Bernard Herrmann and his music

You’ve never heard of Bernard Herrmann (29 June 1911 – 24 December 1975)? Well, maybe you’ve never heard of him, but you have heard him if you’ve ever seen tv’s Twilight Zone or Have Gun – Will Travel or classic films such as Citizen Kane, Vertigo, Psycho, North by Northwest, Fahrenheit 451, or Taxi Driver. The music is all from the fertile, talented mind of Bernard Herrmann. 

Herrmann worked with Orson Welles on the radio on such programs as CBS Workshop, Welles’ Mercury Theater on the Air, and Campbell Playhouse. This led to Welles having Herrmann score two of his films, Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons.

Herrmann also had great success in working with Alfred Hitchcock: The Trouble with Harry (1955), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) where Herrmann is seen conducting the concert at the Royal Albert Hall, The Wrong Man (1956), Vertigo (1957), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960), and Marnie (1964). He was also sound consultant on 1963’s The Birds; there was no music score, just bird sounds.

You’ll recall the music to the Twilight Zone that goes dada dada dada dada. That’s not Bernard Herrmann. His theme was used in the early years of the show and, in my opinion, is the better of the two. Its atmospheric and sinister bent is much more in keeping with the disturbing ideas of the episodes.

He was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning only once in 1941 for The Devil and Daniel Webster. However, his music has been used or sampled in everything from Volkswagon and Dodge commercials to songs by Busta Rhymes and Lady Gaga and Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol. 1. Even so, it’s best to listen to Herrmann’s music in context and for its own greatness. Here are two samples: the first is a suite from Psycho, including the infamous shower scene music and then his Twilight Zone theme music. Enjoy!