NOSFERATU

with live musical accompaniment by Markus Horn

NOSFERATU

F.W. Murnau, Germany 1922, 94 min., silent, digitally restored complete version (2006)
With new piano soundtrack by Markus Horn

Shot in 1921 and released in 1922, Nosferatu was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, with names and other details changed because the studio could not obtain the rights to the novel (for instance, "vampire" became "Nosferatu" and "Count Dracula" became "Count Orlok"). Stoker's heirs sued over the adaptation, and a court ruling ordered that all copies of the film be destroyed. However, one print of Nosferatu survived, and the film came to be regarded as an influential masterpiece of cinema.

Markus Horn’s musical language goes beyond the typical influences of late romanticism, bringing new impulses and fresh sounds to the world of silent film accompaniment.

In recent years Horn performed his music to Fritz Lang's masterpiece "Metropolis" at shows all over the world, receiving standing ovations for his intense symbiosis of film and music. With" Nosferatu" he is now presenting his second soundtrack to a German silent film, which sees its U.S. premiere at this year’s San Luis Obispo International Film Festival.