Music of the Silent Films ~ Piano Solo

The silent films were not silent for long. During the pre-talkie period of 1915-1927, live musical "photoplay" accompaniment was required in movie theatres great and small, giving work to an army of musicians.

Ensembles and small orchestras were formed and the multi-voiced cinema organ also made an appearance... but it was the solitary pianists who were perhaps the hardest working of all. To help them run the gamut of musical emotions, night after night, music publishers produced a wealth of scores with selections of printed music chosen to match a range of on-screen moods and activities.

This book tells the extraordinary story of the rise and abrubt fall of silent movie music and includes 50 original pieces and arrangements for solo piano, detailed descriptions of the most popular 'moods' used, many fascinating illustrations, and biographies of some of the leading composers of the genre.