Films shown starting in 1890s

Projectors were noisy for silent films

Live music added to cover noise

Piano used with film in Paris, 1895

In 1908, Paris company, Le Film d’Art, commissioned Camille Saint-Saëns to compose music for L’assassinat du Duc de Guise; live musicians played during film screeings

Work by Saint-Saëns was a success, but increased expense for theaters

Listening Excerpt from CD 2,

tracks 38, p.

339-340

Composed for film in 1977

Movie music

Moderate tempo, slows near the end

Orchestra

Quadruple meter with some triple meter

Listen to the opening fanfare, heroic theme, battle music, and Princess Leia’s leitmotif

Fanfare Heroic theme played by brass and percussion,

then entire orchestra Light and soft transition Strings build intensity Battle music (triple meter), then syncopated

punctuations obscure meter Heroic theme returns in quadruple meter Princess Leia’s leitmotif is played by cellos

and basses Heroic theme in high brass Fanfare-like statements in brass Tempo slows and intensity drops Closes with music from Elgar’s The Coronation

March