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MovieMusic

Accustomed though we are to speaking of the films made before 1927 as"silent", the film has  never been,  in the full senseof  the word, silent. From the very beginning,  music was regarded asan indispensable accompaniment; when the Lumiere films were shown at the firstpublic film exhibition in the United States in February 1896, theywere accompanied by 
piano improvisations on popular tunes. At first, the music played bore nospecial relationship to the films; an accompaniment of any kind  wassufficient. Within a  very short time, however,  the incongruityof playing lively music to a solemn film became apparent, and filmpianists began to take some care in matching their pieces to the mood ofthe film.
As movietheaters grew in number and importance, a violinist, and perhaps a cellist,would be added to  the  pianist in certain cases, and in thelarger movie theaters small orchestras were formed. For a number of yearsthe selection of music for each film program rested entirely in the handsof the conductor or leader of the orchestra, and very often the principal 
qualification for holding such  a position was not skill or taste so muchas the ownership  of  a  large personal library of musicalpieces. Since the conductor seldom saw the films until the night beforethey were to be shown (if indeed, the conductor was lucky enough to see themthen), the musical arrangement was normally improvised in the greatesthurry.
To  helpmeet this difficulty, film distributing companies started the practice of publishing suggestions for musical accompaniments. In  1909, forexample, the  Edison Company began issuing with their films suchindications of mood as "pleasant", "sad","lively". The suggestions became more explicit, and so emerged themusical cue sheet containing indications of mood, the titles of suitablepieces of music, and precise directions to show where one piece led intothe next.Certain films had music especially composed for  them. The mostfamous of these  early special scores was that composed and arrangedfor D. W. Griffith's film Birth of a Nation, which was released in 1915.
　　全文翻譯：電影插曲
　　盡管我們習慣于將 1927年以前的電影稱為"無聲電影"，但是就無聲這個詞完整的意義 上來說，電影從未真正的無聲過，從最初開始音樂就被視為必不可少的伴奏。  當盧米埃爾 的電影在 1896 年 2 月美國首屆影片公映展覽上放映的時候，影片便用當時的流行曲臨場鋼 琴伴奏。  最初，這些音樂伴奏與電影沒有什么特別的關系，用什么曲子伴奏都行。  但在很 短的時間內，為一部莊重的影片演奏快活的音樂所產生的不協調感變得顯而易見，因此鋼琴 家們開始注意將自己的作品與影片的情調結合起來。  
　　隨著影劇院在數量上與重要性上的不 斷增長，在一些場合，除了鋼琴師外，還要加上小提琴師，或許還有一位大提琴師。  較大的影劇院里還組成了小型的管弦樂隊。  在很長的時間內，為各部影片選擇配樂完全掌握在樂隊指揮或隊長手中，而通常把持這種職位的資格不是技巧或鑒賞品味，而是擁有一個大的 音樂作品的個人收藏。 
　　因為直到電影上映的前一天晚上樂隊指揮才能看到影片(如果這個指揮真正有幸能夠看到影片的話)，音樂安排通常是在非常匆忙的情況下臨場進行的。為了解決以上的困難，電影發行公司開辦了為音樂伴奏印制提示單的業務。 例如 1909 年愛迪生公司開始將一些諸如"喜悅的"、"悲傷的"、"活潑的"之類表明影片情調特征的提示與影片一起 發行。  
　　這些提示逐漸變得更加具體，并且出現了包括影片情調說明、適用樂曲名稱和樂曲 轉換點等內容的配樂說明單。 某些影片擁有專門為其創作的音樂。 這些早期特創樂譜中最 著名的便是為 D. W.  格雷夫斯 1915 年上映的影片《一個國家的誕生》所創作的音樂。

 

 

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