Timothy Brock
Encyclopedia
Timothy Brock is an American composer and conductor specializing in concert works of the early 20th century and silent film. His works include Nine Ball Suite (1986), Requiem for the Old St. Nicholas Church (1989), three symphonies, six string quartets, four concertos (piano, clarinet, viola, and violoncello), the operas Billy (1995), and Mudhoney (1998) both in collaboration with librettist Bryan Willis. Brock wrote or restored original orchestral scores to nearly 20 silent films including G.W. Pabst's Pandora's Box
(1929) and Diary of a Lost Girl
(1929), F.W. Murnau's Sunrise (1927) and Faust
(1926), Robert Wiene
's The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari (1920), Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North
(1922) and Berlin: Symphony of a Great City
(1927) by Walter Ruttmann
. In 2000, after restoring and performing Charlie Chaplin
's score to Modern Times
(1936), Brock began a project for the Chaplin family
to restore and perform their father's scores. This project resulted in performances with live orchestral accompaniment of City Lights
(1931), The Circus (1928), A Dog's Life
(1918), Shoulder Arms
(1918), and The Pilgrim (1923). Brock also composed and performed music for Buster Keaton
's films Steamboat Bill Jr.
(1928), One Week (1920), and The General
(1927).
Pandora's Box (film)
Pandora's Box is a 1929 German silent melodrama film based on Frank Wedekind's plays Erdgeist and Die Büchse der Pandora . Directed by Austrian filmmaker Georg Wilhelm Pabst, the film stars Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, and Francis Lederer...
(1929) and Diary of a Lost Girl
Diary of a Lost Girl
Diary of a Lost Girl is a 1929 silent film directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst and starring the American silent star Louise Brooks. It is shot in black and white, and various versions of the film range from 79 minutes to 116 minutes in length. This was Brooks' second and last film with Pabst, and...
(1929), F.W. Murnau's Sunrise (1927) and Faust
Faust (1926 film)
Faust is a silent film produced in 1926 by UFA, directed by F.W. Murnau, starring Gösta Ekman as Faust, Emil Jannings as Mephisto, Camilla Horn as Gretchen/Marguerite, Frida Richard as her mother, Wilhelm Dieterle as her brother and Yvette Guilbert as Marthe Schwerdtlein, her aunt...
(1926), Robert Wiene
Robert Wiene
Robert Wiene was an important film director of the German silent cinema.Robert Wiene was born in Breslau, as the elder son of the successful theatre actor Carl Wiene. His younger brother Conrad also became an actor, but Robert Wiene at first studied law at the University of Berlin. In 1908 he also...
's The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari (1920), Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North
Nanook of the North
Nanook of the North is a 1922 silent documentary film by Robert J. Flaherty. In the tradition of what would later be called salvage ethnography, Flaherty captured the struggles of the Inuk Nanook and his family in the Canadian arctic...
(1922) and Berlin: Symphony of a Great City
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City
Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis is a 1927 German film directed by Walter Ruttmann, co-written by Carl Mayer and Karl Freund....
(1927) by Walter Ruttmann
Walter Ruttmann
Walter Ruttmann was a German film director and along with Hans Richter and Viking Eggeling was an early German practitioner of experimental film....
. In 2000, after restoring and performing Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
's score to Modern Times
Modern Times (film)
Modern Times is a 1936 comedy film by Charlie Chaplin that has his iconic Little Tramp character struggling to survive in the modern, industrialized world. The film is a comment on the desperate employment and fiscal conditions many people faced during the Great Depression, conditions created, in...
(1936), Brock began a project for the Chaplin family
Chaplin family
The Chaplin family is an English/American/Swiss acting family. There are the descendants of Hannah Chaplin, chiefly known as the mother of Charlie Chaplin, the Academy Award-winning English comedic actor and filmmaker. Hannah Chaplin's mother was half-Roma...
to restore and perform their father's scores. This project resulted in performances with live orchestral accompaniment of City Lights
City Lights
City Lights is a 1931 American silent film and romantic comedy-drama written by, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. It also has the leads Virginia Cherrill and Harry Myers. Although "talking" pictures were on the rise since 1928, City Lights was immediately popular. Today, it is thought of...
(1931), The Circus (1928), A Dog's Life
A Dog's Life
A Dog's Life is a silent film written, produced and directed by Charlie Chaplin. This was Chaplin's first film for First National Films....
(1918), Shoulder Arms
Shoulder Arms
Shoulder Arms is Charlie Chaplin's second film for First National Pictures. Released in 1918, it is a silent comedy set in France during World War I. The main part of the film occurs in a dream. It co-starred Edna Purviance and Sydney Chaplin, Chaplin's brother...
(1918), and The Pilgrim (1923). Brock also composed and performed music for Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
's films Steamboat Bill Jr.
Steamboat Bill Jr.
Steamboat Bill Jr. is a 1928 feature-length comedy silent film featuring Buster Keaton. Released by United Artists, the film is the last product of Keaton's independent production team and set of gag writers. It was not a box-office success and proved to be the last picture Keaton would make for...
(1928), One Week (1920), and The General
The General (1927 film)
The General is a 1926 American silent comedy film released by United Artists inspired by the Great Locomotive Chase, which happened in 1862. Buster Keaton starred in the film and co-directed it with Clyde Bruckman...
(1927).