ABSTRACT
Music is pivotal to the study of film reception. Apart from the ‘mood music’ that was occasionally performed on the set, a practice introduced into Russia by Yevgeni Bauer, music for the silents was part of film exhibition rather than of film production. Music played in auditoria enhanced reception, and film accompanists received reviews that now form a separate historical source for reception studies. Music was both object, factor and instrument of film reception.
