 1946-1972. Ed. John
tion," "Film Music," "Sound," and so & Lana Gerlach. New York: Teachers Col-
forth. lege Press, 1974.

Film Music 315
"Sound," "Music," and "Music for Si- Music, Silent Film Music Publications,
lents," pages 516-20. Occasional brief and Books Containing Film Music Refer-
summaries. ences. Extensive, but error-prone and
inconsistent. Examples: McCarty's Film
The Film Index: A Bibliography; Vol. 1: The
Film as Art, by the WPA Writers' Program. Composers in America is dated 1954 in-
stead of 1953, and its reprint is not
Ed. Harold Leonard. New York: Museum
mentioned; Skinner's Underscoreis dated
of Modern Art and H. W. Wilson, 1941. from its 1960 reprint rather than the 1950
"Music: Silent Era," pages 202-7; "Sound original; Biamonte appears to be the
Era," pages 207-11. American and Brit- author of Musica e film, rather than the
ish sources, mostly cultural and trade editor; and a whole 1971 issue of Film-
magazines. Detailed summaries. makers Newsletter is said to be "devoted
to the subject of film music," but it
Film Literature Index, 1974-. Ed. Vincent contains only a few articles on sound.
J. Aceto et al. Albany: Filmdex, SUNY,
1975-. Robert U. Nelson & Walter Rubsamen,
Entries under "Music." Favors popular comps. "Literature on Music in Film and
Radio." Hollywood Quarterly: Annual Com-
American periodicals. munications Bibliography,Supplement to vol.
Film Music. British Film Institute Book 1 (1946): 40-45.
Library, No. 5. London: British Film Insti- See Rubsamen below.
tute, 1977.
The New Film Index: A Bibliography of
Selections from the Catalogue (q.v.), plus
Magazine Articlesin English, 1930-1970. Ed.
some new items. Richard Dyer MacCann & Edward S. Perry.
Georges Hacquard, comp. "Bibliographie," New York: Dutton, 1975.
in his La Musique et le cinima. Bibliographie
"Sound," pages 63-68, includes "Techni-
internationale de musicologie. Paris: cal Aspects of Sound," "Theory and
Presses universitaires de France, 1959, pp. Function of Film Music," "History of
101-4.
Music," "Technical Aspects of Music,"
Mostly French sources from the thirties "Case Studies and Criticism," and "Dub-
to the fifties. bing." Arranged chronologically within
each section, with summaries.
International Index to Film Periodicals,
1972-. Ed. Karen Jones. New York: Edmund Nick, comp. "Literatur," from the
Bowker, 1973, 1974; St. Martin's Press, article "Filmmusik," in Musik in Geschichte
1975-. und Gegenwart.Cassel: Barenreiter, 1955.
Entries under "Music" and "Sound." An- Mostly German sources, including gen-
notations. eral works on film.
Francois Porcile, comp. "Bibliographie
Zofia Lissa, comp. "Bibliographie," in her
Aesthetik der Filmmusik. Berlin: Henschel, sommaire," in his Presence de la musique a
l'ecran. Paris: Editions du CERF, 1969, pp.
1965, pp. 409-24. 329-31.
Hundreds of items, listed chronologically
French sources from the forties to the
from 1881 to 1964; many from the Soviet
sixties. (Cf. Hacquard.)
Union and Eastern Europe. Incorporates
many of the entries from Manvell & Roy Prendergast, comp. "Bibliography," in
Huntley (see below) as they stand. his A NeglectedArt: A Critical Studyof Music
in Films. New York: New York University
Roger Manvell & John Huntley, comps. "A Press, 1977, pp. 254-60.
Select Bibliography," in their Technique of
Film Music. 1957; 2nd ed. New York: Hast- An eclectic range of mostly American
ings House, 1975, pp. 291-302. sources keyed to each chapter.
Mostly British sources, arranged chrono- RetrospectiveIndex to Film Periodicals, 1930-
logically in four divisions: Books on Film 1971. Ed. Linda Batty. New York: Crown,
Music, Articles and Reports on Film 1975.

"Music," pages 311-12. Less extensive tides on Music in the Cinema." Cinema
than either the Critical Index or the New Journal 17, no. 2 (1978): 36-67.
Film Index. Some brief annotations.
Over 400 sources, divided into "Refer-
RILM Abstractsof Music Literature, 1967-. ence Works, Including Bibliographies,"
Ed. Barry S. Brook. New York: Interna- "Books," and "Periodical Articles," plus
tional RILM Center, City University, supplementary lists of film music
1968- periodicals, columns in periodicals, film
music clubs, soundtrack sources, and
Entries under "Dramatic Arts (Including films on film music. Many annotations.
Film)," indexed under "Film Music." The most recent of bibliographies, wide-
World-wide coverage of musicological
sources. ranging (though weak on foreign
periodicals), and mostly accurate.
Walter Rubsamen, comp. "Literature on Mario Verdone, comp. "Nota bibliografica,"
Music in Film and Radio: Addenda (1943- in La musica nel film. Ed. Luigi Chiarini
48)." Hollywood Quarterly 3 (1949): 403-3; & Enzo Masetti. Rome: Bianco e nero edi-
reprinted, combined with the Nelson & tore, 1950, pp. 139-45.
Rubsamen bibliography in Hinrichsen's
Musical Yearbook6 (1950): 318-31. Of value principally for Italian sources.
Subject headings: "Music for the Silent John V. Zuckerman, comp. "A Selected
Film," "The Function of Music in the Bibliography on Music for Motion Pic-
Sound Film," "Recordings and Repro- tures." Hollywood Quarterly 5 (1950): 195-
duction of Film Music," "History of Film 99.
Music," "The Sound Film as an Audio-
Visual Experience," "Criticism of Film Unique headings: "Psychological Articles
on the Effects of Music," "Professional
Music," and "Legal Rights of Film Articles . . . by Critics, Composers and
Composers." Musicians," and "Bibliographies and
Win Sharples, Jr., comp. "A Selected and Sources of Information on Film and
Annotated Bibliography of Books and Ar- Radio Music."
II. Sources from the Silent Period (through 1929).
Note: The following lists contain no more than samplings of these types of
literature, selected to suggest the range of such publications. References to
many others can be found in the books by Berg and Birett, cited in section
III.
A. Anthologies and/or Indexes of Music
Ascherberg'sIdeal Cinema Series. 8 vols. Lon- the Organ Especially Adaptedfor Moving Pic-
don: Ascherberg, Hopwood & Crew, 1928- tureswith Practical Suggestionsto the Organist.
29. 2 vols. New York: H. W. Gray [1919].
Forty-eight numbers, six per volume, Thirty numbers, fifteen per volume, with
each volume by a different composer: the "classics" in the first and the "mod-
Walford Hyden, Philip Cathie, Reginald erns" in the second. Each piece is provid-
Somerville, Walter R. Collins, Herman ed with a "synopsis" of its affective
Finck, Percy Elliot, H. Baynton-Power, character.
and Arthur Wood. Piano and orchestra
parts.
John L. Bastian. The Theatre:Dramatic and
Lacey Baker, comp. Picture Music: A Collec- Moving Picture Music. Chicago: Bastian
tion of Classic and Modern Compositionsfor Supply Co., 1913.

Film Music 317
. The World: Dramatic and Moving Volume 1: Introductory essay on "Musik

Picture Music. Chicago: Bastian, 1913. und Film," followed by two indexes (of
composers and headings) referring to the
Thirty numbers and thirty-four numbers, second volume, plus twenty pages of
respectively, each very short. Piano. advertisements for film music publica-
Hubert Bath. Feldman's Film Fittings. Lon- tions. Volume 2: "Thematisches Ska-
don: B. Feldman, 1925. lenregister" of 3,050 numbers, arranged
in a fascinating table by mood, tempo,
Eight numbers, namely, Heroic, The Vil- and form. The most complex and valua-
lain, Parental Affection, Grief, Happy ble work of its kind.
Thoughts,Evil Intention, The Dispute, and
Reconciliation. Piano, also published for Carl Fischer Moving Picture Folio, Especially
small or full orchestra in sets of two Designedfor Moving Picture Theatres, Vaude-
numbers each. ville Houses, etc. New York: Carl Fischer,
[1913].
Giuseppe Becce. Kinothek: Neue Filmmusik. Fifty-eight numbers: "National Songs and
12 vols. Berlin: Schlesinger, [ca. 1920-
Melodies, Marches, Waltzes, Mazurkas
1927]. . ..Dramatic and Characteristic Music."
Eighty-one numbers, in volumes 1A (7) Small orchestra. Many composers;
and 1B (8), Tragisches Drama; volumes principal arranger, M. L. Lake (q.v.).
2A (8) and 2B (7), Lyrisches Drama
Carl Fischer, Inc. Whatto Playfor the Movies:
(Chopiniana); volumes 3A (9) and 3B (6), A Complete Motion Picture Music Guide for
GrossesDrama; volumes 4A (6) and 4B
Pianists and Conductors. New York: Carl
(6), HochdramatischesAgitatos;volumes 5A
Fischer, n.d.
(6) Ernste Intermezzi, and 5B (6) Verschie-
denes; volumes 6A (6) Exotika, and 6B Twenty categories of lists of titles, and
(6) Verschiedenes.Large, small orchestra, their tempo, key, meter, composer, and
trio, or piano (arr. Richard Tourbie). See, price, followed by several pages of adver-
also, Hans Erdmann, below. tisements, for Fischer publications. (Cf.
Julius Seredy.)
Joseph Carl Breil's Original Collection of
Dramatic Music for Motion Picture Plays. Gregg A. Frelinger. Motion Picture Piano
London: Chappell, 1917. Music: Descriptive Music To Fit the Action,
Character or Scene of Moving Pictures. La-
Twelve numbers, constructed in sections
fayette, Indiana: G. A. Frelinger, 1909.
so "that it is possible to pass from one
section of one number into almost any Fifty-one numbers. Among the earliest
section of another . . . [the composer's of such publications. According to a note
"Foreword"]." Piano, organ, large or on the work in Moving Picture World 5
small orchestra. An important early col- (1909): 879, Frelinger was "known as one
lection by the man who collaborated with of the best descriptive pianists in Ameri-
Griffith on scores for Birth of a Nation ca," and had been "engaged in theatrical
and Intolerance,besides composing many work for the past twenty years."
other original scores.
Adam Gregory, comp. Denison's Descriptive
Ditson's Music for the Photoplay. Boston: Music Bookfor Plays, Festivals, Pageants and
Oliver Ditson, [1918-1925]. Moving Pictures. Chicago: T. S. Denison,
1913.
Fifty numbers in five loose-leaf series (10
each). Composers: Nicolas Amani (1), Nearly 150 numbers, mostly well-known
Gaston Borch (11), Lucius Hosmer (3) tunes, in simple arrangements.
Otto Langey (21), Christopher O'Hare
(12), T. H. Rollinson (1), and Berthold Ch [arles] Grelinger. Musical Cinima Guide
Tours (1). Multiple arrangements. [sic]: Guide musical a l'usage du pianiste de
*Hans Erdmann & Giuseppe Becce. Allge- cinema. Paris: Edition A. de Smit, 1919.
meines Handbuch der Filmmusik. Ed. Ludwig Twenty-five numbers: Berceuse, Riverie,
Brav. 2 vols. Berlin: Schlesinger, [1927]. Duo d'Amour, Chagrin, and so forth.

The Hawkes Photo-Play Series. London: be Added Violin II, Bass & Harmonium.
Hawkes, 1922-28. London: Augener, 1921-1923.
Among the largest collections: 120 Twenty-five loose leaf nos. An example
numbers in twenty loose-leaf albums, of how publishers converted stocks of
normally one composer per album. Mul- salon music (e.g. Liselotte: Valse, by Leon
tiple arrangements. Adam) to use in cinemas.
M. L. Lake & Lester Brockton, comps. Carl Schirmer'sPhotoplaySeries: A LooseLeaf Col-
Fischer'sLoose Leaf Motion Picture Collection lection of Dramatic and Descriptive Musical
for Piano Solo. 3 vols. New York: Carl Numbers . . . Arranged for Small or Full
Fischer, 1915, 1916, 1918. Orchestraand Playablefor Any Combination
of Instruments Which Includes Violin and
Forty-five numbers, fifteen per volume. Piano. 7 vols. New York: G. Schirmer,
Lake composed and arranged volumes 1915-1929.
1 and 2, Brockton volume 3. Includes
thirteen "Hurry"s and ten "Agitato"s. Seventy numbers, ten per volume, by J.
E. Andino (2), Irenee Berge (3), W. W.
PianOrgan Film Books of Incidental Music, Bergunker (6), Gaston Borch (5), Arcady
Extractedfrom the WorldFamous "Berg"and Dubensky (4), Edward Falck (2), William
"Cinema"IncidentalSeries. 7 vols. New York: Lowitz (6), Otto Langey (21), Adolf Minot
Belwin, n.d. (4), Hugo Riesenfeld (3), Domenico Sa-
vino (10), and Walter C. Schad (4). Several
Approximately 42 nos. republished numbers were reprinted in Rapee's Mo-
under new headings: Dramatic and tion Picture Moods.
Pathetic (7), Neutral Love Themes (7),
Emotional Music (5), Western Music and Julius Seredy, comp. Carl Fischer Analytical
Galops (7), Animated Cartoonix (5), Orchestra Guide: A Practical Handbookfor
American, Indian and Mexican Music (6), theProfession.New York: Carl Fischer, 1929.
and Preludes (volume incomplete).
Even more extensive than Rapee's Ency-
Composers most frequently represented:
Morris Aborn, Gaston Borch, Chas. K. clopedia, although limited to the music
Herbert, Sol P. Levy, and Adolf Minot, published by Fischer alone. Over 300
subject headings, with extensive cross-
plus sixteen others. references, "every number listed accord-
*Erno Rapee. Encyclopediaof Music for Pic- ing to Mood and Form, with indications
tures.NY: Belwin, 1925; reprint New York: of Time, Key, Tempo and Duration" (title
Arno, 1970. p.). Because of its late date, the index
affords a comprehensive survey of the
Motion Picture Moodsfor Pianists and output of this active film music publisher.
Organists. New York: G. Schirmer, 1924; Extensive advertisements at the end of
reprint New York: Arno, 1974. the book.
The latter book is an anthology of about Julius S. Seredy, Chas. J. Roberts and M.
270 pieces, arranged and indexed under Lester Lake, comps. Motion Picture Music
fifty-two headings; the former is a much Guide to the Carl Fischer Modern Orchestra
more "encyclopedic" index, listing nu- Catalogue. New York: Carl Fischer, 1922.
merous compositions under each of its
detailed headings ("Abyssinian Music," Much less extensive than the above cata-
"Aeroplane," "Aesop's Fables-See logue, with only nine general headings
and some subdivisions; but expressly
'Comedy Pictures'" [sic]). Rapee com-
posed and conducted in several of New prepared for motion picture use, and
York City's largest theatres and sought interspersed with many paragraphs that
in these two expansive works to condense cover important problems for the silent
and summarize his "six years' experience film musician (e.g., the use of silences,
in the Motion Picture game" (Moods, p. well-known songs, leitmotifs, etc.). Many
advertisements.
iii).
J [ohn] S. Zamecnik. Sam Fox Moving Picture
Ernest Reeves, arr. Augener's Cinema Music Music. 4 vols. Cleveland: Sam Fox, 1913
for Piano, Violin & Violoncello,to WhichMay (vols. 1-2), 1914 (3), and 1923 (4).

Film Music 319
Ninety-six numbers (25, 24, 21, and 26), brought out by Fox, most of them con-
for piano, by one of the most prolific taining pieces composed or arranged by
of silent film composers. This was the Zamecnik.
first of numerous film music series
B. Performance Manuals
*Eugene A. Ahern. What and How to Play Picture Theaters. London: Kinematograph
for Pictures. Twin Falls, Idaho: n.p., 1913. Weekly, [1912]; 2nd ed. London: E. T.
Bernard Barnes. From Piano to Pipe Organ: Heron, 1914.
An Instruction Book Writtenfor the Pianist An exhaustive manual for its early date.
Who Wishes to Become an Efficient Organist. Both editions contain lists of music pub-
Educational Library for the Music Student, lishers.
no. 17. New York: Belwin, 1928.
Edith Lang & George West. Musical Ac-
Scattered references to motion picture
companiment of Moving Pictures. Boston:
playing, but heavy emphasis on "Organ Boston Music Co., 1920; reprint New York:
Tricks and Effects . . . accepted as a
Arno, 1970.
perfect accompaniment to the Motion
Picture" (Barnes' "Introduction"). For the advanced performer, with de-
tailed advice on technical problems such
George W. Beynon. Musical Presentationof as thematic development, the require-
Motion Pictures. New York: G. Schirmer, ments of individual genres, and the
1921.
proper use of the theatre organ.
One of the most detailed sources on the
history and practice of silent film music, Ernst Luz. Motion Picture Synchrony: For
by a composer/compiler of broad Motion Picture Exhibitors, Buyersand Orches-
experience. tras. New York: Music Buyers' Corp., 1925.
P. Kevin Buckley. The Orchestraland Cinema Proposes a new method of "cueing mo-
Organist. London: Hawkes, 1923. tion pictures" according to a complex
"Symphonic Color Guide." The method
Technical treatise on a fairly simple
apparently never caught on, but the
level. author remains noteworthy as a compiler
G. Roy Carter. Theatre Organist'sSecrets: A of scores for many Metro films of the
Collectionof SuccessfulImitations, Tricks and twenties.
Effectsfor Motion Picture Accompanimenton
the Pipe Organ. Los Angeles: published by [T. J. A. Mapp]. The Art of Accompanying
the author, n.d. the Photo-Play.New York: Photo-Play Musi-
cal Bureau, 1917.
A loose leaf pamphlet. More technical
details than in Barnes. Sixteen pages of "ideas and suggestions
based on the practice of some of the
Hans Erdmann & Giuseppe Becce. Allge- leading New York Theatres" (p. 3).
meines Handbuch der Filmmusik.
May Shaw Meeker. The Art of Photoplaying
(See under section II-A.) . .In Operating Any Photoplayeror Double
Frank Fruttchey. Something New: 400 Self- TrackerPiano Playersfor Theatres. St. Paul:
Help Suggestions for Movie Organ Players. n.p., 1916.
Detroit: n.p., n.d. How to accompany pictures using player
A book of maxims, seemingly designed piano rolls.
for the player who has never considered
what he is doing. May Meskimen Mills. The Pipe Organist's
Complete Instruction and Reference Work on
W. Tyacke George. Playing to Pictures: A the Art of PhotoPlaying. [Philadelphia]: n.p.,
Guidefor Pianists and Conductorsof Motion 1922.

A brief introduction on the "Require- William E. Talmadge. How To Play Pictures.

ments of the Movie Organist," followed N. p., n. pub., 1914.
by an extensive encyclopedia of "Notes." Advice in a folksy style from one of the
M [ax] Muhlenau. Kinobrevier:Anleitungzur early Northwest professionals. (Cf. Ahern
musikalischen Filmillustration. Berlin: Max- and True.)
imilian Miiller, [1926].
George Tootell. How to Play the Cinema
Primarily of use for the "unwissende Organ: A Practical Book bya Practical Player.
Kinokapellmeister," according to Otten- London: Paxton, 1927.
heym (see Section III), page 46. The most informative of the organ man-
The [Maude] Stolley-McGill Ten Lesson uals.
Coursein Moving Picture Piano Playing. Port-
land, Ore.: Stolley-McGill Publ. Co., 1916; Lyle C. True. How and What To Play for
Pictures: A Manual and Guide for Pianists.
reprint as a column in Melody, 1922. San Francisco: The Music Supply Co., 1914.
The first five lessons offer the performer
mostly general technical advice; the last "Emphasizes the 'What' over the
five take up the requirements of specific 'How' "-see Berg (cited below), page
genres. 167.
III. Books, Dissertations, Pamphlets and Periodicals

on Film Music, from 1930 to the Present
*Theodor Adorno & Hanns Eisler. Jack Bornoff & Lionell Salter. Music and
Kompositionfur den Film. Munich: Rogner the Twentieth Century Media. International
& Bernhard, 1969. Music Council Publications in Music and
The first edition of this work to be pub- Communication, vol. 3. Florence: Olschki,
1972.
lished under both authors' names. See
Eisler below. "Cinema et musique (1960-1975)." Ed.
Alain Lacombe. Special issue of Ecran no.
*George Antheil. Bad Boy of Music. New 39 (September 1975).
York: Doubleday, 1945.
A chronology, a round table, four articles,
Chapter V, "Hollywood," pages 281-368. and a biographical dictionary.
Yves Baudrier. Les Signes du visible et de
Gerald Cockshott. Incidental Music in the
l'audible; Premiere Partie: Le Monde sonore. Sound Film. Pamph. London: British Film
Paris: IDHEC, 1964.
Institute, 1946.
Three very philosophical chapters. Sec-
ond part apparently never published. (See n. 73.)
"Colonna sonora." Ed. Glauco Pellegrini &
*Irwin Bazelon. Knowing the Score. New Mario Verdone. Special issue of Bianco e
York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1975. nero 28, nos. 3/4 (1967).
*Charles Merrell Berg. An Investigation of Five articles, a filmography of Pellegrini,
the Motives for and Realization of Music to and reprints of eight earlier sources: four
Accompanythe American Silent Film, 1896- "Documente," and four "Testimonianze."
1927. Ph.D. dissertation University of Iowa,
1973; New York: Arno, 1976. *Henri Colpi. Defense et illustration de la
musiquedans lefilm. Lyons: SERDOC, 1963.
The best work to date on this period,
although many topics and sources are Robert Emmett Dolan. Music in Modern
treated in a superficial manner. Media. New York: G. Schirmer, 1967.
*Herbert Birett. Stummfilm-Musik: Ma- Manual. Part 2, "Films," pages 51-144.
terialsammlung. Berlin: Deutsche Kine- Die drei grossen "F": Film-Funk-Fernsehen.
mathek, 1970. Ed. Heinrich Lindlar & Reinhold Schubert.

Film Music 321
Musik der Zeit: eine Schriftenreihe zu Hopkinson & Blake, 1975; reprint New
Musik und Gegenwart, NS, vol. 2. Bonn: York: Da Capo, 1979 (Pap.).
Boosey & Hawkes, 1958. *Robert R. Faulkner. Hollywood Studio
Anthology; fourteen articles, philosophi- Musicians: Their Work and Careers in the
cal and technical. Recording Industry. Chicago: Aldine-Ather-
ton, 1971.
*Hanns Eisler. Composingfor theFilms. New
York: Oxford University Press, 1947; re- Wilhelmine Fey. Die Verwertungmusikscho-
print Freeport, New York: Books for Li- pferischer Werke (insbes. bei Funk, Film und
braries Press, 1971. Schallplatte). Dissertation Munich, 1941;
Wiirzberg: Triltsch, 1941.
The text of this book was originally writ-
ten in German, by Adorno & Eisler, in Cited in the Nelson & Rubsamen bibliog-
1944. For publication by Oxford in 1947, raphy, under "Legal Rights of Film
it was translated-with significant Composers."
changes-by Eisler in collaboration with "Film Music." Ed. John L. Fell. Special issue
George MacManus and Norbert Guter- of CinemaJournal 17, no. 2 (1978).
man. Adorno withdrew his name from
this edition with Eisler's consent, seeking Articles by Charles Berg on jazz and
to avoid the kinds of political problems *Douglas Gallez on Eisenstein and
the latter was experiencing with the Unit- Prokofiev, plus the Win Sharples, Jr.,
ed States government. After Eisler re- bibliography.
turned to Germany, he brought out a *Film Music Notes.
German edition (East Berlin: Henschel,
1949), but it was much revised in accor- The first periodical devoted to film music,
dance with anti-American and pro-Soviet edited by Grace Mabee, published under
doctrine, along with a desire to make the various titles: Film Music Notes 1-10
language more popular in style. Subse- (1941-51), Film Music 11-15 (1951-55),
quently, however, Eisler gave Adorno and Film and TV Music 16-17 (1956-57).
publication rights to the book, and the The contents included news items, gen-
latter brought it out as Kompositionfur eral articles, and many reviews of current
den Film (Munich: Rogner & Bernhard, film scores, frequently with score ex-
1969). What Adorno was in fact publish- cerpts, and more often than not by the
ing was the original German version, for composer. An index to volumes 6-11
the first time, with both authors named; (1947-52) is in 11, no. 5 (1952): 19-23;
and he explained the book's complicated volume 12 is indexed in 13, no. 1; 15
history in a postscript, "Zum Erstdruck in 16, no. 1; and 16 in 17, no. 1.
der Originalfassung" (pp. 212-13). Al-
*"Le Film Sonore: L'Ecran et la musique
though the 1971 Books for Libraries en 1935." Special issue of La Revue Musicale
Press edition contains a translation of this
[no. 151] (December 1934).
postscript, the text remains identical to
the 1947 Oxford version. Thus an Eng- (See n. 52.)
lish translation of the original Adorno-
Eisler text still awaits publication. Film Music Notebook.
Publication of the Elmer Bernstein Film
Hartmut Engmann, comp. Filmmusik: eine Music Collection, P.O. Box 261, Calaba-
Dokumentation.Munich: Wolfgang Gielow, sas, CA. 91302. Edited by Eve Adamson.
1968. Four issues per year, beginning with
An anthology of short excerpts, all trans- volume 1, number 1 (Autumn 1974).
lated into German, connected by short Some excellent articles, especially those
editorial paragraphs. by *Fred Steiner. The Notebookhas also
provided a filmography of a leading Hol-
Entr'acteNewsletter. lywood composer in every issue, and has
coordinated its new recordings with
(See Main Title.)
these. Composers dealt with in the first
*Mark Evans. Soundtrack: The Music of the ten issues are Max Steiner (vol. 1, no.
Movies. Cinema Study Series. New York: 1), Elmer Bernstein (vol. 1, no. 2), Franz

Waxman (vol. 1, no. 3), Bernard Herr- sertation University of Missouri at Kansas
mann (vol. 1, no. 4), Miklos Rozsa (vol. City, 1976.
2, no. 1), Alfred Newman (vol. 2, no. Esther S. Hanlon. "Improvisation: Theory
2), David Raksin (vol. 2, no. 3), John and Application for Theatrical Music and
Green (vol. 2, no. 4), Alex North (vol.
Silent Film." Ph.D. dissertation University
3, no. 1), Leigh Harline (vol. 3, no. 2),
of Cincinnati, 1975.
Jerry Fielding (vol. 3, no. 3), Henry
Mancini (vol. 4, no. 1) and Bronislau Hans W. Heinscheimer. Menagerie in F
Kaper and Dmitri Tiomkin (both in vol. Sharp. New York: Doubleday, 1948.
4, no. 2).
Two chapters on Hollywood, pages 209-
Reginal Foort. The Cinema Organ: A De- 256.
scription in Non-Technical Language of a Jean-Roland Hippenmeyer. Jazz sur films:
Fascinating Instrumentand How It Is Played. 55 annees de rapportsjazz-cinema vus a travers
[1932]; 2nd rev. ed., Vestal, New York:
Vestal Press, 1970. plus de 800 films tournis entre 1917 et 1972.
Yverdon, Switz.: Editions de la Thiele,
Properly belongs under section II-B ex- [1973].
cept for its late date; but most of the
book concerns the workings of the organ (Cf. Meeker, below.)
and Foort's career, rather than film music Charles Hofmann. Soundsfor Silents. New
as such. York: Drama Books Specialists, 1970.
Hugo Friedhofer: An American Film Insti- Hofmann played accompaniments at the
tute/ Louis B. MayerFoundation Oral History. Museum of Modern Art. His short book
Interviewer & comp. Irene Kahn Atkins. is informative and well illustrated, and
TS in the Feldman Library of the AFI, 1974. comes with a recording of performances
made during screenings at the Museum,
Comprehensive, detailed and witty rem- 1968-69.
iniscences, with an outstanding film-
ography. *John Huntley. British Film Music. London:
Skelton Robinson, [1947]; reprint New
Richard Henry Gerrero. "Music as a Film York: Arno, 1972.
Variable." Ph.D. dissertation Michigan State
University, 1969. (See n. 73.)
A study of the value of music as an Edward Johnson. Bernard Herrmann: Hol-
influence on learning in an instructional lywood'sMusic-Dramatist.Triad Press Biblio-
film. graphical Series, no. 6. Rickmansworth,
Eng.: Triad, 1977.
*Georges Hacquard. La Musiqueet le cinema.
Bibliographie internationale de musicolo- Klaus Jungk. Musik im technischenZeitalter:
gie. Paris: Presses universitaires de France, von der Edison-Walze zur Bildplatte. Bui-
1959. chereihe des Sender Freie Berlin, no. 11.
Berlin: Haude & Spener, 1971.
Among the weaker general views of the
subject. Scattered sections on film in this short
overview of all the new media and their
Earle Hagen. Scoringfor Films: A Complete
Text. New York: EDJ Music, 1971. problems for music.
*Hans Keller. The Needfor CompetentFilm
Fifteen technical chapters, using excerpts Music Criticism. Pamphlet. London: British
from scores for the I Spy television show Film Institute, 1947.
(by Hagen and Friedhofer) as illustration.
Followed by a symposium on "The Psy- Luzi Korngold. Erich Wolfgang Korngold:
chology of Creating Music for Films," Ein Lebensbild.Osterreichische Komponis-
featuring Friedhofer, Jerry Goldsmith, ten des xx. Jahrhunderts, vol. 10. Vienna:
Quincy Jones, Alfred Newman, and Lalo Elisabeth Lafiti & Ost. Bundesverlag, 1967.
Schifrin.
George A. Lazarou. Max Steiner and Film
James C. Hamilton. "Leith Stevens: A Criti- Music. Athens, Greece: The Max Steiner
cal Analysis of His Works." D.M.A. dis- Music Society, 1971.

Film Music 323
Oscar Levant. A Smatteringof Ignorance. NY: Focuses on the ties between commercial
Doubleday, 1940. theater and Hollywood, but very little on
film music.
Chapter 3, "A Cog in the Wheel," pages
89-144. See n. 63. David Meeker. Jazz in the Movies: A Guide
to Jazz Musicians, 1917-1977. London: Ta-
*Louis Levy. Music for the Movies. London: lisman, 1977.
Sampson Low, 1948. Contains 2,239 entries. Supersedes Jazz
in the Movies: A Tentative Index (London:
James L. Limbacher. Film Music: From Vio-
lins to Video. Metuchen, New Jersey: Scare- BFI, 1972).
crow Press, 1974. "The Men Who Write the Music Scores."
Part 1, an anthology of fifty-two short Pamphlet. Hollywood: Motion Picture Pro-
articles (many of them excerpts); part 2, ducers and Distributors of America, 1943.
a series of indexes of composers and Useful information on scoring personnel
films. Useful but unreliable. (See n. 85.) and methods in the early forties. (See
n. 69.)
*Zofia Lissa. Aesthetikder Filmmusik. 1964
in Polish; German trans. Berlin: Henschel, Music and Dance in California. Ed. Jose
1965. Rodriguez; comp. William J. Perlman. Hol-
*Kurt London. Film Music: A Summary of lywood: Bureau of Musical Research, 1940.
the Characteristic Features of Its History, Wide-ranging anthology on matters of
Aesthetics, Technique and Possible Develop- theory and practice, including film music
ments. Trans. Eric S. Bensinger. London: (6 articles), plus a biographical dictionary.
Faber, 1936; reprint New York: Arno,
1970. Music and Dance in California and the West.
Ed. Richard Drake Saunders. Hollywood:
Main Title. Bureau of Musical Research, 1948.
Quarterly Newsletter of the Entr'acte Format similar to 1940 volume.
Recording Society, P.O. Box 2319, Music in Film and Television: An Internation-
Chicago, IL. 60690. Ed. John Stephen al Selective Catalogue, 1964-1974. Comp.
Lasher. Irregularly published 1974- and ed. International Music Centre, Vien-
1978. Now replaced by the Entr'acte na. Paris: Unesco Press, 1975.
Newsletter. The society has issued many
outstanding recordings. Lists films and tapes of operas, concerts,
educational programs, and experimental
Henry Mancini. Sounds and Scores:A Practi- programs.
cal Guide to Professional Orchestration.New
York: Northridge Music, 1962. Musica e film. Ed. S. G. Biamonte. Rome:
Edizioni dell' Ateneo, 1959.
*Roger Manvell & John Huntley. The Tech-
nique of Film Music. Focal Press Library of Thirteen papers read at the XX Mostra
Communication Techniques. London: Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica di
Focal, 1957; 2nd ed., revised and enlarged Venezia, plus eight more from the *Sev-
by Richard Arnell and Peter Day, New enth International Music Congress at
York: Hastings House, 1975. Florence (1950).
*Clifford McCarty. Film Composers in *La musica nelfilm. Ed. Luigi Chiarini, and
America: A Checklist of Their Work. Los comp. Enzo Masetti. Special double issue
Angeles: Valentine, 1953; reprint New of Bianco e nero, 11, nos. 5-6 (1950); also
York: Da Capo, 1972. published the same year in book form
One-hundred (Rome: Bianco e nero editore).
sixty-three composers,
with their film scores listed by date. Published on the occasion of the Seventh
Florence Congress, and also the XI Mostra
Robert Guy McLaughlin. "Broadway and Internazionale. Twenty-seven papers.
Hollywood: A History of Economic In-
teraction." Ph.D. dissertation University of *Konrad Ottenheym. "Film und Musik bis
Wisconsin, 1970. zur Einfihrung des Tonfilms: Beitrage zu

einer Geschichte der Filmmusik." Disserta- Friedrich G. Robbe. Die Einheitlichkeit von
tion, Berlin Friedrich-Wilhelm, 1944. Bild und Klang im Tonfilm: Untersuchung
iiber das Zusammenwirkungder verschiedene
A little known but very fine contribution.
Sinnorgane und seine Bedeutungfur die ton-
Christopher Palmer. Miklos Rozsa: A Sketch filmische Gestaltung. Dissertation Hamburg,
of His Life and Work. London: Breitkopf 1940; Hamburg: Niemann & Moschinski,
& Hartel, 1975. 1940.
Chapter 4, "Film Music," pages 28-47. Cited in the Nelson & Rubsamen bibliog-
raphy under "The Sound Film as an
Francois Porcile. Maurice Jaubert: Musicien Audio-Visual Experience." The literature
populaire ou maudit? Paris: Les Editeurs on this important topic is small; so it is
francais riunis, 1971. to be regretted that this work is difficult
The best biography of a film musician to consult.
to date. Thoughtful and scholarly pre- *Leonid Sabaneev. Music for the Films: A
sentation. handbook for Composers and Conductors.
* Trans. S. W. Pring. London: Pitman, 1935.
. Presence de la musique a l'icran.
Paris: Editions du CERF, 1969. Stanley Schwartz. "Film Music and Attitude
*Roy M. Prendergast. A Neglected Art: A Change: A Study to Determine the Effect
Critical Study of Music in Films. New York: of Manipulating a Musical Soundtrack upon
New York University Press, 1977; also Nor- Changes in Attitude toward Militarism-
ton Paperback, 1977. Pacifism Held by Tenth Grade Social Stu-
dies Students." Ph.D. dissertation Syracuse
Andre Previn & Antony Hopkins. Music University, 1970.
Face to Face. New York: Scribner's, 1971.
(Cf. Gerrero above.)
The two men converse and compare SCN: SoundtrackCollector'sNewsletter.
careers.
Soundtrack, P.O. Box 3895, Springfield,
Fred K. Prieberg. Musica ex Machina: ziber MA 01101, or Luc Van de Ven, Editor,
das Verhaltnisvon Musik und Technik.Berlin: Astridlaan 165, 2800 Mechelen, Belgium.
Ullstein, 1960. Interviews, reviews, short articles and
"Filmmusik," pages 234-43, plus many superb international discographies.
related chapters. Marlin Skiles. Music Scoring for TV and
Motion Pictures. Blue Ridge Summit, PA.:
Pro Musica Sana.
Tab Books, 1976.
Quarterly Publication of the Miklos R6zsa The most recent manual, concisely writ-
Society, 319 Ave. C, No. 1 1-H, New York, ten, and especially valuable because it
NY 10009. Ed. John Fitzpatrick. Twenty-
includes interviews with several Hol-
six nos. to date (Spring 1979), beginning
with vol. 1, no. 1 (Spring 1972). The focus lywood composers.
is always on Rozsa, in print, on disc and *Frank Skinner. Underscore. Los Angeles:
on tape; but other composers and re- Skinner Music Co., 1950; reprint New
cordings receive consideration. The soci- York: Criterion, 1960.
ety is not to be confused with John The only manual to proceed by tracing
Stevens' Australian-based Miklos Rozsa
Cult (which also publishes a newsletter). the composition of one film score.
The Max Steiner Music Society Newsletter.
F. Rawlings. How To ChooseMusicfor Ama-
teur Films. London: Focal Press, 1956; 2nd P.O. Box 45173, Los Angeles, CA. 90045.
ed. London: Focal Press, 1961. Ed. Albert K. Bender. Forty-nine
numbers published from 1965 to 1976,
A throwback to the catalogues and man- supplemented by ten Max Steiner Annuals.
uals of the silent film period, except that At present the organization continues to
recordings are the subject, rather than publish The Max SteinerJournal. An indis-
music in live performance. pensable series of sources for information

Film Music 325
on one of Hollywood's giants, with atten- Indicative of the strong resistance to

tion given to other composers as well. recorded sound on the part of profes-
sional silent film musicians.
*Hans Alex Thomas. Die deutsche Ton-
filmmusik: von den Anfdngen bis 1956. Neue Uberdie Musik im Film: Vier AufsatzeSowje-
Beitrage zur Film und Fernsehforschung, tischer Autoren. Ed. Tamara Krause. 2nd
Vol. 3. Giitersloh: Bertelsmann, 1962.
rev. ed. Beitrage zu Fragen der Filmkunst,
Two large sections: the first half a chain No. 2. Berlin: Henschel, [between 1950-
of historical and conceptual essays; the 55].
second, indexes of composers.
Essays by Dunayewsky, Khatchaturian,
*Tony Thomas. Musicfor the Movies. South and two by Shostakovitch.
Brunswick, NJ: Barnes, 1973. (Also in
paperback.)
Reginald Whitworth. The Cinema and
Entertaining and full of information, but Theatre Organ: A ComprehensiveDescription
not at all a scholarly presentation. of This Instrument, Its ConstituentParts, and
Dmitri Tiomkin & Prosper Bucanelli. Please Its Uses. London: Musical Opinion, 1932.
Don't Hate Me. New York: Doubleday, 1961.
Even more than Foort (see above), Whit-
Der Tonfilm: eine Gefahrfir den Musikerberuf worth is primarily concerned with the
und fur die Musikkultur. Pamphlet Berlin: workings of the instrument rather than
Deutscher-Musiker-Verlag, 1930. the music played.


Music For Film

Transféré par

Informations du document

Titre original

Copyright

Formats disponibles

Partager ce document

Partager ou intégrer le document

Options de partage

Avez-vous trouvé ce document utile ?

Ce contenu est-il inapproprié ?

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

Music For Film

Transféré par

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

Film Music: The Material, Literature, and Present State of Research

Author(s): Martin Marks

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

1979 by the Music Library Association, Inc.

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

contemplation.") Finally, one can consult supplementary materials:

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

film was a detachable, ever-changing accompaniment; sound film music,

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

on deposit at the Burbank Public Library and can be consulted by

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

Film Institute to the Library of Congress, and the world's archives

Certainly film music is a neglected art. Both scholars and audiences

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

an extensive literature on the subject that becomes, after a bit of sifting,

The process of recording sound photoelectrically alongside an image

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

sionals, pianists, organists, small ensembles, and orchestras. Rather like

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

might be included in an introduction, however, as in Erno Rapee's

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

Better compilations were the object of the period's most sophisticated

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

All four of these writers, as well as others whose manifestos have

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

London had anticipated this "possible development." He called for

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

George Antheil held the job, writing in a lively, thoughtful fashion

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

the Films (1947) has no light touches. Indeed, it is as severe a critique

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

step manual Underscore (1950). The latter is a cheerful case history

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

the defense" (p. 394, where he acknowledges Tovey's Essays in Musical

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

78See"Musicin Films: A Symposiumof Composers,"Filmsno. 4 (1940): 5-20; Musicand Dance

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

"special pleading" for, or prophecies of, improvement-always depen-

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

A work as important as McCarty's, but for different reasons, is Roger

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

style seems derived from devices used by a host of composers including

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

92Berg's Investigation originated as a dissertation at Iowa; others include Gerrero, "Music as a

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

analyses of music within specific films, but unlike their predecessors

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

III. The Present State of Research

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

a lack of "intelligent and perceptive writing," but we have seen instances

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM

toward a set of mutually agreed upon goals, we are isolated individuals,

Bibliographie des Musikschrifttums, 1950- . "Composers on Film Music: A Bibliogra-

This content downloaded from 193.136.169.63 on Tue, 3 Dec 2013 05:56:45 AM