Bernard Herrmann: Difference between revisions

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'''[[Bernard Herrmann]]''', born in New York City on June 29, 1911, was the son of Russian Jewish immigrants. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest film composers of all time. Herrmann's music is typified by frequent use of ''ostinati'' (short repeating patterns), novel orchestration and, in his film scores, an ability to portray character traits not altogether obvious from other elements of the film. He won an [[Academy Award|Oscar]] for ''[[The Devil and Daniel Webster]]'' (1941), his second film score.

In 1934, he joined the Columbia Broadcasting System ([[CBS]]) as a staff conductor. Whilst at CBS, he met Orson Welles, and wrote scores for his Mercury Theatre broadcasts including the famous adaptation of [[HGH. G. Wells]]' ''[[The War of the Worlds (novel)|The War of the Worlds]]''. When Welles moved to movies, Herrmann went with him, writing the scores for ''[[Citizen Kane (Film)|Citizen Kane]]'' (1941) and ''[[The Magnificent Ambersons]]'' (1942), although the score for the latter, like the film itself, was heavily edited by the studio.

Twentieth Century-Fox music director [[Alfred Newman]] hired Herrmann to score ''[[Jane Eyre]]'' (1943), ''[[Hanover Square]]'' (1945), ''[[Anna And The King Of Siam]]'' (1946), ''[[The Ghost and Mrs. Muir]]'' (1947) and ''[[The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951 film)|The Day the Earth Stood Still]]'' (1951).

Hermann is most closely associated with the director [[Alfred Hitchcock]]. He wrote the scores for every Hitchcock film from ''[[The Trouble Withwith Harry]]'' (1956) to ''[[Marnie]]'' (1964), a period which included ''[[Vertigo]]'' and ''[[North Byby Northwest]]''. He oversaw the sound design in ''[[The Birds]]'' (1963), although there was no actual music in the film as such, just electronically created bird sounds. Herrmann's most famous music is probably from another Hitchcock film, ''[[Psycho]]''. The [[Psycho Strings|screeching violin music]] heard during the shower scene (a scene which Hitchcock originally suggested have no music at all) is probably one of the most famous moments from all film scores. His score for ''[[Vertigo]]'' is just as masterly. In many of the key scenes Hitchcock essentially gave the film over to Herrmann, whose melodies, echoing [[Richard Wagner]]'s "Liebestod" from ''[[Tristan Und Isolde]]'', dramatically conveys Scotty's obsessive love for the woman he imagines to be Madeleine. Their working relationship was rocky at times; in one film, Hitchcock wanted a scene in a rowboat to have no music, because "How did the orchestra get out in the middle of the lake?" (To which Hermann replied "And how did the cameras get out there?") Herrmann's relationship with Hitchcock came to an end when the latter rejected a score for ''[[Torn Curtain]]''.

Herrmann's non-cinematic works include the four-act opera ''[[Wuthering Heights (Literaturenovel)|Wuthering Heights]]''. Herrmann also did some television work; he composed the original theme song for ''[[The Twilight Zone (TV)|The Twilight Zone]]'' (used only during the first season), and also scored individual episodes of that series, ''[[The Alfred Hitchcock Hour]]'' and ''[[Have Gun — Will Travel]]''.

=== Film Scores Written By Bernard Herrman Include: ===

* ''[[Citizen Kane (Film)|Citizen Kane]]'' (1941)

* ''[[The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951 film)|The Day the Earth Stood Still]]'' (1951)

* ''[[The Trouble Withwith Harry]]'' (1955)

* ''[[North Byby Northwest]]''

* ''[[ItsIt's Alive]]'' (1974)

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