History of Film Music

The History of Film Music

From the very beginning, films and music have gone together. Some of the very first public viewings of films are believed to have been accompanied by music. In 1895, the Lumier brother’s first showed their films to an audience. While it is unknown whether or not music was played during these shows, it’s highly likely. The venues chosen by film pioneers consisted of revue theatres and music halls, places where music was often used and easily available. Source material does tell us that after 1895 musical accompaniment was routine (Larsen, 2005).

In 1905 the first cinemas used community singing in their films. They would present the lyrics to songs on screen and the audience would sing aloud together. Soon, cinemas began using instrumental accompaniment during their films. No music was provided, though, so musicians were left to write the music themselves. This left the musical direction of the films open for interpretation. Musical standards began to develop in 1907. In 1909 Edison printed musical suggestion sheets for cinemas to follow. The prevalence of cinemas continued to grow in 1910. With more and more theaters appearing, music was used to set theaters apart from each other. In fact, in 1913 the ‘American Manual’ advised cinemas to change their music from week to week in order to keep the audience entertained (Larsen, 2005). The real expansion of cinemas came in the 1920’s. Cinemas could then be found in every major city.

A breakthrough came in the late 1920’s. Music, and all other sound effects, could be recorded on the same material as the film images. This was made possible by the invention, and development, of the Vitaphone. Developed by Warner Brothers, this sound system worked by connecting the film projector to a kind of gramophone. While many companies were capable of synchronizing sound and film together, the 1926 film Don Juan is considered the break-though of sound films aimed at larger audiences (Larsen, 2005). Don...