Scoring The Rose of Rhodesia: An Interview with Matti Bye

Matti, how did you become a silent film musician and composer?

When I was studying music at Södra Latin high school in Stockholm in 1989, the school’s film club asked me to accompany Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin since I was a classically trained pianist. I took a bundle of notes with me and tried to follow the film as best I could. It was a terrifying experience—far worse than I could have imagined! At that time I didn’t know how to improvise, so it was a disaster. A few years later, Cinemateket (an art house film theatre in Stockholm) invited me to perform at a silent film screening, and this time I was better prepared and had already begun doing improvisations. But it took a few more years before I really got the hang of it.

How much do we know about the original music for silent films? What remains in the way of documentation?

There is very little in the way of documentation. No recordings, a few notes, some specially written music for certain major films. And there are a few volumes of a “film music library” that served as a source of ideas and inspiration for film musicians.

Were all silent films shown with musical accompaniment, and was the piano the only instrument used for accompanying them?

All films were shown with a musical accompaniment. Silent films were never silent! The number of musicians employed was determined by the state of the cinema-owner’s finances, the size of the cinema, and so on.

How should we imagine the music that would have been heard in cinemas in the 1910s and 1920s? Did they improvise a lot in those days, or was the music specially composed for every film?

I think the sound was quite different depending on the cinema—where it was, which country, which city, and so on. Since the film programme changed very frequently, musicians had to do the best they could. It was unusual for the music to be supplied together with the film. This was a case of improvisation and the musician’s own repertoire.

What was it like working as a silent film musician at that time?

Hard work. Playing for many hours at a stretch to the same film. Freezing premises. Lousy instruments. At that time film musicians were a very large professional group, who had to support themselves with other gigs—working in restaurants, with orchestras, as teachers, and so on.

Matti, you are much sought after as an accompanist at film screenings. How does it feel playing the accompaniment to a silent film today, and how was it accompanying the restored print of The Rose of Rhodesia at its premiere in Uppsala’s Slottsbiografen cinema in June 2007?

I still think it’s great fun accompanying films! It’s an incredible way for me to develop as an improviser. The Rose of Rhodesia is a very special film that leaves a great deal up to the accompanist. It was exciting to mix Western instruments like the piano with African instruments like the kalimba (African thumb piano). Musically the combination was a great success, I think.

As a silent film musician, you’re making a musical interpretation of the film. Do you feel a particular responsibility?

Definitely! And there are so many ways to make that interpretation. In the worst cases, you can make the film sound ridiculous. In the best, you can elicit layers and details that let the audience experience the film in a richer and more nuanced way.

How much preparation does it take to be able to improvise?

Blimey—a lifetime, I’d say. Improvisation is the sum of all of one’s experiences, both musically and as a living person.

How does your music differ from that which might have been heard in the early 1900s?

I have no idea!

You’ve composed a special score for the streamed version of The Rose of Rhodesia. Tell us a little about how you go about making music for a film like this. What’s important to bear in mind when scoring a silent film? Do you try to highlight particular leitmotifs, themes, or tensions in the filmic narrative?

I did the music together with Kristian Holmgren in a number of intensive sessions. We used a great many instruments, and we created some themes that recur in the film. We play the piano, prepared piano, glockenspiel, pedalboard, balafon (West African marimba), drums, cello, guitar, banjo, various percussion instruments, toy instruments, kalimba, and dulcimer. The recordings were made in fairly long bursts with many additions of other instruments. At times it sounds like we are an entire orchestra! In my opinion the music switches between a fairly classical silent film form and a very free, improvisational, almost naive style. I hope it succeeds in highlighting the beautiful images in the film.

The Rose of Rhodesia is an unusual film—one of the oldest films from Africa, with amateurs in leading roles, a tone somewhere between comedy and tragedy, and a relatively complicated narrative with three different storylines. And unlike many of the classic films you’ve composed music for, we know relatively little about its history. Were there particular challenges for you in composing a score for this film?

I always try to be faithful to the images and the mood of the films that I make music for. I think film music is about finding a film’s precise mood—a mood that isn’t always completely obvious but that, in the best cases, is magically evoked by the music.

How important do you think music is for experiencing a film, especially a silent film?

Music can affect you so much that right away you either stop watching the film or continue watching it. The music is as important as the lighting or the mood or the editing of a film. Things that can seem invisible but that completely determine your overall experience. This is the first time I’ve made film music for an online audience. It’s been a lot of fun!

Created on: Tuesday, 18 August 2009

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Peter Davis

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Peter Davis

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