About Mont Alto

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The Mont Alto Orchestra is a five to seven piece chamber ensemble that recreates the small local orchestras that were popular in America from 1890 through 1930. These orchestras provided music for dancing, for listening, and for accompanying movies in the days before talkies. Mont Alto revives this tradition in recordings and live performances. As the five-piece "Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra" we play for silent films, and as the "Mont Alto Ragtime and Tango Orchestra," adding drums and singer, we play for ragtime and tango tea dances and balls in Colorado.

Mont Alto collects original compositions and orchestrations from the turn of the century through 1930 for its tea dance series, silent film presentations, and concerts. They also present concert-lectures on photoplay music history and practice. Besides a schedule of public events, Mont Alto is available for weddings and receptions in the Denver area, for a romantic mix of ragtime, tangos, salon music, and love themes from the silent cinema.

Mont Alto was formed in Colorado in 1989, and has toured around Colorado as well as to Kansas, New York, Missouri, Ohio, Texas, and California to perform music at venues ranging from elementary schools to Grauman's Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Boulevard.

Rodney Sauer is a 2001 recipient of a Music Fellowship from the Arts and Humanities Assembly of Boulder.

Contact Mont Alto:
Rodney Sauer
The Mont Alto Orchestra
401 Spruce Street
Louisville, CO 80027-1943

E-mail: rodney@mont-alto.com

The orchestra was formed as "The Mont Alto Ragtime and Tango Orchestra" in 1989 to play dance and salon music of the teens. The Motion Picture Orchestra, a subset of the larger group, started scoring silent films in 1994, after discovering the music collection of Al Layton, a theater music director in Colorado in the 1920s. The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra accompanies silent films in authentic period style, using original photoplay music. Tight ensemble playing and appropriate music selection bring the films to life.

The large sound of Mont Alto belies its small, portable size. The Motion Picture Orchestra is a quintet of piano, violin, cello, clarinet, and cornet. The Ragtime and Tango Orchestra adds vocalist Susan Rogers and drummer Chris Kermiet.

Mont Alto has performed film scores at venues ranging from elementary schools to the Denver International Film Festival, and has appeared as "guest artist" with the Longmont Symphony Orchestra. Mont Alto has presented film scores at the Lincoln Center in New York, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, the Rafael Theater in San Rafael California, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Topeka Kansas Silent Film Festival, the Chautauqua Silent Film Festival in Boulder Colorado, and at the Buster Keaton Festival in Iola Kansas. In September 2000, Mont Alto was featured at the Cinecon Convention, at the renovated Egyptian Theater in Hollywood to present their scores to Beau Geste and Johanna Enlists. In 2002 Mont Alto presented a premiere score for The Wonderful Lie of Nina Petrovna at the Telluride Film Festival. Their work has been covered on the radio and in newspapers ranging from the Iola Register to the New York Times.

Mont Alto's repertoire includes several thousand orchestrations photocopied from the surviving collections of four silent film theater music directors.

Mont Alto records scores for VHS and DVD releases of silent films in collaboration with David Shepard of Film Preservation Associates and Dennis Doros of Milestone Video. These have been very well received, and are considered some of the finest modern recorded silent film scores.

About the Musicians

The members of Mont Alto are all experienced professional musicians who are never happier than when working in a small chamber group.

Rodney Sauer, pianist and score compiler, studied at the Oberlin Conservatory and has appeared as piano soloist with the Boulder Sinfonia. He is an avid student of silent film music, and his article on the history and use of "photoplay music" was published in the American Music Research Center Journal. He is a frequent performer in various dance genres from early American ballroom dance to folk dance, and also plays solo silent film scores, although the Mont Alto Orchestra is his major musical endeavor. In 2001 he won a Musical grant from the Arts and Humanities Assembly of Boulder.

Violinist Britt Swenson received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the Juilliard School in New York. A frequent performer, she has soloed at Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops Orchestra as well as giving numerous recitals including one at Carnegie's Weill Hall to benefit the Northern Lights Organization Children's Fund which benefits children born with HIV and AIDS. Britt has been heard on NPR's Music from the Grand Teton Music Festival where she performed with Lionel Party, harpsichordist from the New York Philharmonic. She has also collaborated with performers such as Robert McDuffie and Jonathan Feldman. Swenson is the featured soloist on a CD of Vivaldi's Four Seasons which she recorded with the Bismarck Symphony. Britt also gave a concert spearheading the campaign to save the City Auditorium in her hometown of Bismarck, ND. She has been a teaching fellow at Harvard University and the Juilliard School. Her teachers have included Cho Liang Lin, Sally Thomas, Stephen Clapp, and Bayla Keyes.

David Short, cello, received his Bachelor’s in Music from Ithaca College.  He moved to Colorado to pursue a Master’s degree at the University of Colorado at Boulder, but left the program to work on other projects. David is a performer and member of the artistic board for the Telling Stories concert series, recently voted “Best High Culture for the Cool Crowd” in the Westword newspaper. He has recorded several projects around Colorado, including the documentary “The Greatest Good” and Denver Center Theater’s production of “Plainsong.”  A member of the Fort Collins, Greeley Philharmonic, and Cheyenne Symphonies, David performs regularly up and down the Front Range, also substituting with the Boulder Philharmonic and Longmont Symphony.

Brian Collins is principal clarinetist with the Longmont Symphony Orchestra, and performs with the Colorado Mahler Festival. He has also performed with the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, Boulder Philharmonic, Boulder Sinfonia, Louisvillle Symphony, Denver Symphony, Boulder Concert Band, and too many other orchestras to count.

Dawn Kramer, trumpet, graduated from the University of Colorado, and plays with a number of Colorado dance, latin, and jazz bands. She is a teacher at the Rocky Mountain Center for Musical Arts, and has toured world-wide in various genres.

About the "Mont Alto" Name

The Colorado and Northwestern, a narrow-gauge railroad that lead from Boulder to the mountain communities of Ward and Eldora, was running into difficulty as the gold mines began to play out. Retooling itself as a tourist route, and calling itself "The Switzerland Trail of America," the small railroad built a dance pavilion at Mont Alto park in 1898. On the day it opened, the city of Boulder closed for business so that all of the citizens could picnic, gather flowers, and dance the night away. In the spirit of adapting life to suit dancing, the Mont Alto Ragtime and Tango Orchestra was named in 1990.

The Mont Alto pavilion is no longer standing, but the park site is still accessible on the railway grade, and the foundations and chimney of the pavilion remain. The Mont Alto Ragtime and Tango Orchestra occasionally plays for "birthday parties" for the pavilion on the site, including on its centenary in 1998.

The Dance Pavilion at Mont Alto Park—notice the name spelled in quartz rocks

Mont Alto's Film Score Repertoire

The Mont Alto Orchestra loves to tour and present films and concerts of photoplay music. We currently have compiled film scores for the following films. and we add several new films each year. If you plan to invite Mont Alto to present a film, keep in mind that the projection capabilities of the venue may restrict which films can be shown for several reasons:

Please feel free to email me with questions about the films, or to ask for recommendations for your particular venue, event, and audience.

Amarilly of Clothesline Alley (1918) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
Mary Pickford plays a resourceful Irish girl from the tenements who is courted by two very different men.
L'Argent (1928).
Marcel L'Herbier's big-budget three-hour epic film uses advanced film editing techniques and amazing art deco sets to tell a story about corruption in high finance. Mont Alto's score (presented at the Telluride Film Festival in 2009) requires an expanded performance group, including a "pit crew" of percussionists.
Assunta Spina (1915) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
The Italian actress Francesca Bertini leads this operatic tale of love, jealousy, and sacrifice filmed on location in Naples.
Bardelys the Magnificent (1926) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
This long-lost King Vidor film features John Gilbert and Eleanor Boardman in a lively swashbuckling romance.
The Battle of the Sexes (1928) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
D.W. Griffith's jazz-age drama-comedy features Phyllis Haver as a heartless gold-digger.
Battling Butler (1926).
Buster Keaton is a rich dandy who is mistaken for a tough boxer. He can only keep the ruse up for so long...
Beau Geste (1926).
Ronald Colman and his brothers join the foreign legion after the mysterious disappearance of a precious jewel. An excellent adventure-mystery.
Bed and Sofa (1926) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
A remarkably modern story of love and infidelity in a small Moscow apartment.
Beggars of Life (1928).
Louise Brooks and Richard Arlen take to riding the rails to escape a manslaughter charge.
Behind the Scenes (1914).
Mary Pickford marries well, but decides that she can't give up her career on the stage to please a husband.
The Black Pirate (1925).
Douglas Fairbanks infiltrates a band of pirates to avenge his father's death in this Technicolor romp.
Blood and Sand (1922) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
Rudolph Valentino rises in Spanish society with his success in the bullring, but attracts the attention of femme fatale Nita Naldi.
The Blue Bird (1918) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
Maurice Tourneur's fairy-tale about two children in search of the blue bird of happiness alternates from whimsical to thought-provoking.
Broncho Billy's Adventure (1911).
In this short film, Broncho Billy must intervene in an argument between a young woman's father and her lover.
The Cameraman (1929).
Buster Keaton acquires a movie camera to be near the girl of his dreams, but breaking into the business is trickier than it looks.
The Cameraman's Revenge (1912).
A grasshopper gets revenge on a beetle by filming its illicit tryst with a dragonfly in this stop-motion comedy.
The Cheat (1915).
Cecil B. DeMille directed this tale of a society woman in debt to a wealthy oriental who refuses to be paid in kind.
Chicago (1927).
Phyllis Haver as Roxie Hart in the startlingly cynical silent-film version of the story.
Cobra (1925) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
Rudolph Valentino travels from Italy to New York to get away from woman-troubles. But it turns out they're everywhere!
College (1927).
Buster Keaton, an academic in high-school, attempts to take up athletics by the book to impress his sweetheart.
The Cook (1916).
Buster Keaton, Roscoe Arbuckle, and Luke the Dog run a restaurant. Don't miss Roscoe's dance as Salome and Clepoatra!
Delicious Little Devil (1919) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
After inventing a sordid past to get a job as a cabaret dancer, Mae Murray risks losing Rudolph Valentino unless she can prove her scandalous past is fake.
Destiny (Der Müde Tod) (1921) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
A woman challenges Death to a contest in this wild metaphysical early film by Fritz Lang.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
John Barrymore gets in touch with his dark side in this creepy and powerful telling of the Stevenson tale.
Don't Change Your Husband (1919) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
Gloria Swanson tires of her husband's bad habits, but finds that other men can be even worse.
Doubling for Romeo (1921).
Will Rogers tries to learn how to romance a woman by visiting film sets in Hollywood, but when he dreams himself into the role of Romeo, Shakespeare will never be the same.
Erotikon (1929).
After being seduced and abandoned by a traveling salesman, a woman meets him again in jazz-age Prague in very different circumstances.
Fatty and Mabel Adrift (1916) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
After their marriage, Roscoe and Mabel's house is pushed out to sea by a jilted rival.
Faust--Eine Deutsche Volkssage (1926) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
F.W. Murnau brings unforgettable visuals and interesting philosophical twists to the tale of a man making a deal with the devil.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921).
Valentino grows up dancing the tango in Argentina, but family history drags him into the Great War in Europe.
The Gaucho (1927).
In his darkest, most enigmatic film, Douglas Fairbanks plays an outlaw who invades a shrine where miracles take place. He meets his match in the fiesty mountain girl Lupe Velez.
The General (1927) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
Buster Keaton pursues locomotive thieves in this classic Civil War comedy.
Gertie the Dinosaur (1914).
A trained dinosaur interacts with Rodney (who acts as dinosaur trainer and animator Winsor McKay) in this whimsical multi-media cartoon short.
He Did and He Didn't (1916) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
Roscoe Arbuckle and Mabel Normand's marriage is challenged by an old boyfriend and several burglars.
The Italian (1915).
An immigrant brings his sweetheart to America, but suffers discrimination and injustice in this beautiful early film.
The Italian Straw Hat (1928).
On his way to his wedding, a young man's horse eats a hat belonging to a married woman. This small incident snowballs out of control in a brilliant comedy of manners that is considered one of the top comedies of all time.
Johanna Enlists (1918).
A plain country girl (Mary Pickford) finds unaccustomed attention when an army division camps on her farm.
The Kid Brother (1927).
Harold Lloyd is the youngest in a family of burly mountain lawmen in this excellent coming-of-age comedy.
Leap Year (1921) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
Roscoe Arbuckle accidentally gets engaged to three different women while trying to prove to his girlfriend that he's serious about her.
Limousine Love (1928).
On his way to his wedding, Charley Chase finds a naked woman in the back of his limousine.
Long Fliv the King (1926) (upcoming from Milestone Films).
Charley Chase unexpectedly becomes the king of a small European country, complete with evil counselors bent on a coup.
The Magic Clock (1926).
A girl falls in love with a knight figurine in her father's mechanical clock, and impulsively breaks it to save his life. A masterpiece of stop-motion animation by Ladslav Starevich.
The Mark of Zorro (1920) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
Douglas Fairbanks poses as an ineffectual fop while secretly fighting for justice in early California.
The Marriage Circle (1924) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
A perfect marriage is set in jeapordy by an unstable one in this witty comedy by and for adults, from Ernst Lubitsch.
Mickey (1916/1918).
Mabel Normand is raised in the mining camps of California, but is sent back east to be civilized in this romantic comedy.
Mighty Like a Moose (1926) (upcoming from Milestone Films).
Charley Chase accidentally goes on a date with his own wife in this wildly funny short film.
Miss Lulu Bett (1920) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
A poor spinster is forced into servanthood until she learns to stand for herself in this wicked comedy of a dysfunctional family.
A Modern Musketeer (1917).
Douglas Fairbanks is a modern reincarnation of D'Artagnan, protecting womenhood whether they want it or not, from Kansas to the Grand Canyon.
The Navigator (1924).
Buster Keaton finds himself at sea on a drifting ocean liner.
Nell Gwynn (1926).
Dorothy Gish portrays the English King's mistress in this risqué historical comedy from England.
The New York Hat (1912).
Mary Pickford's strict father won't buy her nice clothes, but when the minister buys her an expensive hat, the gossip's tongues start wagging.
People on Sunday (Menschen am Sonntag, 1929).
Four young Berliners enjoy their weekend in the parks around the city.
Peter Pan (1925).
Wendy flies off to Neverland to be Peter Pan's mother, but they run afoul of Captain Hook in this version of J.M. Barrie's play.
The Phantom of the Opera (1925).
A deranged genius coaches and controls an opera star from secret passages in the Paris Opera.
Quality Street (1927).
Marion Davies stays home while her sweetheart goes to fight Napoleon. When he returns to find her older, she decides to teach him a lesson in youth and aging in this J.M. Barrie antidote to Peter Pan.
Redskin (1929).
Richard Dix plays a Navajo who gets an education with hopes of helping his tribe, but finds he's no longer accepted at home in this Technicolor adventure filmed in Canon de Chelly and the Acoma Pueblo.
Rosita (1923).
Mary Pickford is a street singer who catches the heart of the king of Spain in this comedy directed by Ernst Lubitsch.
The Saphead (1920).
Buster Keaton wants to become a trader on the stock exchange.
Sherlock Jr. (1924).
After failing in his amateur detecting, projectionist Buster Keaton falls asleep and enters his own film, where he's a super-sleuth.
The Silent Enemy (1929).
In pre-Columbian times, a tribe of Ojibway search for game in a difficult winter. This film features astounding nature photography.
Spite Marriage (1929).
Buster Keaton is a huge fan of an actress, who marries him to spite her fickle boyfriend. But can Buster win her heart for real?
Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928).
Buster is the long-lost son of a tough river-boat captain. He's unimpressed with his appearance, until a hurricane gives him a chance to prove his metal.
Suds (1920) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
Laundry girl Mary Pickford creates a fantasy life for herself around an abandoned shirt. But when the real owner finally shows up, it brings her back to reality.
Sunrise (1927).
A man and a woman restore their ruined marriage on a fantastic trip to the city in this masterpiece of film-making by F.W. Murnau.
Teddy at the Throttle (1917).
In this short but fast-moving film Gloria Swanson ends up tied to the railroad tracks by an evil lawyer, but is saved by the quick-thinking of her dog.
The Thief of Bagdad (1924) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
Douglas Fairbanks plays a street thief in a fantastic oriental city who must prove himself worthy of a princess.
The Three Ages (1923).
Buster Keaton courts his girlfriend in three eras -- the stone age, ancient Rome, and the jazzy 1920s.
True Heart Susie (1919) (on DVD from Image Entertainment).
Country girl Lillian Gish secretly helps her sweetheart to get a good education, only to find he's attracted to someone else.
The Waiter's Ball (1916) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
Roscoe Arbuckle is the cook at a chaotic cafe. When Al St. John steals his tux, can he attend the ball in Kate Price's dress?
Way Down East (1920) (on DVD from Kino Video)
Lillian Gish is left trying to put her life together after being seduced by a scoundrel, and ends up caught on ice floes in a frozen river.
What Price Goofy? (1925) (upcoming from Milestone Films).
Charley Chase tries to convince his wife he's not stepping out, but is hampered by a woman professor and a dog who retrives underwear.
The Whirl of Life (1915).
Famous dancers and fashion plates Vernon and Irene Castle make a home-movie-style fictional account of their life together.
Why Change Your Wife? (1920) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
Gloria Swanson loses her husband to the friskier Bebe Daniels, then decides to win him back.
The Wishing Ring (1914) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
The son of an English nobleman falls for a girl who thinks he's the gardener. He decides to surreptitiously make her wishes come true.
A Woman of Paris (1923)
A woman leaves her grim village for the city, but her past comes to haunt her.
The Whispering Chorus (1918) (on DVD with Mont Alto's score).
A man listens to the voices in his head. But when he tries to cover up a minor crime by faking his own death, he ends up accused of his own murder.
You're Darn Tootin' (1928).
Stan and Ollie are street musicians who can't seem to play in time in this short comedy.