Organs in silent cinema

Event as part of the program “Culture near you”

Contractor:
Filip Presseisen - organ

In the program:
organ improvisation for the silent film “The General” directed by Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman (1926)

Concert host: Patrycja Pawłowicz (Radio Łódź)

Can the organs, associated with the church and the liturgy, imitate the hum of a train or the sounds of a chase? It turns out that yes. Moreover, they were often used for this purpose. In the days of silent film, powerful cinema organs were popular, which were installed in larger cinemas. Special sound effects could be extracted from them, such as the clatter of hooves, the whistle of a train, arrows or the cry of a child. Filip Presseisen refers to this tradition — organist, pedagogue, pioneer of organ improvisation for silent cinema in Poland. Over a dozen years, he has created ad hoc music for more than 60 films at international festivals in Poland, Germany, Switzerland and the United States. His unique skills are confirmed by the victory in the international cinema improvisation competition in Berlin in 2015. In Łódź he will improvise for the silent war comedy “General”. Her hero, Johnnie Gray, a machinist during the Civil War in the United States, unsuccessfully tries to get into the army. The chance to do this comes when opponents hijack the train in which his fiancée is located. The heroic motorist goes after them, retrieves a valuable locomotive, called the General, and in recognition of his merits is appointed lieutenant of the Confederate Army.