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Museum of Mechanical Music – Les Gets

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The Cinema Room

When images meet music

For centuries, people have sought to combine sound and images to create immersive experiences. The Cinema room invites you to discover the fascinating history of early silent cinema…which, in reality, were never truly silent..

Magic Lanterns showmen: the forerunners of cinemae art

As early as the 18thcentury, les barrel organ player used magic lanterns, to project animated images accompanied by music.
These travelling performances, presented by itinerant entertainers, anticipated the birth of cinema and already captured the popular imagination.

1895: Louis Lumière and the birth of cinema

In 1895, Louis Lumière revolutionized entertainment with the invention of the cinematograph.The first public screening marked the birth of silent cinema. silent cinema….

But as Georges Méliès,pioneer of fantasy cinema, famously said:

"Le cinéma muet était très parlant."

Mechanical music in the service of the seventh art

Salle de cinéma - détail

Contrary to popular belief, silent film screenings were accompanied by live music to enhance the emotional impact of the images:

  • Outside the theatres, fairground organs attracted audiences.
  • Inside, pneumatic pianos,, cinema organs, and phonographs provided musical accompaniment for the screenings.

 

These mechanical instruments brought the images to life, adding rhythm, tension, and magic to every scene.

An immersive room to relive the birth of sound accompaniment in cinema

La The Cinema room allows visitors to relive an era when mechanical music and the seventh art went hand in hand. A fascinating encounter between technological innovation,, visual art, and , and musical creation..