The door opens with a creak, lightning briefly illuminates the scene, a child’s cry is heard, and the howl of wolves fearsomely pierces the brief silence between the rumble of thunder. We are directly in the story about Dracula. Composed by Kelly Bennette. This programmatic piece offers a musical setting of the vampire story. It begins with Jon Harker’s journey to Transylvania to make a real estate deal with Count Dracula. Harker soon finds out that Dracula is a vampire. There are many exciting themes in this play, including the female vampire attack on Harker, Lucy becoming a vampire, Doctor Seward and Doctor Van Helsing tracking Dracula down and eventually driving a stake through his heart to kill him.
Dracula is a great addition to a general concert or Halloween concert. Sound recordings with the effects for rain, thunder, spooky door knocking, squeaky hinges and howling wolves are available for download. This piece is sure to make any concert exciting!
Kelly Bennette earned a BS in music education from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas in 1989. He recently retired from directing school bands and now composes full-time. Kelly Bennette’s performance experience includes six years as tuba player with the Lamar Faculty Quintet and nine years as tuba player with the Beaumont Symphony Orchestra. He was active in public education for twenty-eight years. His musical compositions include some eighty marches and numerous overtures and concert pieces for orchestra.