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‘Dracula’—adding music to a silent classic

Chris Well

Classic Universal film Dracula was a major point in the films revolving around Universal’s monsters. While not their first monster movie, it kicked off the monster movie era we remember best. The first sound film adapting Bram Stoker’s novel, 1931’s Dracula did not offer a film score. There were only slices of classical music here and there, with almost no music for the rest of the film.

In the late-1990s, Universal Pictures asked Philip Glass to compose a new score for Dracula for the DVD release. “The film is considered a classic,” Glass says, according to the Kronos Quartet, who performed the new score. “I felt the score needed to evoke the feeling of the world of the 19th century—for that reason I decided a string quartet would be the most evocative and effective. I wanted to stay away from the obvious effects associated with horror films. With Kronos, we were able to add depth to the emotional layers of the film.” Scroll down to watch a scene of the film as it was originally released—and then watch the scene again with the new score added…

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Dracula With and Without Score Comparison

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Dracula starred Bela Lugosi in the title role, and was directed and co-produced by Tod Browning. The film, from a screenplay written by Garrett Fort, is based on the 1924 stage play Dracula by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston, itself adapted from the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.

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