A pair of miracle glasses that make the dead appear alive, a duel with an opponent without a shadow, deadly medical advice and three mysterious women: Max Neufeld's 1923 silent film ‘Tales of Hoffmann’ is based on eerie stories by the Romantic writer E.T.A. Hoffmann, who was nicknamed ‘Gespenster Hoffmann’.

As a commissioned work for ‘200 Years Konzerthaus Berlin’, Johannes Kalitzke has written a new composition for the restored version of the film with his ‘Beethoven Variations for Orchestra’. We talked to Johannes Kalitzke before the premiere at Gendarmenmarkt in September 2021.

As part of the ‘Now! Laissez vibrer’ festival at the Philharmonie Essen, the Konzerthausorchester, conducted by the composer, will perform the work again on Oktober 31.

What does your working process look like when you compose music for a silent film like ‘The Tales of Hoffmann’? Do you always work ‘with one eye’ on the film and its sequence, so to speak?

First of all, I analyse the film to work out its proportions. I need to know which action in the film lasts how long in order to compose the individual parts of the music accordingly. For the sake of clarity, I use an Excel table here. The context is very important to me so as not to create a patchwork. The large-scale form must work in the arc of suspense. Then I sift: what should be illustrated, which scenes deserve a musical subtext? After that, I need some distance from the film so as not to work too closely with it.

It's easy to imagine a musical illustration - this could be sounds such as a doorbell, musical imitations of snow flurries or the right music for a chase up many flights of stairs. Please explain what you mean by subtext.

r me, the interesting thing about composing for film is using music to describe contradictions between perception and reality. We mustn't forget that one of the contexts of expressionist film is psychoanalysis. In ‘The Tales of Hoffmann’, the theme of deception is already in the material: Hoffmann's eponymous alter ego desires three women who are not at all what he thinks they are. We are in the ‘headspace’ of this man driven by his desires and illusions the whole time. The music often exposes what he is unable to recognise.

Surrounded by illusions - Hoffmann's alter ego in the silent film. Credit: Filmarchiv Austria

Your composition for the film is entitled ‘Beethoven Variations for Orchestra’. What role did Beethoven play for E.T.A. Hoffmann?

They knew and appreciated each other. Hoffmann wrote a lot about Beethoven. He is present in the aforementioned ‘headspace’ of the Hoffmann character. However, Beethoven can hardly be heard here in the sense of quotations, although the opening chords of all nine symphonies are in the first two bars. What sounds like Beethoven in other passages is, however, recomposed in the style of Beethoven. Hoffmann's ‘headspace’ also contains memories of his own works such as Undine and a strange androgynous voice. It was created using original material from the last living singer-castrato, who repeatedly accompanies the grotesque appearance of diabolical apparitions as an eerie guest.

Are there any particular hurdles for an orchestra when rehearsing music for a silent film or is this process similar to any other work that is premiered?

Close concentration and attention to detail like in an old-style ‘radio production’ are definitely necessary for this. As a conductor, I have my eyes on the counter because I need a timecode to catch the meeting points between the film and the music. This means I can direct the orchestra less than usual with my eyes, which would be more liberating and beautiful. It's important to tell the orchestra beforehand that it's more on its own. That worked very well.

The orchestra features numerous unusual percussion instruments, including dried pumpkin shell halves in basins of water, the forest devil or humming pot, bells, sandpaper and the blue ‘blunderbuss’ with the spiral. There is also a so-called Stroh violin. Is this a regularly recurring arsenal in your compositions or an unusual choice for you specifically for ‘Hoffmann's Tales’?

These are sound instruments that are often used in a naturalistic way according to a certain sound concept. To give an example: When a villain rubs his hands deviously in a film, this is imitated with a rhythm on sandpaper. In addition, such instruments often serve as bridges to the electronically generated sounds.

Incidentally, the ‘real’ historical E.T.A. Hoffmann lived on Gendarmenmarkt during his time in Berlin and had his favourite pub just around the corner from today's Konzerthaus Berlin. Credit: Filmarchiv Austria