ABSTRACT
Music is a particularly sore point in the DVD editions of silent films. Even if we happen to have a complete or almost complete print, music is likely to be different from one edition to the other, because in silent cinema music and sounds in general were provided live, and hence were subject to change from one screening to another. The overall impression of the Heller/Erdmann score is one of narrative nuance and sensitivity, and musical richness and sophistication. Serene consonant music, ranging from a pastoral mood for exterior natural settings to the sentimental music for the Hutter/Ellen romance, is contrasted with the dissonant expressionistic music depicting Count Orlok and his devilish deeds and creepy locales. The film opens with menacing music that, from the titles, continues over the images of a diary detailing the dreadful events, and the infernal nature of the forces involved, that would corrupt Goodness, symbolised by the love between Hutter and Ellen , with Evil.
