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Music

The original score

Like many big budget films of the time, the original release of Metropolis had an original musical score meant to be performed by large orchestras accompanying the film in major theatres. The music was composed by Gottfried Huppertz, who had composed the original scores for Lang's Die Nibelungen films in 1924. For Metropolis Huppertz composed a leitmotific orchestral score which included many elements from the music of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss, plus some mild modernism for the city of the workers and the use of the popular Dies Irae for some apocalyptic imagery. His music played a prominent role during the shooting of the film, since during principal photography many scenes were accompanied by him playing the piano to get a certain effect from the actors.

The score was rerecorded for the most recent DVD release of the film with Berndt Heller conducting the Rundfunksinfonieorchester Saarbrücken. It was the first release of the reasonably reconstructed movie accompanied by the music that was originally intended for it. In 2007 the original film score was also played live by the VCS Radio Symphony which accompanied the restored version of the film at Brenden Theatres in Vacaville, CA on August 1 & 2.^[18] The score was also produced in a salon orchestration which was performed for the first time in the United States in August, 2007 by The Bijou Orchestra under the direction of Leo Najar as part of a German Expressionist film festival in Bay City, Michigan.^[19] The same forces also performed the work at the Traverse City Film Festival in Traverse City, Michigan in August, 2009.^[20]

Other soundtracks

There have been many other soundtracks created for Metropolis by many different artists, including, but not limited to:

• 1975 - The BBC version of Metropolis features an electronic score, composed by William Fitzwater and Hugh Davies.
• 1984 - Video Yesteryear, VHS release - The original score is performed by Rosa Rio at the Hammond organ.
• 1984 – Giorgio Moroder restored and produced the 80-minute 1984 re-release, which had a pop soundtrack written by Moroder and performed by Moroder, Pat Benatar, Bonnie Tyler, Jon Anderson, Adam Ant, Cycle V, Loverboy, Billy Squier, and Freddie Mercury. The Moroder soundtrack is available on CD, but his version of the film itself is not available on DVD, only on out-of print laserdiscs and videotapes.
• 1991 – Club Foot Orchestra. Performed live to accompany the 80-minute Moroder version. Soundtrack available on CD.
• 1991 – The Alloy Orchestra formed to create a new original score to Moroder's version of Metropolis.
• 1994 – Rambo Amadeus, Serbia-based Montenegrin composer. At a movie screening at Sava Center, Rambo's music was played by Belgrade Philharmonic. The material was recorded in 1998 by Rambo himself along with Miroslav Savić and Heavily Manipulated Orchestra, and released as Metropolis B (Tour de Force).
• 1994 – Galeshka Moravioff. Score used in one of the variants of Filmmuseum Munich restoration.
• 1995 – Martin Matalon. Score used in another variant of Filmmuseum Munich restoration.
• 1996 – DJ Dado records techno version of the "Tower of Babel" section of Moroder's score. The German CD release contains several mixes.
• 1998 – Peter Osborne. Synth orchestral / electronic. For JEF/Eureka 139-minute B&W DVD version, released only in UK. Not available on CD.
• 1999 – Angel Tech. 3-piece group from Bristol, UK. Performed live to various versions in 1999/2000. Availability unknown.
• 2000 – After Quartet. Jazz group. Score by Brian McWhorter. Accompanies the 80-minute Moroder cut. Soundtrack available on CD.
• 2000 – Dan Schaaf. Performed live for festivals in 2000/2001. Available on CD.
• 2001 – Mute Life Dept. Portuguese group. Accompanied Filmmuseum Munich version, for live performance at Porto 2001. Available on CD.
• 2001 – Jeff Mills. Electronic artist. Available on CD.
• 2001 – Bernd Schultheis and Sofia's Radio Orchestra. Accompaniment for film festivals in 2001. Availability unknown. (Shown on German TV)
• 2002 – The original Gottfried Huppertz score was rerecorded in this entirety for the DVD release by Kino International.
• 2002 - Art Zoyd - Metropolis. French avant-garde/electronic band. Available on CD.
• 2004 – Abel Korzeniowski - Metropolis—Symphony of Fear (40-minute preview) (requires Flash).
• 2004 – Denver filmmaker Ronnie Cramer. Available on CD.
• 2005 – South Australian group "The New Pollutants" (Benjamin Speed and Tyson Hopprich) released Metropolis Rescore. It was performed live for festivals 2005/2006.
• 2009 - Dublin ambient rock collective 3epkano. Performed live at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
• 2009 - London electronic group Serum Electronique. Performing in various south London venues towards the end of the year including Elefest in the Groovy Movie Picture House mobile solar powered cinema.