2025
A new score created by Roberto Paci Dalò for the same cult film Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, a silent film directed by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau and screened for the first time on 4th March 1922 in Berlin. Considered the masterpiece of the German director and one of the cornerstones of horror and expressionist cinema, Nosferatu the vampire is loosely based on the novel Dracula (1897) by the Irish writer Bram Stoker.
In 1995, the Cineteca di Bologna restored the film, which was given its world premiere in Cesena at the Cinema Eliseo with music created by Roberto Paci Dalò and David Moss. A few days later, the film was presented in Bologna with the addition of a new soundtrack for orchestra composed by James Bernard. Three decades later, a new score created by Roberto Paci Dalò for the same cult film was born in the same place. The composition was performed in a trio by the author together with Diego Sapignoli and Giacomo Vanelli.
In Japan, during the silent film era, to explain the plot of a film from a sound perspective, an actor was placed next to the screen who gave voice to the various characters, devising poses, costumes and languages to interact with both the film and the audience. This narrator was called benshi and his figure descended directly from the Noh theatre. With the advent of sound cinema, unfortunately, his work became superfluous.
Roberto Paci Dalò conceives his sound intervention for Nosferatu as a narration in the spirit of the benshi. In fact, ancient cinematographic practice allowed the benshi to create its own narrative thread, distinct or parallel to that of the film. For this reason, the author emphasizes that his work is not a simple musical accompaniment, but a real live cinematographic intervention: an acoustic story that dialogues critically with the images, giving the film a performative and ritual dimension.
