silentmoviefan
Silent movies were never really silent - they were almost always shown with musical accompaniment, performed live at each showing by either a pianist, a organist, or an orchestra varying in size from a few musicians to over 30 players.
Most films did not have "official" scores, in most cases the music was prepared at each theatre by the organist or music director. To assist in creating the musical scores for all of these films the music industry published thousands of generic "themes" that were designed to be used for film accompaniment. Using a cue sheet which broke the film down into scenes listing a visual cue, length of scene and a suggested piece of music it was possible to create a score quickly out of a library of these themes.
I will be uploading some of my favorite photoplay music (using the large orchestra version when possible) and also examples of how and where I used them in some of the films I have scored over the last 30 years.
Enjoy!
The Iron Mask (1929) (HD) with original Hugo Riesenfeld score
The Iron Mask (HD) with original Hugo Riesenfeld score (preview)
The Black Pirate (1926) (HD) with original Mortimer Wilson score (HD)
The Covered Wagon (HD) (1923) with original Hugo Riesenfeld score
La Bohème (HD) (1926) – Original New York Premier Score by William Axt
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) - With traditional theatre orchestra score
Don Juan (1926) with new recording of the original New York Philharmonic score
Old Ironsides (HD) (1926) with original New York premiere score by Hugo Riesenfeld
Beau Geste (1926 ) with original Hugo Riesenfeld score (HD)
Don Q, Son of Zorro (1925) with original Mortimer Wilson score (HD)
The Phantom of the Opera (reconstructed 1925 version with original score) (HD)
Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) - Original Mendoza & Axt score
The Eagle (Rudolph Valentino - 1925) Complete (HD)
The Thief of Bagdad (1924) with original Mortimer Wilson score
Help me identify this music from Ben-Hur (1925) - Cues 128-132
Help me identify this music from Ben-Hur (1925 - Cue 83)
The Phantom of the Opera (1925) (Part 4)
The Phantom of the Opera (1925) (Part 3)
The Phantom of the Opera (1925) (Part 2)
The Phantom of the Opera (1925) (Part 1)
The Eagle - Excerpt 4
The Eagle - Excerpt 3
The Eagle - Excerpt 2
The Eagle (1925) - Excerpt 1
Violence by John Zamecnik
Allegro Vigoroso by John Zamecnik
Shadowed! by John Zamecnik
Quandary by Walter Schad
Chicago (1927) - Excerpt 2