Joseph Carl Breil (American 1870-1926) was among the first to compose music specifically intended to accompany photoplay (silent movie) performances. He was a lyric opera tenor, conductor and director. His film credits include music for D. W. Griffith's "Birth of a Nation" and "Intolerance".

Love Theme II was not composed for any particular film -- it appears Breil intended it as a workhorse for the theater orchestra during many kinds of scenes. The sheet music for the piano part explains that it "can be used in idyllic scenes, such as sunrise, rural landscapes or contented home scene, Brother with sister, Children at play, or Mother with Child; Lovers portraying warm affection without the intenseness of passion, Friends, Happiness, Bliss, Felicity, Contentment. Also practical for prayer scenes."

This all-new recording was produced by @MLucas using OMR, starting out with scans of the original theater (pit) orchestra sheet music dated 1917 (Chappell & Co. Ltd.).

The artwork is based on the cover of Puck Magazine, March 28, 1914: "The Queen of Hearts" painted by Walter Dean Godlbeck. Library of Congress permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/2011649772. The Queen might be intended to resemble Evelyn Nestbit Thaw.

Public Domain, No Rights Reserved.

Love Theme II

Love Theme II (Joseph Carl Breil)

Breil's "Love Theme 1" is a photoplay (silent film) cue composed by Joseph Carl Breil (1870 - 1926) published by Chappell and Co. Ltd. in 1917.

As was common for early photoplay compositions, this piece was intended to be matched to the action or mood on screen. It's use wasn't intended to be limited to any specific film. The piano accompaniment part explains, "For scenes of deep love and affection. Fervent passion". 

DAHR hosts a discography of recordings of Breil compositions, mostly of his best known pieces "The Perfect Song" and "Song of the Soul".

This all-new recording was produced by @MLucas using OMR, starting out with scans of the original pit orchestra sheet music. The tempo changes hint at the roller coaster emotions of new love. The lush and sentimental sound is typical of the early days of Hollywood.

Other Recordings: Viv Rolfe performed and recorded a piano oriented version of Breil's Love Theme 1. It's posted at https://soundcloud.com/viv-rolfe/motion-picture-plays-no-8-love-theme-i.

Cover art and photograph by MLucas. The image features a detail from "Three Strong Women", a thunder gourd by McKenzie.

Public Domain, No Rights Reserved.

Love Theme 1 (Joseph Carl Breil)

Gaston Borch composed "Triste Convoi" (Melancholy Procession) in 1923. It's a powerful late romantic piece, published as #26 in Hawke's Photo Play series -- meaning it was intended for performance by a theater orchestra as accompaniment for a silent film.

This all-new recording was produced by @MLucas using OMR, starting out with scans of the original pit orchestra sheet music. My original production followed the composition structure resulting in a recording over thirteen minutes in duration. While that might be useful for a silent film, it seemed excessive for this medium, so for SoundCloud I've carefully edited the piece to a bit over six minutes. Public Resource will post the full length version on the Internet Archive at a later time. The percussion parts were re-assigned to a collection of asian and middle-eastern percussion instruments.

Other Recordings of this composition: Phillip Sear posted his piano performance of this piece on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOQa67QzMTQ

Cover art by MLucas using "Antwerp refugees fleeing to Holland" from 1914 by Bain News Service, hosted by the Library of Congress. LCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/2014703585

Public Domain, No Rights Reserved.

Triste Convoi (Gaston Borch)

"Sérénade Grotesque" was composed in 1920 by Gaston Borch (French 1871-1926). Borch was a prolific photoplay music composer. 

When we think of a serenade, we usually think of a gentleman playing a sensitive piece of music on a guitar or lute, and perhaps also singing, outside a lady's window at night to express his affections and perhaps as a demonstration of his artistic side and skillfulness.

On the other hand, 'grotesque' suggests something freakish, ugly, or at least weird. Did Borch intend that the serenade was performed by someone (or someTHING) grotesque? Or is it the music itself that is strange, mysterious, and possibly just a bit hideous? The printed music provides no clue.

This all-new recording of Borch's Sérénade Grotesque was produced by @MLucas using OMR in late 2024. The OMR process began with digital scans of the original theater orchestra sheet music. The scans were then converted into a computer readable form -- music xml -- using SoundSlice and assembled into a score in a professional music notation program. The resulting score was then exported as music xml and as MIDI. Then in Logic Pro, the MIDI score was re-assembled and each part was assigned sampled orchestral instruments. The resulting recording generally follows the original scanned music, but some careful editing is required to achieve a quality audio product.

We found no other recordings of this piece. Note however, that other composers wrote unrelated pieces called "Sérénade Grotesque", perhaps most notably one composed by French impressionist Maurice Ravel in 1893.

Cover by MLucas using (with permission) a photograph by his sister, Donna Lucas.

Public Domain, No Rights Reserved.

Sérénade Grotesque (Gaston Borch)

Otto Langey (German/American 1851-1922) was a prolific photoplay music composer and author of a successful series of music education manuals. He composed "Pastorale" for Ditson in 1918. Like the other pieces in the Ditson series, it was composed for use with any film, and in particular for "scenes of a rural character, waterfalls, etc."

"Pastorale" puts the percussion section to the task of evoking the sounds of wild creatures in springtime or summer -- frogs croaking, birds singing, and insects humming and chirping away. The cover of the Ditson collection that includes "Pastorale" lists the tools for the percussion section including: "sandpaper, cymbals, thunder sheetiron, bells, triangle, horse hooves, cow bells, bird whistle". We used Spitfire's LABS library "Percussion" which proved remarkably effective for recreating this effect, though it's difficult to imagine a single percussionist making all these sounds simultaneously.

This all-new recording of Langey's "Pastorale" was produced by @MLucas using OMR starting in late 2024 and ending with a remix in March 2025. The OMR process began with digital scans of the original theater orchestra sheet music. The scans were then converted into music xml using SoundSlice and then assembled into a score in a professional music notation program. The resulting score was exported as music xml and as MIDI. Finally in Logic Pro, the MIDI score was re-assembled and each part was assigned a sampled orchestral instrument.

For this recording the organ/harmonium part was assigned an accordion sound (for extra swampiness), and the trombone part was assigned to a Euphonium - a brass instrument similar in range but mellower. The original music shows most of the musicians playing throughout the piece, but for this recording the arrangement was modified so that the parts enter and exit to try to create a more varied and interesting soundscape. It seems likely that photoplay orchestras also did this, perhaps on the fly.

We found no other recordings of this piece.

Most small orchestra photoplay compositions from this period are in the Late Romantic style. Langey's "Pastorale, however, sounds more like an early example of Americana, akin to some of Aaron Copland's  music like "Rodeo" -- music Copland composed decades later.

Cover art and photography by MLucas.

Public Domain, No Rights Reserved.

Pastorale (Otto Langey)

Andante Patetico e Doloroso is a 1918 photoplay composition by Gaston Borch (French, 1871-1926). According to its subtitle, it was intended "for deep sorrow, sickness or death". It's a slow and gentle piece in the late romantic/classical orchestral style.

This all-new recording was produced by @MLucas using OMR. The OMR process starts with a digital scan of the original theater orchestra sheet music. The scans are converted into music xml using SoundSlice and then assembled into a score in a professional music notation program. The resulting score is opened as MIDI in a DAW (Logic Pro) and each part assigned a sampled sound and then edited and mixed.

Cover art by MLucas.

Public Domain, No Rights Reserved.

Andante Patetico e Doloroso (Gaston Borch)

Gaston Borch composed “Lullaby” for Carl Fisher’s Theatre Orchestra, 3rd Ed. in 1919. It’s a late romantic photoplay piece and despite the title it’s not obviously soporific. In C minor, it seems to be influenced by the blues. Borch (French 1871-1926) was among the most prolific of the photoplay (silent movie) composers.

This original recording of Borch's "Lullaby" was produced by @MLucas using OMR beginning with a digital scan of the original theater orchestra sheet music. The scans are converted into music xml using SoundSlice and then assembled into a score in a professional music notation program. The resulting score was imported into Logic Pro as MIDI. In Logic, each part assigned a sampled sound and then edited and mixed.

Cover art by MLucas using his photographs of the moon and three tundra swans at Kankakee Fish and Wildlife Area in Indiana, USA.

Public Domain, No Rights Reserved.

Lullaby (Gaston Borch)

"In the Jungle" was composed in 1918 by Otto Langey (1851-1922) as number 19  in Ditson's "Music for the Photoplay" series.  Though from the silent film era, it's clearly for use as a soundtrack, complete with sounds conjuring chattering monkeys and mysterious forest birds. So don your pith helmet and grab a machete, let's go!

This recording of Langey's "In the Jungle" was produced by @MLucas in January 2025 using Optical Music Recognition (OMR). The process starts with a digital scan of the original theater orchestra sheet music. The scans are converted into music xml using SoundSlice and then assembled into a score in a professional music notation program. The resulting score was imported into Logic Pro as MIDI. In Logic, each part assigned a sampled sound and then edited and mixed. Our rendition of "In the Jungle" features mainly the string section and keyboards -- the clarinets and brass parts were omitted.

Cover art by MLucas using his photograph of a great blue heron along the Bear Skin Trail near Minoqua Wisconsin, USA.

Public Domain, No Rights Reserved.

In the Jungle (Otto Langey)

Prolific photoplay composer Gaston Borch penned "Uneasiness" in 1919 for Carl Fischer, New York. It's in 2/4 time with tempo allegro agitato, meaning uptempo with a sense of nervousness and emotional intensity. We recorded it at 124 BPM.

"Uneasiness" was written for a theater orchestra in the late romantic style. To me the main theme is similar to the US Civil War era folk song, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home", first published by Patrick S. Gilmore, bandmaster of the U.S. Army Band. Gilmore said he believed the melody to be African American in origin.

For our recording of Borch's “Uneasiness” we opted for a seven-piece chamber orchestra, seeking a clean and precise sound. Percussion, brass, inner strings and clarinets were omitted. The sound is re-imagined rather freely, with compression and chorusing effects and additional layering and a lo-fi piano approach. “Uneasiness” is subtitled "Allegro agitato misterioso".

Cover art by MLucas.

Public Domain, No Rights Reserved

Uneasiness (Gaston Borch)

John  Stepan Zamecnik composed “Misterioso (Stealth, Horror, Dark Scenes)" in 1920 for publication in Sam Fox Photoplay Edition, Vol. 1.  It’s a soundtrack piece — intended to be subservient to on screen action without drawing too much attention to itself.

It's repetitive, and that makes sense given its BGM role. It seems likely that the theater orchestras varied their delivery to keep it interesting and to make it work with on-screen action. Our version, created using OMR in winter 2025, adds some playful variations, especially in the organ part, and does not adhere closely to the original arrangement.

Cover photo and art by @MLucas.

Public Domain, No Rights Reserved.

Misterioso (John Stepan Zamecnik)

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New tracks tagged #photoplay