The audience as creative contributor: examining the effects of implied sound and music in two versions of Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922)

Abstract

Since the release of Giorgio Moroder’s restoration of Metropolis in 1984, paired with his electronic musical score, it has become increasingly popular for composers to create new scores for silent films. Some scholars credit new musical scores with introducing younger generations to silent cinema. However, other critics argue that new scores make silent films less authentic. F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror was initially released with an orchestral score by Hans Erdmann. This original score is still regularly used to accompany Murnau’s film when it is screened today and is contained on the Eureka Video home media releases of Nosferatu that feature the 2013 F.W. Murnau Stiftung restoration of the film. In 1997, composer James Bernard created a new score to accompany Photoplay Productions’ remaster of Enno Patalas’ 1995 Nosferatu restoration, which has since been paired with the BFI DVD and Blu-Ray releases of Nosferatu. This article examines the effects that Erdmann’s and Bernard’s musical accompaniments have on implied sound in Murnau’s film in the two aforementioned editions of Nosferatu. In particular, I focus on how audible and inaudible sound can affect the audience’s reception of, and creative engagement with, Nosferatu.