Photoplay music: History and Key Facts

Photoplay music is a body of incidental music published for use in accompanying silent films. Rather than being written for one particular film, most photoplay pieces were short, adaptable compositions or arrangements identified by a mood, dramatic situation, tempo, character, or action—such as agitato, misterioso, “hurry”, “battle”, or “love theme”. A pianist, organist, or orchestra leader could select and combine them while preparing an accompaniment, sometimes with the aid of a cue sheet or a trade-press list of musical suggestions.

The term is sometimes used loosely for silent-film music in general, but historians distinguish photoplay music from several other practices. Silent films could be accompanied by improvisation, popular and classical repertory, a score compiled for an individual film, or an original score. Photoplay music was instead a commercially published repertory designed to be reusable across many films. It flourished from the 1910s through the end of the silent era.

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