Photoplay music

Photoplay music is incidental music, soundtrack music, and themes written specifically for the accompaniment of silent films.

Early films (c. 1890-1910) merely relied on classical and popular repertory, mixed usually with improvisation by whatever accompanist was playing (usually a pianist).

Around 1910, folios of photoplay music began being published by companies such as Sam Fox Music and Academic Music. These were only a minute or so long and could not sustain an entire feature, but were used to fill in scenes where music was not popularly written (such as "misteriosos" for scenes of mystery, etc.). One example of such a piece is Mysterioso Pizzicato, which appeared in a 1914 photoplay music collection compiled by J. Bodewalt Lampe and whose main motif has endured as a cliche for stealth and villainy in a wide selection of music and films thereafter. A version of this theme is contrasted with a hero's theme ( Play ). Composers noted for their photoplay music include John Stepan Zamecnik and Gaston Borch.

When it comes to producing a film score for a silent film, there were three types: improvised, compiled, and original.

Improvised scores were solely played on organ or piano. The musical conductor played whatever he felt necessary to set the mood for the scene.

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