DIl- -TAL WORLD PRI HERE RECORDING

s KAHLUt t MNGHANEY CARRADINE r cm~NAISH lNE GWYNNE PETER COE a "ce....m- ..n..=m ....."S# fi HANS J. SALTER l PAUL DESSAU House of Frankenstein Complete film score, 1944 1 Universal Signature (Jimmy McHugh) 2 Main Title (Paul Dessau &Hans Salter)* 3 Lightning Strikes (Salter &Frank Skinner) 4 Gruesome Twosome Escape (Dessau & Salter)* 5 Strangulation (Salter) 6 Off to Vasaria (Salter)* 7 Chamber of Horrors (Dessau &Salter) 8 Dracula Restored (Salter)' 9 Dracula's Ring (Dessau &Salter)* 10 The Burgomaster Murdered (Dessau & Salter) 11 Rendezvous with Dracula (Dessau & Salter) 12 The World Beyond (Dessau & Salter)* 13 Dracula Pursued (Dessau & Salter)* 14 Dracula Destroyed (Dessau & Salter)* 15 Gypsy Tantrums (Max Rapp & Milton Rosen)* 16 Ilonka Whipped (Dessau & Salter) 17 Dan's Love (Dessau & Salter) 18 The Ruins (Salter) 19 The Monstrosities (Salter) 20 Wolf Man Revived (Salter, Skinner, Charles Previn) 21 Show Me the Records (Salter, Skinner, Previn) 22 Travels (Salter)* 23 Hunchback's Jealousy (Dessau & Salter) 24 Niemann's Laboratory (Salter) 25 Liquefying Brains (Salter) 26 Niemann's Revenge (Dessau &Salter)* 27 The Pentagram (Dessau & Salter) 28 Full Moon (Dessau & Salter) 29 Silver Bullet (Dessau & Salter) 30 Dr. Niemann Successful (Dessau & Salter) 31 The Moon is Full (Dessau & Salter) 32 Lany at Peace (Dessau & Salter) 33 Dr. Niemann Attacked (Dessau & Salter) 34 Death of the Unholy Two (Dessau &Salter) 35 End Cast (Dessau &Salter) All music reconstructed and orchestrated by John Morgan except those marked with an8, which were orchestrated by William T. Stromberg. If there is one reigning irony about colnposer Hans J. Salter, it is that, after fleeing the nightmarish world of the Third Reiclu in 1937, he ~voundup in America scoring Universal's classic Frankenstein films, all centered on mad scientists with names like Niemann and Frankenstein and Edelmalun and all revolving around a superhuman brute whose demise lasted only till the next sequel. But if Salter ever truly pondered this irony, he seldom mentioned it. When, shortly before his death in 1994, he was at last asked about it, he only chuckled, thought a moment, then replied: "It must've been written in the stars." A mild-mannered Viennese gentleman whose existence in the Old World was spent conducting operettas and concerts and working on early films at Berlin's famed UFA studios, Salter spent most of his productive life in the New World cranking out music for a variety of Universal films, mostly low-budget programmers, and al~vajrsunder oppressive deadlines. Some film scores he later voiced great pride in, especially that for Mngilificeilt Doll (1946),which starred Ginger Rogers as grand socialite and first lady Dolley Madison. Salter revelled in the film's Americana, which, he claimed, "inspired me to greater dimensions" than even he had hoped for in the music. Other scores rate hearings, too, including his many westerns (especially Bend of tl~eRiver; 1952, and Mni~Witko~rt n Stnl; 1955) and even an Errol Flj~nns~vashbuckler (Agniilst All Flngs, 1952, complete with shades of lbert's Escnles). But film music-lovers of today agree 011 only one thing regarding Hans J. Salter's work: His lasting fame rests firmly on his role as a maker of monster music. 3 8.223748 Beginning with Franz Waxman's brilliant 1935 score to Tlie Bride of Frnilkei~steiil and crystallizing three years later with Frank Skinner's Soil of Fmiikeilsteii~score (tvhich Salter, still fresh to American shores, orchestrated), Universal's busy staff colnposers senred up a style of horror film music others imitated but never matched. Characterized by solid craftsmanship, yet imbued with an air of total abandon, it allowed centuries-old menacing mummies to walk the globe, heart-craving ghouls to raid local cemeteries and world-weary ~vere~volvesto erupt in fury whenever a full moon rose. A half-century later, Universal's horror films and their peerless scores retain much of their dark mood, yet also evoke an air of seemingly simpler times - much the way gleeful, vintage cartoon scores and smooth, upbeat Big Band renditions seem to do. (For the record, Salter considered his horror scores distinctly American.) Evidence of this ~~ostalgicsimplicity -howlever illusionary -was offered up in the 1993 film Mnd Dog nild G/onj, in which the 50-year-old soundtrack to the Frnilkeilsteiil Meets the Th'olf Mnil climax briefly served as a sonic backdrop for an equally unlikelj~romance between a lonely, middle-aged police photographer and a young, down-on-her-luck actress. Of all the rousing scores Salter contributed for Universal's horror films, Ho~rseof Frnilkeilsteiil (1944) proved not only the most colourful but also the most significant in terms of length. For that, we partially have the movie's producer, director and screenwriter to thank. Because of the vast amount of work Salter faced and the crushing deadlines under which he laboured, Salter tended to furnish music according to each film's strength or weakness. In a film he considered strong, such as director Robert Siodmak's film noir classic Pliniltoiil Lndy (1944), he sometimes recommended lnusic be used sparingly, only because he felt the film could stand on its own merits. On the other hand, for Erle C. Kenton's potboiler The Ghost of Flni~keilsteii~(1942), Salter wrote lnusic for almost 50 of its 68 minutes, largely because he felt the film needed all the help it could get. Kenton's subsequent Universal thriller, Hozrse of Frailkeilsteiil, is a rollicking if not very serious addition to the Frankenstein saga, complete with vibrant performances by a memorable cast including Boris Karloff, John Carradine, Lon Chaney Jr. and J. Carrol Naish. Even so, Salter apparently felt the 70-minute programmer again needed help because he supplied more than 50 minutes worth of music. The outlandis11 plot alone explains his decision. Seeminglj~an effort to outdo far more intelligent Val Lewton horror films by then emanating from RKO, Universal decided to pile as many monsters as possible into the plot of its latest Frankenstein movie. The Hozrse of Flniikeilsteiil storyline concerns a mad scientist, Dr. Gustav Niemann (Karloff), freshly sprung from prison courtesy of a thunderstorm, who, with his homicidal hunchback assistant Daniel (Naish), goes on to encounter (and ~47itl1in mere days) Dracula, the Wolf Man and the Frankenstein Monster (portrayed, respectively, by Carradine, Chaney and a former cowboy named Glenn Strange). Today it is hard to envision the film ever scaring anyone. Just the same, Hotrse of Frni~kei~steiiiremains one of the most lively, broadly enjoyable u~stalmentsin the entire series. To quote film historian Gregory William Mank in his excellent book It's Alive: Tlze Classic Ciilei~inSogn of Frni~kei~steii~ (1981) and House of Fmiikei~steill:Tlie Sllootiiig Script (MagicImage 1994), the film "survives today as a slick, fun, horror mini-epic; it has action (including the exciting chase of mounted gendarmes after Dracula's coach through back lot fields, stream and woods), some mood (particularly in the very impressive ice cavern sequence) and some directorial style (e.g., Kenton's treatment of Chaney's first transformation from man to beast, panning the human footprints that change into pa\v prints just before a long shot shows the Wolf Man loping madly into the ~voods." If diehard fans of the Frankenstein series today decry the movie as a step down from the noble stature of Frniikeiisteiil, Tlze Bride of Frnizkeilsteiil and Soil of Frnilkeilsfeiil, at least the breakneck pacing, inventive plotting, sturdy cast and li~relyscore of Hozrse of Frnilkensfeii~ensure most fans xvill forget its relative silliness and 5 8.223748 relish its rich atmosphere and creepy catalogue of Universal monsters, all served up by Universal's makeup wizard Jack P. Pierce. With so many Universal spooks in residence, Salter's House of Frnilkeizsteill score was bound to be more varied than, say, the lumbering Ghost of Frnilkellsteiil. Despite many wonderful works colnposed for the cinema (and despite this particular film's own B-movie status), the Holise of Frni~keilsteill score remains one of a small handful of golden age film scores that truly rate being heard complete and often. (Korngold's The Sen Hnrok, Herrmanil's C~fize~fKnife, Max Steiner's Siilce Yo11 IVelerlt Aruny, Friedhofer's The Best Years of Our Lives and Waxman's The Bride of Frnilkeilsteiil are others.) The fact the entire Holise of Frnrlkel~steillscore works so well, even when heard independent of the film, is a credit to its chief composer, especially considering the time he was given to produce it. "They didn't give you much time in those days," Salter said of the score during a 1994 interview, shortly after turning 98. "I don't think I had more than, maybe, hvo weeks. I didn't get much sleep when I worked on it." At least Salter had some help, both from the past and present. Although definitely of the hventieth century, with all the chordal progressions and motoric intensity of Arthur Honegger, the music includes a witty salute to Beethoven's fateful fifth symphony in the main title and joyful asides to Weber's opera overtures else~vhere. Then there's the spirited dance Gypsy Tniltrirlirs, a bit of uninhibited fun specially assernbled by Max Rapp and Milton Rose11 and reflecting Universal's penchant for original gypsy material - so~nethingseen also in The Wolf Mnn (1941) and Frntrketrstei?~Meets the IVo[f A4ni1 (1943). But fifty-gear-old Paul Dessau, a free-thinking German composer and communist ~vhohad likewise fled Europe, was of even greater assistance. Dessau had a major hand helping Salter, particularly with the electrifying main title, bewitching, out-of-kilter chamber of horrors prelude, and haunting, transparent night music composed for the Dracula segment -music mirroring Dessau's finest concert works. And while the unsettling, ever-present four-note motif symbolizing Dracula's macabre presence 8.223748 6 ultimately comes from Salter, who had used it previously in Soil of Drncriln (1943) and even earlier in Universal's Nazi-bashing Iirvisible Ageilt (1942), Dessau made it very much his own in his treatment. Certainly, the Home of Frnirkeirstein score is more modern than Salter's usual writing, though one is also reminded that, whatever else, Hans Salter was a student of Alban Berg. But then Paul Dessau's influences included Arnold Schoenberg and Otto Klemperer, both musically adventurous personalities in their heydays. A virtual Holl~~~oodcamp Syifrphoirie Fnntasfiq~rewhen heard in its entirety, and one that could have only come from Universal's busy music department in the 1940s, the Horise of Frni~keirsteii~score offers numerous delights to accompany its cast of accursed characters. The eerie scene in the glacial cavern, where the Frankenstein Monster and Wolf Man are found encased in ice, is mostly vintage Salter and offers some of the most atmospheric writing of all, including an anxiety-ridden trumpet theme for the Wolf Man, a somber motif in the lower winds and basses for the largely incapacitated man-made monster, and percussive use of the rest of the orchestra, which makes this bracing scene all the chillier. Especially exhilarating is the music written for the Dracula chase scene, beginning slowly and mysteriousljr and then, with a quirky proclamation by the strings and woodwinds, launching into a maddening gallop. Marred as heard in the film due to some careless editing, this romp of a cue, reflecting Paul Dessau's prickly musical tendencies, is heard largely as intended here. Infectious moments of tender melancholy occasionally surface when gypsy dancer Ilonka (Elena Verdugo) is present, such as in Dnir's Love, which begins with a yearning motif from the main title that conveys Daniel's love for the girl - a bit that shows up in more disturbed form in the aptly titled cue Hrif~chbnck'sJenlonsy, when Daniel realizes the gypsy girl's affections are now lost. Overall, though, moments of fury and madness arise far more often, such as in The Peiltngrnnl, when the broken-hearted hunchback takes his frustrations out on the strapped-down, semi-conscious Frankenstein Monster by lashing him insanely - a passage marked by demented runs in the strings and sinister harmonies in the brass. Motifs for the Wolf Man and Frankenstein Monster hover about during these moments of rage, both reflecting and foretelling the film's developmel~ts. But the score's final section serves up the real showstoppers, with most of the monstrous motifs that have gone before now exploding into a musical maelstrom. This astonishing finale begins with massive chords from the orchestra as the Frankenstein Monster is finally recharged, then continues as nenlous winds denote the allnost tragi-comic overtones of Dr. Niemann's monster-filled lab. Later it moves to a surging variation of the gypsy love theme as Ilonka contemplates with dread shooting her weremrolf-lover with a silver bullet - and just as troubled Larry Talbot undergoes his final lycanthropic transformation. By the time Daniel, grief-stricken over Ilonka's death, turns violently on Dr. Niemann, the revived Frankenstein Monster decides to break free, make short work of Daniel and then rescue the mad doctor. In the score, this is captured through a last, desperate variation of Daniel's motif and a grandly energized, thoroughly unstoppable one for the Frankenstein Monster. All in Horlse of Flnilkeilsteill concludes with an unforgettable musical climax: The tympani's relentless pounding signifying doom, the woodwinds shrieking in full panic and the strings capturing the utter chaos of the film's bizarre, one-of-a-kind resolution in which, very oddly for a Holly~voodprogrammer of the early 1940s, everybody dies. After this, all that remains is the end title music, a brief and blunt tribute to the gypsy Ilonka, her sacrifice and the very little true love glimpsed in this horror film. Lasting mere seconds, this final cue makes its point like an epitaph, then all is done. The decision by Marco Polo to finally give Salter and Dessau their due by recording one of Universal's classic horror scores complete (a much- abbreviated suite from Hortse of Frnirh~rsteii~appeared on an earlier Marco Polo release) did not become reality without major headaches. 111 what appears to have been a reckless house-cleaning operation, Universal's old horror scores were trashed by Universal. Those later chosen for re-recording had to be painstakingly reconstructed by film composers John Morgan and William T. Stromberg from three-line piano reductions unearthed elsewhere, including at Salter's home. There was no doubting Morgan and Stromberg's zeal in the project. In his mid-forties when he began working on Home of Frnlikel~sfeiiz,Morgan proved to be like many of his generation who lu10\\7 and treasure Salter's horror music; he grew to love it as a youngster ~tratcliing Universal's horrors on TV in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Both the movies and their music, he said, are "something cozy that we grelv up with in our homes and I think they're now part of our psycl~e." In fact, Morgan later introduced Stromberg, a family friend eighteen years his junior, to this old cinema music, ultimately resulting in the latter's decision also to pursue a career in film music. Once a decision had been made by Marco Polo to record the complete Holrse of Frnilkeirstein score (and with Salter's full blessing, just weeks before his death), the young composers' passion reached the point they even reassembled the deligl~tful,forty-second chamber of horrors prelude heard shortly before Dracula's revival in the film. Other sections proved more challenging, including the aforementioned climax. "My hand was about to fall off by the time I got finished, there was so much going on," Morgan said of reassembling the final, bring-down-the-house section. Morgan was not surprised, either, when, during recording sessions with the Moscot\i Symphony Orchestra in early December 1994, instrumentalists wondered aloud if the Ho~rseof Frnilkei~sfeiilscore was, in fact, a contemporary one. Again, the combination of Dessau and Salter fifty years earlier seems to have provided an orchestral score as advanced as Inany film scores written decades later. While Salter sometimes borrowed from other film scores by himself and colleague Frank Skinner - common practice at Universal with its hectic deadlines - the Holrse ofFlnilkei~sfeiilscore is largely original, even though motifs from other films are used (such as the germ of an idea from The Wolf A/Inil, ~vonderf~illywoven into the main title of House of Frnilkeilsteiil and very much indicating poor Daniel is the heart and soul of the film). Several passages were adapted from earlier movies, including the scene where Dr. Niemann and Daniel explore the Frankenstein ruins and the ice cavern (borrowed from the crypt-defiling scene and a similar ice cavern episode in Frnilkei~steii~Meets the Wolf Mail); those sequences in which Dr. Niemann's circus of horrors is on the road (adapted from Frnilkellsteiil Meets tlre IVoo[f Mail, this time for a sequence in which lycanthrope Lawrence Talbot and Maleva the gypsy travel to Vasaria); and, finally, the restless passage underlining Dr. Niemann's return to his old, vine-shrouded laboratorjl (adapted from The Gkost of Frnitkei~steiizscore). For this recording, the more extensive arrangement of ice cavern music from Froilkeilsteii~Meets the IVoy Mail has been substituted for that in Holise ofFrairkeilsfeii~.111 the case of the traveling music, both the high-spirited cue from Froitkeilsteiil Meets the Wo2f Mail as well as the more ambiguous one from Horlse of F~n~lkeirsteii~have been recorded. Finally, the brief bit of music for the early sequence when the storm destroys Neustadt Prison - penned by Frank Skinner for Alfred Hitchcock's thriller Snbotetir (1942) and barely audible in that picture amidst the lightning bolts - practically represents a premiPre here since the music is also effectively dro~vnedout in House of Frnilkerlsfeirr, thanks to crashing thunder and collapsing walls. If an analysis of the Hollse of Frnilkeilsteiil score sometimes suggests a crazy quilting of music from different hands and even different films, it onlj7 reveals standard practice at Universal at the time. Staff colnposers (ranging from Skinner and Salter to, in the 1950s, Henry Mancini) routinely collaborated on films, cultivating a style similar enough to allow what some called "Salterizing" - the seamless patching together of such cues into a score. Whatever the case, Randall D. Larson, in his exhaustive sunrey Mlrslqlle Fnr~tastiq~ie(Scarecro~v Press, 1985),suggests the only score of the Frankenstein sequels entirely by Salter is that for The Ghost of Fmi~keirsteiil. And in Holrse of Drocz11n (1945), the utterly ~vretchedsequel to follow Holise of Froi~kei~sfeiil, the music of no less than eight composers, including Salter, Skinner and 8.223748 10 Dessau, was hastily patched together by music director Edgar Fairchild. However, by the time Holrse of Drnczlln was produced, any pretense of upholding the grand tradition of Universal's finest horror films had vanished. Only the music and photography helped prop the film up. Soon after World War 11, Dessau settled in East Berlin where his compositions, at last free of the confining influences of the American cinema, eagerly celebrated comlnunism through operas such as P~liltiln (1959), a comic allegory on the ruling class and the common people based on friend Bertolt Brecht's play; Eiilsteii~ (1970), offering a Marxist perspective on the century's most famous scientist; and orchestral suites such as Sen of Teil~pests, which commemorates a Russian moon probe landing. Till his death in 1979 at age 84, he also continued to display his mastery at reworking other composers' materials, such as his stately Bnclz Vnrintiol~s(1963) and playful symphonic adaptation of Mozart's Q~liiltetforStrings, K614 (1965). Whatever his thoughts on Holljr~rood,it is interesting to note that, besides bogeyman- filled Holrse of Fmizkeizsteii~,Dessau could also claim to have scored cartoon films for Walt Disney such as Alice ni~dthe Fleas (though it is unlikely he ever rushed to make such claims). Salter remained in Holl~vood,unwittingly commemorating the atomic age and the Cold War by co-scoring Universal sci-fi films such as This Islnild Enrtlt (1954) and The Mole People (1956). Incidentally, the strange irony of Hans Salter came full circle eighteen years after House of Funizkei~steiizwhen, near the end of his career as a film composer, he found himself scoring Hitler (1962). However, the film was anything but distinguished, and Salter's score, for all its merits, never approached the rousing power, creepy atmosphere and raw inventiveness found in the composer's undying horror scores for Universal. O 1995 Bill Whitaker A NOTE FROM THE ARRANGER Universal Pictures lavished an uncommonly generous music budget on House of Fm~iketzsteitland the results were stunning. Most of Universal's horror films of this period relied on taking previously written music and replaying it with new timings, tempos and perhaps a few bars of transitional material to help smooth out any rough spots. Although Ho~rseofFrnizkeilsteiiz relied on motifs already established for the various monsters in previous films, the music was dressed up with new orchestrations and developments and generally recomposed especially for this film. As is the case with much film music of the period, no orchestral scores exist. Fortunately, composer Hans J. Salter had kept a copy of the piano- conductor parts and it was from these three-line sketches that full orchestral scores were reconstructed for this premiere recording of the complete score. Since these piano-conductor parts were made primarily for copyright and conducting purposes, they are only an approximation of the full scores. Often prepared in haste, these scores are inundated with wrong notes, inaccurate rhythms and missing musical lines. Since the audio portion of the music existed only within the mixed soundtrack of the final film, it was quite a challenge to "hear" the music buried beneath dialogue, explosions, screams and other unsavoury sounds. I want to thank my friend Bill Stromberg for not only conducting the excellent Moscow Sjilnphony Orchestra in faithful performances of this music but stepping in at the last minute and reconstructing several important cues when the dreaded deadline loomed ahead. I must also thank Klaus Heymann of Marco Polo for supporting this project by supplying us with the finest musicians, recording and production facilities. O 1995 John Morgan Moscow Symphony Orchestra The Moscow Symphony Orchestra was established in 1989 and is under the direction of distinguished French musician Antonio de Almeida. Members of the orchestra include prize-winners and laureates of international and Russian music, graduates of the conservatories of Moscow, Leningrad and Kiev, who have played under such conductors as Svetlanov, Rozhdestvensky, Mravinsky and Ozawa, in Russia and throughout the world. The orchestra toured in 1991 to Finland and to England, where their collaboration with a well-known rock band demonstrated readiness for experiment. A British and Japanese cominission brought a series of twelve television programmes for international distribution and in 1993 there was a highly successful tour of Spain. The Moscow Symphony Orchestra has a wide repertoire, with special expertise in the performance of contemporary works. William T. Stromberg William T. Stromberg started his music career composing and orchestrating music for motion pictures. Among his film scores are The Killing Streets, Edge of Hoi~or,Oddball Hdl, Sileilt Victiiii and the documentary Triiiity aid Beyond. He also is in great demand as conductor for many composers based in Hollywood. In March 1995, Stromberg conducted a special film music concert in Europe, helping celebrate the 100-year anniversary of film music. In addition to his conducting assignments, he has been busy reconstructing classic film music for new recordings. John Morgan John Morgan is a film composer based in Los Angeles. After receiving his master's degree in music at San Diego State University, he moved to Los Angeles and started orchestrating for such notable composers as Fred Steiner, Alex North and Bruce Broughton. He soon branched out to compose scores for such motion pictures as The Aftennnth, Flicks, Empire of the Dnrk and The Medal. He is slated to compose the music for David Allen's upcoming fantasy/adventure epic Prinzeunls. In addition to his own composing activities, Morgan is reconstructing and arranging several classic film scores for Marco Polo's Film Music Series. Acknowledgements: Mark Frisbie, Warner Bros. Music Library, Bob Burns, Rick Baker, William Rosar, Ann Whitaker and Lawrence Stewart Talbot. Glenn Strange, Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney Jr. in House of Fvnitke~lsteirl Lon Chaney Jr. and Elena Verdugo John Carradine as Dracula inHo~rseof Fmitkeilsteirr in Ho~lseof Frn~tkeirstei~z Glenn Strange, Boris Icarloff in Ho~rseof Frnilkeilstri~l

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Paul Dessau 19 House of Frankenstein Guests John Morgan, William T. Stromberg and Bill Whitaker (Photo by Rick Baker)