Napoléon

Few films are both as monumental and obscure as Abel Gance’s Napoléon; the same can be said of its music, written in various versions by celebrated composers, including Arthur Honegger. But in 1927 few theatres housed an orchestra, so more often a pianist would sit beside the screen, drawing on collections of pieces specifically conceived for cinema, such as the Allgemeines Handbuch der Film-Musik by Giuseppe Becce, Hans Erdmann and Ludwig Brav, and Motion Picture Moods by Ernö Rapée. As a tribute to that historical practice, this cine-concert presents a selection of moments from one of the most elusive masterpieces of silent film, a spectacular movie distributed in many versions and long shrouded in an almost legendary aura.