Music and film in the German music journalism of the 1920s

In 1928, when silent movies were undergoing the final throws of replacement by the talkies, questions relating to film music were "still initially being formulated." This sceptical point of view, voiced by Hans Mersmann, paradigmatically represents the views of many other contemporary music journalists, musicologists, and composers. In this study, Paul Hindemith's contribution to the Chamber Music Festival in Baden-Baden in 1928 ("Zu unserer Vorfuhrung 'Film und Musik"') forms the backdrop for the systematic examination of other texts that appeared in Die Musik, Melos, and Musikblatter des Anbruch up until ca. 1930. Misgivings about silent movies' inadequacies with respect to music as mere illustration or with respect to the lack of synchronization between sound and picture proved no longer relevant with the establishment of talking movies. Decisive, however, is the continuing demand for original film music, which in its components and structure was expected to adequately fulfil the needs of the newly developed medium.