A History of Film Music

by Mervyn Cooke

This book provides a comprehensive and lively introduction to the major trends in film scoring from the silent era to the present day, focussing not only on dominant Hollywood practices but also offering an international perspective by including case studies of the national cinemas of the UK, France, India, Italy, Japan and the early Soviet Union. The book balances wide-ranging overviews of film genres, modes of production and critical reception with detailed non-technical descriptions of the interaction between image track and soundtrack in representative individual films. In addition to the central focus on narrative cinema, separate sections are also devoted to music in documentary and animated films, film musicals and the uses of popular and classical music in the cinema. The author analyses the varying technological and aesthetic issues that have shaped the history of film music, and concludes with an account of the modern film composer's working practices.

Genres: Music, Film, Nonfiction, History, Reference

586 pages, Paperback

First published September 25, 2008

Reviews

[Theo · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a lot of good little anecdotes in this as well as a lot of soundtracks for you to look into. Reading alongside access to YouTube and a streaming music site is a must since there's only so much a description of a sound can inform.

However, at times it feels like you're merely reading a series of quotes from other books stitched together with Peake himself providing no editorialising himself.

[Ola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent overview over the history of film music, but lacking a bit in analytical depth. Historical overview stops around 2000.

[Michal Pilichowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miejscami ciężka w odbiorze ale interesująca lektura dla fanów tematu. Pozwoliła mi odkryć kilkanaście nowych ścieżek dźwiękowych z lat 50 i 60 które planuje sprwadzić.

[Tony · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was very thorough and bang up to date,although I found it a bit dry at times. But it definitely covered all the bases.