Eerie Organ Music Ups the Spook Factor at a Nosferatu Screening

The music builds from a ghastly whisper to a stomach-dropping roar. A trembling clarinet, bleating French horn and booming tuba fill Severance Hall. But you won’t find an orchestra at the Oct. 25 screening of the silent film Nosferatu. The sole music maker is the Norton Memorial Organ, a 1930s E.M. Skinner masterpiece with 6,025 pipes that are known to produce a symphonic sound. Sitting cloaked in darkness during the screening, Todd Wilson, the organ’s curator, uses the instrument’s versatility to mimic the suspenseful nature of the mysterious vampire movie. “It’s such an unusually dark and eerie film,” says Wilson. “One tries to create music that fits the same uneasy, unsettled, shadowy atmosphere — music that doesn’t feel like it resolves.” 11001 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com