[Malte Müller]

I actually follow Thor here. In Opera or ballet the music is a much the central or equally important part. Everything else is primarily made around the music. Music in films is generally only one part of the overall work and competes with everything else. Of course depends on the type of film (and silent movies are as special case additionally but the majority does not watch these). Fact is that film music is not concieved to be listened as a standalone work. Think of image and music counterpoint usages (yeah, probably rare nowadays…). That is a conceptual quality you cannot directly hear in the music itself (e.g. a sad scene scored with funny music).