Ernst Luz’s Musical Plot for “The Wind” (1928)
As part of my work-in-progress on the musical accompaniment of silent Westerns, I have been considering Ernst Luz’s musical program for The Wind (1928), published as a separate cue sheet by the Thematic Cue Sheet Company. Ernst Luz (1878-1937) was hired as the musical editor of Moving Picture News in August of 1912, although his name does not appear in the column until October, and his first order of business was to introduce musical accompaniments for individual films, what he called “Musical Plots,” the benefits of which he discussed at length in this inaugural column. While it is impossible to know exactly how the film was accompanied, since each accompanist or orchestra was left to decide their own musical scenario and there may also have been a newly-composed score (or two) circulating, Luz’s suggested accompaniment offers one possibility and it’s a good one.
The Wind is based on a novel by Dorothy Scarborough and adapted for the screen by Frances Marion. When considered alongside Lillian Gish’s extraordinary portrayal of the main character Letty, the perspective of women in this film is significant and unrelenting, despite director Victor Seastrom’s attempts to make this film about men and the conquest of the elements, as articulated in the opening title: “Man— puny but irresistible—encroaching forever on Nature’s vastnesses, gradually, very gradually, wresting away her strange secrets, subduing her fierce elements—conquers the earth!”
Luz’s musical scenario for The Wind is surprisingly nuanced, sensitive, and emotionally laden. It features suggestions taken from his A.B.C. Dramatic Sets (a topic for future blogs), as is the case for many of his programs. In addition to his own works, Luz selected a limited number of other pieces to accompany this film. Although Luz does not identify specific themes, many of the musical suggestions are repeated, creating audible connections to specific characters and situations. Two of these pieces are “The Spectre” by Joseph Engleman (1927), which is suggested for Letty’s more apprehensive moments, and “Defiant Love” by Walter C. Schad (1925), connected with Letty’s relationship with Lige.
“The Spectre”
For silent film accompanists, “The Spectre” would be recognizable as a “mysterioso.” Engleman indicates that it is appropriate “For weird uncanny supernatural scenes” and presents the melody in hesitant two-note fragments that are played staccato (very short). The music is also highly chromatic, creeping along the very smallest intervals of the musical scale, usually in the lower voice but sometimes offering the occasional gliding descents in the upper voices. (I note here that most accompanists would not play the music in exactly the same way every time. Nuances would be introduced and the piece would be slower or faster, perhaps with more emphasis on particular notes, depending on what is happening in the movie.)
Luz suggests this piece to be played at the beginning of the film when Letty is on the train, traveling to west Texas to live with her cousin Beverly and his family. She meets the rogue Roddy, who tells her of the strange qualities of the wind. He tells her “Injuns calls this the ‘land o’ the winds’ – it never stops blowing here.” His later comment that it “makes folks go crazy” and “especially women” implies that she is vulnerable and should trust him, our first indication of his sexually predatory nature.
We are meant to hear “The Spectre” again after Letty has left Beverly’s house and gone to meet Roddy in a hotel in town. Cora, Beverly’s wife, is jealous of the close relationship between her husband and Letty. Although he has confessed he already has a wife, Roddy still offers to take Letty away from the wind. This is not the relationship Letty was imagining with Roddy. Luz again suggests “The Spectre” as she refuses Roddy’s offer and walks out the door.
In a later scene, when Lige has rescued Roddy from the elements and brought him into their house, “The Spectre” is connected with the danger that he represents. Although Roddy covers his face with his hand, Letty can literally see through him and his scheming ways: his hand fades and the audience sees his face lighting up with the prospect of staying in her house before his hand reappears over his countenance. It is unclear if Roddy’s predatory look reflects his thoughts or Letty’s fear but the music represents either.
In the following scene, Lige has left Roddy and Letty alone. Roddy entertains himself looking at a happier image of Letty through a stereopticon while Letty nervously cleans dishes. “The Spectre” is recommended as Roddy asks, “Were you afraid to have Lige leave us alone?” The recurrence of this music makes it clear that it is not the wind that Letty fears, but rather Roddy’s constant provocation and threatened sexual advances.
Lige returns and takes Roddy with him to round up wild horses, while Letty is left alone during a particularly violent wind storm. During this scene we see her begin to lose touch with reality as the room moves around her. Someone knocks at the door. Letty thinks she is imagining it and covers her ears, yet eventually she recognizes that the sound is real and opens the door thinking (we assume) that it is Lige. Once again the presence of “The Spectre” suggests that Roddy’s appearance is imminent and although Luz suggests that the music change as Roddy enters, we realize that the music provided an accurate warning.
The final instance of “The Spectre” occurs during the climactic scene, after Letty has shot Roddy dead. Just before she shoots him, however, Luz suggests “Defiant Love” so first I want to describe how that piece works in the film.
“Defiant Love”
“Defiant Love” is suggested for Letty and Lige’s wedding night and then again the morning after (we assume) Roddy has raped Letty. These two statements of “Defiant Love,” a passionate composition (subtitled “Romanza Appassionata”) with reiterated triplet accompaniment below a yearning melodic line, underscore the difference between Letty’s relationship with the two men. Roddy is insistent to the point of violence, while Lige is passionate but willing to accept Letty’s rejection. Of course, Lige is then rewarded with Letty’s love.
Director Seastrom presents the nervousness during the wedding night by focusing the visual solely on Letty’s and Lige’s shoes as they pace in separate rooms in the cabin. Luz suggests “Defiant Love” not at the beginning of this scene, but rather in the middle, as Lige stops and kicks the cup across the room (“Feet on floor stop walking where cup lies” reads the cue title). This signals the start of the impassioned part of the scene, showing Lige entering the bedroom and then kissing Letty rather violently. She pushes him away but her anger quickly dissipates. The cue sheet describes it thus, “Lillian Gish stops resenting the kiss” and Luz changes the music accordingly.
The Final Scene
To set the stage for the final scene, I return to where we left off with “The Spectre.” Roddy has returned to the house without Lige and he and Letty are alone. The raging storm outside and Roddy’s presence overwhelm Letty, who tries unsuccessfully to leave the house. The vision of the phantom White Horse, which has been haunting her since her arrival, adds to her anxiety and she faints. Roddy carries her into the bedroom and the White Horse is seen once more before the scene fades to black.
The following morning we see Letty staring at Roddy’s gun left on the table and then Roddy in the bedroom putting on his jacket. The implication that something happened during the night is clear and Letty is not happy about it. Despite Roddy’s insistence that she leave with him (“—but if he [Lige] finds us here, he’ll kill us both,” Roddy tells her), Letty refuses (“I hope he will,” she responds) and sexual violence pervades the scene as Roddy tries to physically force her, until she shoots him dead. (Luz indicates that the music should “Stop short at [the] shot.”) Audiences hearing “Defiant Love” would connect this music with the wedding night scene and understand that Letty’s opinion of Lige has changed.
As Letty drags Roddy’s body outside and buries him, Luz suggests his ABC Dramatic Set No. 20, the slow section for the aftermath of the gunshot and the faster part as Letty exits the house. “The Spectre” returns after Letty has buried Roddy and re-enters the house, pacing nervously and glancing out the window. As we see Roddy’s face in the sand, Luz suggests a return of the faster and more intense Dramatic Set. This piece underscores and emphasizes Letty’s hysteria through rapid ascending and descending runs. Her emotional frenzy is worsened when she becomes aware that someone is trying to enter the house. When she realizes it is Lige, however, Letty immediately confesses (“Lige – I’ve killed Wirt Roddy”) and “The Spectre” (Roddy’s music) returns, confirming that it is not the wind (or the White Horse) that haunts and frightens her, but Roddy himself. (The scene below includes all of this music.)
Ernst Luz was eager to standardize and simplify musical accompaniment for silent films. Between 1915 and 1918 Luz published his ABC Dramatic Sets, 20 grouped musical compositions with changes in rhythm and intensity to supply music for a complete scene. In 1925 he published Motion Picture Synchrony, an eight-chapter treatise on proper accompaniment for silent film, including a chapter describing a “Symphony Color Guide” that ties different colors to emotions and recommends specific pieces for each color. It is interesting that Luz did not use the color guide for this musical plot, but instead returned to his earlier Dramatic Set along with other fairly standard works. Luz did not include any characteristically western musical pieces in this scenario either, focusing instead on the emotional and dramatic content rather than the frontier setting. This is probably because most of the action takes place indoors; the wind keeps the outdoors unpleasant to be in and to look at (unlike other Westerns). By repeating “The Spectre,” “Defiant Love,” and the Dramatic Set No. 20, Luz organizes the emotional impact of Letty’s experience, highlighting her fear of Roddy and disdain, but eventual appreciation, for Lige, as well as the strain of living with the constant wind. This has only been a partial analysis of Luz’s musical scenario for The Wind, but it demonstrates the power that music can have in communicating what characters are thinking and feeling without the benefit of dialogue.
You can view and download the complete cue sheet for The Wind here.