Jeff Rapsis is never quite sure exactly what’s going to happen when he sits down at his digital synthesizer.
There’s never a plan for how he’s going to accompany the silent era film that’s about to play on the big screen. But when the lights go down in the Wilton Town Hall Theatre on Sunday for a screening of “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” Rapsis will create a musical score that will have audience members believing there’s a full orchestra in the house.
“It would take months to create a score,” Rapsis said. “And if you do, then you miss the magic of being in the moment with the audience.”
It’s hard to explain how he does it, but for Rapsis, a Bedford resident who has held a monthly series at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre since 2007, it works best when he, for lack of a better term, wings it.
“You need to respond to it like an audience member does,” Rapsis said. “It’s like a three way conversation between the screen, the audience and me.”
And worrying about what to play next can steal some of the important aspects of what he likes to provide.
“It’s an all encompassing thing. You have to be right there,” Rapsis said.
Having accompanied silent films for the last 15 years, since agreeing to play for a showing of “The Phantom of the Opera” at the Palace Theatre in Manchester for Halloween, Rapsis has what he calls building blocks and basic material in the back of his mind. But it’s all about taking the music in a direction that the film leads him in – even if he’s accompanied that specific film before.
“You have a different score at that moment because it’s a unique experience at that moment,” Rapsis said. “The way they’re presented is always different.”
Rapsis said “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” (1921), based on a novel by Spanish author Vicente Blasco Ibañez, the brainchild of screenwriter June Mathis and directed by Rex Ingram, is a significant moment in the transformation of the film industry.
“It’s from a time that’s very important, when movies started to look like movies do today,” Rapsis said. “It’s one of those quantum leaps. There’s no film like it before.”
The film stars Rudolph Valentino, and according to Rapsis, “it tells the story of an extended Argentine family with mixed ethnic background: one side is German, while the other is French. The family get drawn into World War I in far-off Europe, with members ending up on opposing sides. With brothers pitted against one another on the battlefield, the destruction of war changes lives forever.”
It’s notable in the fact that it was one of the first major Hollywood productions to include World War I in its storyline, and “to make full use of the unlimited visual power of the new motion picture medium.”
There was just something about the silent film era that excited Rapsis. From time to time his middle school teacher would put one of the old 60MM films on during study hall.
“I was the weird kid that was totally engrossed in it,” Rapsis said. “Back then it was this mysterious world. They really had it all, they just didn’t gave any dialogue.”
He was very serious with music through high school, but went on to have a 30 year career as a journalist, including starting the Hippo. It was there he began writing about music and realized how much he missed it.
“It made a light bulb go off,” Rapsis said.
He did some music for an independent film, “Dangerous Crosswinds” in 2005 (shot in New Hampshire) and there was that instant connection.
“I really enjoyed it and wanted to do it more,” Rapsis said.
That led to the accompaniment of “The Phantom of the Opera” and he’s been doing it ever since.
“I had two months to get something ready,” Rapsis said. “But I had nothing prepared when the show rolled around. I had some ideas, but nothing written down.”
But it doesn’t come as much of a shock, considering Rapsis said he was a terrible piano student who never focused on the music he was supposed to.
“Now, here I am in an environment where it’s encouraged,” he said.
And much to his surprise it worked out well. So he figured why not just go into every film screening and let the movie guide his work.
“It’s like chocolate and peanut butter, two things that are great, but when you put them together it’s even better,” Rapsis said.
“The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” will be shown on Sunday, Dec. 29 at 4:30 p.m. at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton. Admission is free, but a donation of $5 per person is suggested to defray expenses. The silent film series takes place the final Sunday of the month.
Rapsis said he does about 100 shows a year, from Wilton to Concord to Boston, and has showcased his work at the Kansas Silent Film Festival and as far away as London.
“It took a while to build up an interest in it,” Rapsis said. “But it’s different than anything we have today.”
For more on the silent film series, call (603) 654-3456 or visit www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com. For more information on Rapsis and his music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.