Accustomed though we are to speaking of the films made before 1927 as "silent", the film has never been, in the full sense of the word, silent.
盡管我們習(xí)慣于將1927年以前的電影稱為"無聲電影",但是就無聲這個(gè)詞完整的意義
From the very beginning, music was regarded as an indispensable accompaniment;
上來說,電影從未真正的無聲過,從最初開始音樂就被視為必不可少的伴奏。
when the Lumiere films were shown at the first public film exhibition in the United States in February 1896, they were accompanied by piano improvisations on popular tunes.
and very often the principal qualification for holding such a position was not skill or taste so much as the ownership of a large personal library of musical pieces.
而通常把持這種職位的資格不是技巧或鑒賞品味,而是擁有一個(gè)大的音樂作品的個(gè)人收藏。
Since the conductor seldom saw the films until the night before they were to be shown(if indeed, the conductor was lucky enough to see them then),