Bernard Herrmann

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Bernard Herrmann (born June 29, 1911 in New York City , † December 24, 1975 in Los Angeles ) was an American conductor and composer , who became known for his film compositions . Herrmann gained particular fame through his collaboration with director Alfred Hitchcock , for whom he composed the music for the classic film Psycho , among other things .

life and work

Bernard Herrmann came from a Jewish family of Russian descent and was born in New York City as Max Herman. Herrmann's father encouraged his son's interest in music at an early age, took him to the opera and encouraged him to learn to play the violin .

At the age of 12 he composed his first song. After winning $ 100 in a competition at the age of 13, Herrmann decided to continue focusing on music and began studying at the Juilliard School in New York. In 1931 he joined the Young Composers Group around the well-known Aaron Copland , whose members also included Herrmann's childhood friend Jerome Moross , Henry G. Brandt and Elie Siegmeister . The group, formed to promote contemporary American music, was short-lived, however.

Afterwards he worked for a while as a conductor and also worked as a composer for the broadcaster CBS . There he met the young director Orson Welles and took over the musical direction of his radio play War of the Worlds , which was broadcast on the radio from the Mercury Theater (he only used works by other composers here). When Welles then turned to the film, Herrmann wrote the music for his two most famous films, Citizen Kane (1941) and The Magnificent Ambersons ( The Magnificent Ambersons , 1942). However, like the film itself, the latter music was heavily edited by the studio.

Herrmann continued to work for the CBS and in 1940 took over the management of the "CBS Symphony Orchestra". In this function he promoted both American composers - Herrmann advocated the music of Charles Ives , which was then considered "unheard of or unplayable" long before Leonard Bernstein did - as well as European, especially English music. These were works by Ralph Vaughan Williams , Constant Lambert , Arthur Bliss and Arnold Bax . He was particularly fond of the music of Joachim Raff , whose Symphony No. 5 'Lenore' Herrmann recorded for the first time on phonograms in the sixties. Herrmann's ambitions to lead a famous orchestra one day did not materialize, however. Nevertheless, he led performances as a guest conductor with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra , the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra , the London Philharmonic Orchestra and several times the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, of which John Barbirolli became a close friend of Herrmann's.

Herrmann also gained great fame through his work for Alfred Hitchcock, for whom he wrote the films Immer Ärger mit Harry ( The Trouble with Harry , 1956), Vertigo - From the Realm of the Dead ( Vertigo , 1958), The Invisible Third ( North by Northwest , 1959) to Marnie ( Marnie , 1964).

In the film Die Vögel ( The Birds , 1963) he was only able to oversee the sound design, as the film did not contain any music, only electronic sound effects, among others by Oskar Sala . Herrmann was interested in electronic music early on, when he composed for the William Dieterle film Jenny - A Portrait of Jennie ( A Portrait of Jennie , 1948), using the early electronic instrument theremin , which was then used again in his composition Robert Wise's science-fiction film the day the earth Stood Still ( the day the earth Stood Still , 1951) was used.

In Hitchcock's own remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much ( The Man Who Knew Too Much ) 1956 was then seen Herrmann in person in the film. He conducted the Storm Clouds Cantata by the Australian composer Arthur Benjamin at the Royal Albert Hall , which played an important role in the context of the film. (The famous song Que Sera, Sera by the leading actress Doris Day , however, did not come from Herrmann's pen.)

Probably the most famous and, due to its stylistic peculiarity, most cited film music for Hitchcock was written by Herrmann in 1960 for the film Psycho . This score is exceptional due to the exclusive use of a string orchestra. The scene of the murder in the shower, one of the most visually recognizable in the film, shouldn't have any music at all, according to Hitchcock's ideas. The dissonant high-pitched violin “screams” composed by Herrmann convinced him of the opposite, and the scene became one of the greatest moments in film history.

In 1966 there was a break between Hitchcock and Herrmann. The composer had the instruction of the director, the film Torn Curtain ( Torn Curtain ) to write a catchy music with a usable as a film song Popthema, ignored and instead an aggressive, cold Thriller music for a large wind instruments with only a few high strings designed. The score provides for the following scoring: twelve flutes, sixteen horns, nine trombones, two tubas, two groups of timpani , eight cellos, eight double basses and a small violin and viola group. "The sound of twelve flutes will be terrifying," said Herrmann to his friend and colleague Laurie Johnson . Hitchcock appeared on the recordings, listened to the theme music, and declined the score and any further discussion about it. Although the recordings had already been scheduled and paid for, he forbade them to continue. This ended the collaboration. The English composer John Addison was commissioned with new music. Herrmann's rejected music was later recorded on record and CD by Elmer Bernstein and Joel McNeely .

Since he was now considered an "old man" in Hollywood, Herrmann moved to England and wrote the music for François Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451 in 1966 and later also for his film The Bride wore black . Herrmann created other film scores for science fiction and fantasy films , for example for Die Reise zum Zentrum der Erde ( Journey to the Center of the Earth , 1959), Sindbad's seventh journey ( The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad , 1958), Jason and the Argonauts ( Jason and the Argonauts , 1963), the mysterious island ( mysterious Iceland , 1961), the three worlds of Gulliver ( the three worlds of Gulliver , 1960), and the cradle of evil ( It's Alive! , 1974). The music for the film adaptation of the novel The Naked and the Dead ( The Naked and the Dead , 1958) by Norman Mailer also his work.

He wrote one of his most famous pieces today, Georgie's Theme , as the main theme of his soundtrack for the 1968 psychological thriller Twisted Nerve . Quentin Tarantino reused this theme in Kill Bill - Volume 1 for the scene in the hospital corridor in which the demonic, one-eyed nurse Elle Driver is walking down the aisle.

From the late 1950s, Herrmann also wrote music for television series. Probably the most notable work he did for the series Twilight Zone , including an introductory music used only in the first season. He also contributed music to the series Die Menschen von der Shiloh Ranch ( The Virginian , 1962) The Seaview - In a Secret Mission ( Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea , 1964) or Convoy (1965 based on the movie of the same name).

Herrmann's last works included film scores for directors Brian De Palma ( The Sisters of Evil and Black Angels ) and Martin Scorsese ( Taxi Driver ). Bernard Herrmann died in his sleep, the day after he finished recording the music for Taxi Driver . The film was dedicated to his memory.

In addition to the film music, Herrmann also wrote a number of works for the concert hall, for example the dramatic cantata Moby Dick (1938) and a symphony (1941). Since he resisted cuts or adaptations all his life, he never saw the world premiere of his three-hour opera Wuthering Heights based on the novel by Emily Brontë on November 6, 1982 in Portland. The European premiere took place on April 11, 2014 at the Braunschweig State Theater . Two of his chamber music works are the string quartet Echoes (1965) and the quintet Souvenirs de Voyage (1967).

Filmography

Awards

  • 1942: Oscar nomination for Citizen Kane
  • 1942: Oscar for The Devil and Daniel Webster
  • 1947: Oscar nomination for Anna and the King of Siam
  • 1952: Golden Globe nomination for The Day the Earth Stood Still
  • 1975: "Golden Scroll" of the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for his life's work
  • 1976: Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards for Taxi Driver
  • 1977: Oscar nomination for Black Angel
  • 1977: Oscar nomination for Taxi Driver
  • 1977: BAFTA Award for Taxi Driver
  • 1992: "BMI Film & TV Awards" for Cape Fear

His film scores for Vertigo - From the Realm of the Dead and Psycho reached number 12 and number 4 in the list of the 25 greatest film scores from 100 years published by the American Film Institute . Bernard Herrmann, along with Max Steiner , Elmer Bernstein and Jerry Goldsmith, is one of those composers who appear twice on the list. Only John Williams made three entries.

Documentary film

  • Music For The Movies: Bernard Herrmann. Documentary by Joshua Waletzky , 1992, 58 minutes [as DVD on Kultur Video 2007]

literature

  • Steven C. Smith: A Heart at Fire's Center. Life and Music of Bernard Herrmann. University of California Press 1991, ISBN 0-52007123-9 .
  • Bernard Herrmann on film music and the film music by Bernard Herrmann. In: Tony Thomas : Film music. The great film composers - their art and their technique (Film Score). Heyne, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-453-09007-1 , pp. 189-195.
  • Olaf Kiener: Bernard Herrmann - The black romantic. In: Filmharmonische Blätter, No. 6 / June 1987, pp. 28–39.
  • Radigales, Jaume: Wagner's Heritage in Cinema: The Bernard Herrmann Case. In: Sebastian Stoppe: Film in Concert. Film Scores and their Relation to Classical Concert Music . VWH Verlag, Glücksstadt, Germany 2014, ISBN 978-3-86488060-5 , pp. 45-62.

Web links

Commons : Bernard Herrmann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ biography on bernardherrmann.org
  2. ^ Smith, Steven C., A heart at fire's center - The life and music of Bernard Herrmann , University of California Press, 2012, ISBN 978-0520229396 , p. 8
  3. ↑ Steven C. Smith: A heart at fire's center - The life and music of Bernard Herrmann. University of California Press, 2012, ISBN 978-0520229396 , p. 271.
  4. ↑ Storm height . Website of the State Theater Braunschweig. Retrieved June 11, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Herrmann, Bernard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American composer
DATE OF BIRTH June 29, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH December 24, 1975
Place of death los Angeles