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Since 1931, the idea of the vampire has shifted from a very dangerous if charismatically seductive monster to a figure of sympathy. This essay examines the role that music has played in this transformation, with a particular focus on Dracula adaptations. The sympathetic vampire owes a clear debt to Blacula (1972) and Anne Rice’s novel, Interview with the Vampire (1976). The 1992 Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the closely following adaptation of Rice’s novel for the screen in 1994 combine to produce a sympathetic vampire with an entirely different musical identity that has made its presence felt in both film and TV ever since. In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the vampire as remorseless killer and devoted lover is embodied in a single figure, which the thematic scoring reflects; in Interview, these two aspects are divided between Lestat and Louis, respectively, and again, the scoring follows this. This essay focuses on how these roles and musical strategies repeat themselves in subsequent narratives, in particular two Dracula TV series (2013 and 2020).
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | The Palgrave Handbook of the Vampire |
| Editors | Simon Bacon |
| Place of Publication | Cham, Switxzerland |
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 978-3-030-82301-6 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-3-030-82301-6 |
| Publication status | Published or Performed - 2023 |