Bernard Herrmann
Height:
173 cm
The man behind the low woodwinds that open Citizen Kane (1941), the shrieking violins of Psychose (1960), and the plaintive saxophone of Taxi Driver (1976) was one of the most original and distinctive composers ever to work in film. He started early, winning a composition prize at the age of 13 and founding his own orchestra at the age of 20. After...
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The man behind the low woodwinds that open Citizen Kane (1941), the shrieking violins of Psychose (1960), and the plaintive saxophone of Taxi Driver (1976) was one of the most original and distinctive composers ever to work in film. He started early, winning a composition prize at the age of 13 and founding his own orchestra at the age of 20. After writing scores for Orson Welles's radio shows in the 1930s (including the notorious 1938 "The War of the Worlds" broadcast), he was the obvious choice to score Welles's film debut, Citizen Kane (1941), and, subsequently, La splendeur des Amberson (1942), although he removed his name from the latter after additional music was added without his (or Welles's) consent when the film was mutilated by a panic-stricken studio. Herrmann was a prolific film composer, producing some of his most memorable work for Alfred Hitchcock, for whom he wrote nine scores. A notorious perfectionist and demanding (he once said that most directors didn't have a clue about music, and he blithely ignored their instructions--like Hitchcock's suggestion that Psychose (1960) have a jazz score and no music in the shower scene). He ended his partnership with Hitchcock after the latter rejected his score for Le rideau déchiré (1966) on studio advice. He was also an early experimenter in the sounds used in film scores, most famously Le jour où la terre s'arrêta (1951), scored for two theremins, pianos, and a horn section; and was a consultant on the electronic sounds created by Oskar Sala on the mixtrautonium for Les oiseaux (1963). His last score was for Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976) and died just hours after recording it. He also wrote an opera, "Wuthering Heights", and a cantata, "Moby Dick". Show less «
Your views are as narrow as your tie.
Your views are as narrow as your tie.
In California, they like to pigeonhole you. From the time I began working for Hitchcock [Alfred Hitchcock], they decided I was a big suspens...Show more »
In California, they like to pigeonhole you. From the time I began working for Hitchcock [Alfred Hitchcock], they decided I was a big suspense man. On other occasions, I've had fantasies of bittersweet romantic stories. I think I'd enjoy writing a good comedy score, but I've never had the luck to be offered such films. Mancini [Henry Mancini] gets the cheerful ones. Show less «
I wrote the main title to Psychose (1960) before Saul Bass even did the animation . . . After the main title, nothing much happens for 20 mi...Show more »
I wrote the main title to Psychose (1960) before Saul Bass even did the animation . . . After the main title, nothing much happens for 20 minutes or so. Appearances, of course, are deceiving, for in fact the drama starts immediately with the titles . . . I am firmly convinced, and so is Hitchcock [Alfred Hitchcock], that after the main titles you know something terrible must happen. The main title sequence tells you so, and that is its function: to set the drama. You don't need cymbal crashes or records that never sell. Show less «
[Good film music] . . . can invest a scene with terror, grandeur, gaiety or misery . . . \propel narrative swiftly forward, or slow it down.
[Good film music] . . . can invest a scene with terror, grandeur, gaiety or misery . . . \propel narrative swiftly forward, or slow it down.
[Alfred Hitchcock] only finishes a picture 60 percent. I have to finish it for him.
[Alfred Hitchcock] only finishes a picture 60 percent. I have to finish it for him.