Presentations on Herbert’s Music in Silent Film
Downloadable Presentation: Gender Tropes in Victor Herbert’s Music by Hanna Ivey
Downloadable Presentation: Babes in Toyland by Robert Ralston
Downloadable Presentation: “Kiss Me Again” from Babette by Caleb Ferreira
Video: Herbert and the Founding of ASCAP by Paige Pendleton
Essay: Victor Herbert’s Score for The Fall of a Nation (1915) by Keir Etchison
Released and directed in 1916 by Thomas Dixon Jr., The Fall of a Nation was quickly put together in an attempt to follow up the massive success of D.W. Griffith’s 1915 film The Birth of a Nation, itself an adaptation of Dixon’s novel The Clansman. The Birth of a Nation is a remarkably ambitious work of historical fiction which pioneered a number of filmmaking techniques that are now standard practice and tells a dramatized narrative covering the start of the Civil War to the beginning of the Reconstruction period in a two-part story that spans over three hours. It is also an overtly bigoted film and a bonafide piece of Ku Klux Klan propaganda in which the KKK are depicted as a heroic force necessary for the preservation of American values after the end of the Civil War; it was intensely controversial and divisive even before its release. However, despite protest by organizations like the NAACP against public showings of the film, and its banning by a number of states, the film still managed to gross a higher profit than any motion picture released before it.
Due to his status as author of the source material, Griffith granted Dixon 25% interest in the profits of the film, a stake which made Dixon very wealthy, and enabled him to create and fund a production company of his own, Dixon Studios, sometime shortly after the release of Griffith’s film. With his new studio, Dixon produced and directed his first and only film, The Fall of a Nation, in the span of roughly a year, with it seeing worldwide theatrical release at some point in 1916. Like its predecessor, The Fall of a Nation is a book-to-film adaptation, based upon Dixon’s novel of the same name, which was a sequel to his novel The Clansman that served as Griffith’s source material. While The Birth of a Nation is a dramatized account of the Civil War and the Reconstruction era that followed, The Fall of a Nation is set in the future and depicts Dixon’s premonition of a United States in jeopardy as a result of pacifist policies that leave the nation ill-prepared for a military coup d’état led by a German army. The central conflict of the film is resolved by a pro-war congressman, who, dissenting from the pacifist stance of his government, organizes a militia against the Germans and saves the day, hammering home the film’s militarist philosophy.
Two-page spread from September 1916 issue of film magazine “Moving Picture World” promoting The Fall of a Nation. Pictured within are some of the only surviving stills from the film, showcasing a scene of trench warfare.
Dixon’s film is believed to be the first ever feature-length film sequel and was clearly intended to capitalize on the success of its predecessor, with promotional materials advertising it as a “companion picture,” and Dixon shooting sequences of the film in some of the same locations as Birth to further emphasize the connection between the two to the public. Another measure Dixon took to get the film in the public eye was to commission a multi-movement score by famed composer Victor Herbert to accompany each scene, making The Fall of a Nation not only the first sequel, but also possibly the first film to have a symphonic score composed especially for it. Ultimately, however, the film reportedly underperformed both commercially and critically, and it is unknown exactly how many prints were distributed, or if any still even exist, rendering the film lost as of writing. All that remains of the movie are a handful of stills, promotional materials, and the complete manuscript for Victor Herbert’s score, which has been preserved by the Library of Congress.
Advertisement for The Fall of a Nation highlighting both its connection to D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation and its score written by Victor Herbert.
Promotional Media for The Fall of a Nation which makes heavy reference to Victor Herbert’s score
In order to make the preserved manuscript accessible to modern audiences, the Library of Congress’s music label commissioned the first, and as of now, only recording of Herbert’s manuscript in a 1986 CD release for their music label. This rendition was performed by The MusicCrafters Orchestra under the direction of conductor Frederick Fennell and can currently be listened to in full on YouTube. The recording reveals a highly accomplished piece of music that displays a clear mastery of orchestral writing over the span of its 15 movements, which brim with personality and creativity. Sections of the piece effortlessly merge grandiose orchestral writing with melodies reminiscent of pop music of the era in a manner that nearly foreshadows George Gershwin’s 1924 piece Rhapsody in Blue. It is a pity that the score’s unfortunate association with Dixon’s work has fated it to obscurity, as it certainly ranks amongst Herbert’s most ambitious compositions. The unbridled optimism of the piece’s conclusion, which probably would have been paired with the militarist ending of the film, suggests Herbert was more than sympathetic to the political and moral message Dixon was attempting to convey in his film, making a revival of the piece in 21st century concert halls highly unlikely.
Listen to “Rag,” a lighthearted movement from The Fall of a Nation’s score that wears its influence from popular musical forms of the era such as Ragtime and marches on its sleeve: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emnCzN-VJOU&list=PLgDh2FupWIKawKkCe3gXmYrbmZbJV-dgz&index=7
Listen to the final section of The Fall of a Nation’s score, which references the U.S. National Anthem in its central melody: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NCJjKpUJ_Q&list=PLgDh2FupWIKawKkCe3gXmYrbmZbJV-dgz&index=15