The Society for American Music has awarded its 2016 Sight and Sound Subvention to SFSMA director Kendra Leonard for the project “Scoring the Silver Screen from ‘Fairy Flirtations’ to The Sea Beast: Recordings of Repertoire from the Silent Film Sound and Music Archive.”

The subvention will fund the collaboration between SFSMA, Leonard, and professional silent film accompanist Ethan Uslan in creating twenty-five recordings of representative samples of the music archived by SFSMA. These recordings will accompany the sheet music for each selected piece on the SFSMA website and will be licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial for anyone to use for free. SFSMA anticipates that the recordings will be posted to the Archive in September 2016.

All of the recordings will be made by Ethan Uslan. Uslan, the three-time winner of the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest, is a frequent accompanist for silent film projections and has performed as such across the United States as well as in Europe. In accompanying silent films, Uslan, who also holds a degree in music librarianship, frequently plays period music and has created a number of compiled scores for films that use music available at the time of and even recommended for individual motion pictures by leading accompanists of the 1910s and 1920s. Uslan’s deep understanding of the repertoire and performance practices of this era will ensure outstanding recordings.

The recordings will include the following:

Score Selections

1. Colburn, George. Antony and Cleopatra, Nos. 7-10, “7. Cleopatra, ‘Behold Noble Antony;” “8. Having gained Antony’s consent;” “9. Cleopatra prepares for Antony’s visit;” and “10. The Eternal Feminine” (Chicago: George Kleine Productions, 1914).
2. Hinrichs, George, and Max (Moe) Winkler. The Phantom of the Opera, Nos. 13-14, “Meanwhile in Christine’s Dressing Room” and “I Shall Sing for You” (New York: Belwin, 1925).
3. Hoffman, Michael. The Sea Beast, Nos. 9 and 12, “Down Rope” and “A Hundred Leagues.” (New York: Descriptive Film Music Co., 1926).

Individual pieces

1. Allen, Thomas S. “Dance of the Lunatics,” Jacobs’ Piano Folio of Schottisches and Caprices, No. 2 (Boston: Walter Jacobs, Inc., 1921).
2. Boehnlein, Victor G. “Fairy Flirtations,” Jacobs’ Piano Folio of Schottisches and Caprices, No. 1 (Boston: Walter Jacobs, Inc., 1921).
3. Borch, Gaston. “Misterioso Infernale,” Schirmer’s Photoplay Series Vol. 4 (New York: G. Schirmer, 1918).
4. Breil, Joseph Carl. “Molto Agitato (for storms, battles fires, explosions, and consequent mob excitement, followed by victory or rescue),” Joseph Carl Breil’s Original Collection of Dramatic Music for Motion Picture Plays (New York: Chappell, 1917).
5. Cobb, George L. “Sing ling ting,” Jacobs’ Piano Folio of Oriental, Spanish, and Indian Music, No. 1 (Boston: Walter Jacobs, Inc., 1921).
6. Dutton, Theodora. “Valzer Appassionato,” Motion Picture Moods, ed. Erno Rapée (G. Schirmer, New York, 1924).
7. Kempinski, Leo A. “Descriptive Agitato,” Photo Play Incidental Symphonies No. 7 (New York: Photo Play, 1922-24).
8. Lake, M. L. and Lester Brockton. “Hurry (for general use),” Carl Fischer’s Loose Leaf Motion Picture Collection (New York: Carl Fischer, 1915).
9. ———. “Agitato (sudden or impending danger).” Carl Fischer’s Loose Leaf Motion Picture Collection (New York: Carl Fischer, 1915).
10. ———. “Lamento (Scenes of grief and sadness).” Carl Fischer’s Loose Leaf Motion Picture Collection (New York: Carl Fischer, 1915).
11. Leigh, Norman. “Woodland Dance,” Jacobs’ Piano Folio of Novelettes, No. 6 (Boston: Walter Jacobs, Inc., 1921).
12. Luz, Ernst. “Storm Scene,” A.B.C. Dramatic Set No.9 (New York: Photoplay Music Co., 1915).
13. ———. “Western Scene,” A.B.C. Dramatic Set No.11 (New York: Photoplay Music Co., 1915).
14. ———. “Hungarian or mythical foreign scene,” A.B.C. Dramatic Set No.18 (New York: Photoplay Music Co., 1916).
15. Rapée, Erno. “Three Grotesque Themes,” PianOrgaN Film Books of Incidental Music, Vol. 1: Grotesque and Comedy Music (New York: Belwin, 1925).
16. ———. “Animal Cartoonix,” PianOrgaN Film Books of Incidental Music, Vol. 1: Animal Cartoonix (New York: Belwin, 1925).
17. Strickland, Lily. “Dance of the Young Maidens,” Motion Picture Moods, ed. Erno Rapée (G. Schirmer, New York, 1924).
18. Winkler, Max (Moe.) “Dramatic Suspense,” PianOrgaN Film Books of Incidental Music, Vol. 1: Book of Dramatic Tensions (New York: Belwin, 1925).
19. Wright, N. Louise. “Lullaby,” Motion Picture Moods, ed. Erno Rapée (G. Schirmer, New York, 1924).
20. Zamecnik, J. S. “Misterioso (stealth, horror, dark scenes),” Sam Fox Photoplay Edition, Vol. 1 (Cleveland: Sam Fox Pub. Co., 1919).
21. ———. “Varsity Cadets,” Sam Fox March Folio, Vol. 2 (Cleveland: Sam Fox Pub. Co., 1923).
22. ———. “Love Came Calling,” Sam Fox Loose Leaf Collection of Select Song Themes for Orchestra, Vol. 1 (Cleveland: Sam Fox Pub. Co., 1924).

We’ve just posted new music by and about Charlie Chaplin! Many thanks to Terry L. Baldridge for donating scans of this great music.

SFSMA is delighted to celebrate the publication of Ben Model‘s new book, The Music of the Silent Films (New York: Wise Publications, 2015). For this beautifully produced book, Model, the accompanist in residence at MoMA and the Library of Congress (and one of SFSMA’s top donors of sheet music and albums), selected 50 classic works for silent film from various photoplay albums, including pieces by composers ranging from Axt to Langey and Lowitz to Zamecnik. Each piece has been carefully edited by Model, who also provides an excellent discussion of motion picture moods. Biographies of the composers by Graham Vickers and Glenn Young and an introduction to silent film music by Vickers round out the volume.

Congratulations to Ben on a job well done!

SFSMA generally tries to post complete books and collections. This means that that until we have all of the pieces in a particular volume, we will refrain from posting it until we have all of the pieces originally included in the publication. We currently have a number of incomplete collections and would love your help in making them complete so that we can post them in their original publication groupings. Here’s what we’re looking for in particular:

• Any materials in the Ascher’s series
• The Belwin Cinema Incidentals and Incidental Symphonies series
• Music from the Bosworth Cinema Incidentals and Film Play Book collections
• Capitol Photoplay publications
• Sam Fox Photoplay Editions, vols. 2 and 4
• Schirmer’s Special series

All other music for silent film is always welcome, and we will happily credit any contributors of music or scans of music. If you’d like to share your collection, please email us at director@sfsma.org. Thanks for your help!

SFSMA is delighted to announce a new donor to the collection! Emmy Award-winning composer Joel Everett has very generously offered to share his extensive collection of theatre orchestra music. See the first item posted in the collection here. Many thanks to Joel!

Last week, SFSMA got an email from San Diego-area theatre organist Greg Breed, who shares the Archive’s love of silent film music and its desire to see it preserved and made available for free. Greg has generously offered to share his collection of cinema music with SFSMA, and the first posts of it appear today, including some fantastic copies of the Jacob’s Piano Folio series. We’ll be posting more of Greg’s collection over the next several months.

SFSMA has just received 501(c)(3) not-for-profit status! We will now be able to begin to raise funds for an endowment, and all donated funds are tax-deductible for donors. If you are interested in donating to help support the Archive, please visit the Support the Archive page, where we have a link to PayPal.

I am delighted to announce that The Silent Film Sound and Music Archive has received a bequest from the estate of the late Anita Wiegand to further the Archive’s work. Wiegand, who grew up during the silent film era and transition to sound period, was an accomplished ballroom dancer who had a lifelong love of dance music and movies.

The funds from the bequest will be used in establishing SFSMA as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit charitable organization; and for the processing of a collection of silent film sheet music, photoplay albums, and other materials donated to the Archive by Silent Cinema Presentations, Inc.