Music

For ballet lovers, one particular Tchaikovsky score immediately conjures up tutus and white swans . . . But for old-time movie buffs, this same music might instead trigger memories of vintage black-and-white films of the 1930's.
Back then, the eerie opening measures of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" ballet served as the generic "main title" music for dozens of old Universal Studios thrillers -- including the famous 1931 Tod Browning version of Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula," starring Bela Lugosi as the Transylvanian vampire.
"Ah, the children of the night -- what music THEY make . . ."
On today's date in 1999 at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado, Tchaikovsky got some competition from the contemporary American composer Philip Glass. For a festival showing of the classic film, Glass wrote not only a new main title theme, but also brand-new music for the rest of Tod Browning's film.
Beyond the opening Tchaikovsky, the original "Dracula" soundtrack had included very little music, and, despite the creepy charisma of Bela Lugosi, by modern standards, the film moved at a ponderous pace. The new Philip Glass score, performed live by the Kronos String Quartet, helped add some fresh atmosphere and mystery to the familiar old film.
In fact, it proved so effective that, following its Telluride premiere, Glass and the Kronos Quartet took the new score on a tour, accompanying live showings of the old film in Europe and the U.S.