Silent Film Bookshelf-- Moving Picture Music
David Pierce
"The Silent Film Bookshelf" features
reprints of original articles and
book chapters from the silent film era.
http://www.cinemaweb.com/silentfilm/bookshelf
This month features a tribute to composer J.S. Zamecnik
and "Sam Fox Moving Picture Music" (1913), the
first widely published sheet music for general silent film
accompaniment. Historian and musician Rodney Sauer
contributes an overview of Zamecnik's career, a PDF
file containing all of the sheet music, 23 MIDI files of
piano performances, and a second essay by Rodney Sauer
discussing the music and his performances.
"The Silent Film Bookshelf" is updated monthly.
Suggestions are always welcome.
David Pierce
Christopher Jacobs
David Pierce wrote in message <35905C...@dc.infi.net>...
>"The Silent Film Bookshelf" features
>reprints of original articles and
>book chapters from the silent film era.
>
>http://www.cinemaweb.com/silentfilm/bookshelf
>
>This month features a tribute to composer J.S. Zamecnik
>and "Sam Fox Moving Picture Music" (1913), the
>first widely published sheet music for general silent film
>accompaniment.
------------------------------
This is an excellent addition to what is already one of the most
consistently interesting sites on the web. (I'm listening to the Rodney
Sauer's delightful midi files as I type this.) I did discover you need the
latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the PDF file, but it's
well-worth the time to download so you can print out the sheet music. I did
not have any of this music in my collection (from a now-deceased local movie
accompanist) but I did already have what is probably Zamecnik's volume 2
(minus the cover sheets) from 1914. They complement each other wonderfully
and all work well for most pre-1920 films with a melodramatic flair,
especially shorts.
It would be worthwhile using music software such as Soundscape Audiostation
and the like to prepare a playlist of selected midi files in a certain order
to match specific films and record them onto a cassette to run with all
those videotapes with awful soundtracks... or just to play in the car as an
alternative to commercial radio. Can't wait to hear Rodney Sauer's upcoming
CD of orchestral Zamecnik!
--Christopher Jacobs
http://www.fargoweb.com/hpr/film.html
Rodney Sauer
Christopher Jacobs wrote:
> This is an excellent addition to what is already one of the most
> consistently interesting sites on the web. (I'm listening to the
> Rodney
> Sauer's delightful midi files as I type this.) I did discover you need
> the
> latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the PDF file, but it's
> well-worth the time to download so you can print out the sheet music.
> I did
> not have any of this music in my collection (from a now-deceased local
> movie
> accompanist) but I did already have what is probably Zamecnik's volume
> 2
> (minus the cover sheets) from 1914. They complement each other
> wonderfully
> and all work well for most pre-1920 films with a melodramatic flair,
> especially shorts.
If your local movie accompanist had any ORCHESTRATED film music, please
let me know! One never has enough. (Reisenfeld had 25,000 pieces by his
account, I have a ways to go.)
I do have publicity listing the Moving Picture Music contents, perhaps
this will help identify your volume. Volume 2 of Moving Picutre Music
was published in 1913, not 1914. It starts with Triumphal March, Indian
Love Song, Indian War Dance...
Volume 3 was 1914. Starts with Moving Picture Medley, Western Scene,
Western "Round Up" Music...
Volume 4 apparently was not published until 1923. Starts with Conqueror
March, Arab Sheik, Oriental Scene... I would be very interested in this
one, since by then JSZ was writing much more sophisticated music.
(Between 1914 and 1923 JSZ wrote a lot of orchestral music, some of it
also arranged for piano. These were published under different series
titles, such as Sam Fox Photo Play Edition and Sam Fox Orchestral
Folio.)
I now have a photocopy of Volume 2 of Moving Picture Music, and I will
work on getting it into a PDF format. It has been suggested that a site
featuring public domain sheet music from the silent era would be a great
boon to beginning silent film accompanists (although it should certainly
be recognized that many excellent silent film musicians don't find this
repertoire particularly useful).
In the future I hope to get some of the more sophisticated dramatic
music up on the web.
Now if someone can just write some software to switch between the MIDI
files at the click of a mouse, we can make a modern Fotoplayer! Oh dear!
It's Mack Swain! Click on the Burglar Music Icon!
--
Rodney Sauer
rod...@rddconsultants.com
RDD Consultants, Inc. (Technical composition, illustration)
Pianist and Director of the Mont Alto Ragtime and Tango Orchestra
http://www.csn.net:80/~stermitz/dance/MA_Home.html
"It is not probable that the Vitaphone will ever entirely replace the
orchestra, but it does make it possible for certain films requiring the
finest musical accompaniment to be shown in places where there is no
orchestra available." --Hugo Reisenfeld, 1926
Christopher Jacobs
Rodney Sauer wrote in message <3590CA7B...@rddconsultants.com>...
>If your local movie accompanist had any ORCHESTRATED film music, please
>let me know! One never has enough. (Reisenfeld had 25,000 pieces by his
>account, I have a ways to go.)
>
>I do have publicity listing the Moving Picture Music contents, ...
>
>Volume 3 was 1914. Starts with Moving Picture Medley, Western Scene,
>Western "Round Up" Music...
>
>I now have a photocopy of Volume 2 of Moving Picture Music, and I will
>work on getting it into a PDF format. It has been suggested that a site
>featuring public domain sheet music from the silent era would be a great
>boon to beginning silent film accompanists (although it should certainly
>be recognized that many excellent silent film musicians don't find this
>repertoire particularly useful).
>
>In the future I hope to get some of the more sophisticated dramatic
>music up on the web.
>
>Now if someone can just write some software to switch between the MIDI
>files at the click of a mouse, we can make a modern Fotoplayer! Oh dear!
>It's Mack Swain! Click on the Burglar Music Icon!
>
--------------------------------------
You can be sure I'll buy that software when (or if) it comes out! Some of
the commercial audio-video editing software might already approach this, but
is probably out of reach of the home user.
Unfortunately the music owned by the local accompanist I knew was for piano
only, although a few pieces have indications for other instrumental parts.
The incomplete book of Zamecnik I have is evidently Volume 3 from your list
of titles, and I have now discovered I have only about half of it remaining,
on xerox copies, the original having been lost in last year's flood. I do
still have a number of individual mud-stained Zamecnik pieces from later
(1918-mid 20s) Sam Fox folios, like three Sam Fox Photoplay Edition volumes
and Sam Fox Cinema Impressions. In addition there are some great items by
Gaston Borch, also late teens-early 20s, which I distinctly recall hearing
used on some early talkie and serial soundtracks.
Many pieces of silent movie mood music were recorded in orchestral
arrangements on records (I'm not sure if they would be standard 78s or 33s
to use on Vitaphone turntables). This accompanist told me when she returned
to town in 1929 (after going away to study to become a professional movie
theate organist) she was hired by a theatre that hadn't yet converted to
"real" sync sound simply to play records of mood music during the film,
changing pieces using dual turntables as scenes changed, just so the theatre
could advertise they had "sound" with their movies. I'd love to see a
collection of those recordings released on CD (or even LP).
I'll look forward to your next PDF and midi-file release!
Christopher Jacobs
http://www.fargoweb.com/hpr/film.html