Abstract: This chapter traces patterns in the use of nondiegetic music between late 1929 and mid-1931 based on the analysis of a significant corpus of early German sound films. While nondiegetic music did occur during this period, it was mostly limited to certain film genres and standard moments. More exceptional uses emerged in individual films before becoming more frequent from mid-1931 on. In the second part, the chapter shows that the initial reluctance to use nondiegetic music was partly supported by authors in the trade press since it was often considered to be ‘illogical,’ ‘arbitrary,’ or incompatible with sound film's realist (or ‘objective’) aesthetics. However, this disapproval gradually gave way to habituation and fascination when new ways of connecting images with music emerged.

Keywords: film music, musical score, historical reception, genre, realism

Histories of film music often tell us that scoring practices in American sound film only fully emerged in the so-called ‘classical period,’ initiated by pioneering films like King Kong (1933, dir. Merian C. Cooper/Ernest B. Schoedsack). Nondiegetic music, it seems, was rarely used in the first years of the sound era. In his illuminating study of the Hollywood film score in the transitional era, Michael Slowik partly refutes these claims. He takes a closer look at a large corpus of films from the period and finds that “the early sound era […] featured a wide array of musical approaches rather than single-minded avoidance of nondiegetic music.” Slowik does confirm, however, that a tendency toward a “sparse musical style” existed in the years between 1928 and 1931, which he finds notable, given the general practice of continuous scoring during the silent era as well as in synchronized films and part-talkies at the end of the period.

Research about the specific uses of nondiegetic music in early German sound films is scarce. Often, films like M (1931, dir. Fritz Lang) or Der blaue Engel (The Blue Angel) (1930, dir. Josef von Sternberg) are mentioned as examples of deliberate attempts to do without much scoring and to even leave several scenes and moments completely silent. But how exceptional were these films? What were the standard practices? When, how, and why did they change? It seems crucial to tackle these questions in greater detail to develop a more comprehensive understanding of how audio-visual film style in Germany was transformed during the transition to sound.