Bernard Herrmann
Born: 29 June 1911, New York, New York.
Died: 24 December 1975.
Biography:
Bernard Herrmann was a child prodigy who wrote his first major composition in his teens, and formed a chamber orchestra aged 20. In the 1930s, Herrmann formed a close friendship with an up-and-coming director called Orson Welles, and agreed to write some incidental music for a radio play Welles was planning. The radio play in question was the classic, panic-inducing broadcast of "The War of the Worlds" in 1938, which led directly to Welles being head-hunted by Hollywood. Herrmann followed Welles to Los Angeles, and made his film score debut in 1941 with the classic "Citizen Kane". During the thirty years which followed, Herrmann composed some of the most astounding and ground-breaking scores the cinema had ever known. Herrmann's filmography contains so many great scores that one hardly knows where to begin: "The Magnificent Ambersons" (1942), "Anna and the King of Siam" (1946), "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" (1947), "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951), "Vertigo" (1958), "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad" (1958), "North By Northwest" (1959), "Psycho" (1960), "Cape Fear" (1962) and "Jason and the Argonauts" (1963) were all created by Herrmann's great genius. Throughout the 1940s and 50s Herrmann was the chief conductor of the CBS Symphony Orchestra, and in this role contributed to many successful television shows, including "Gunsmoke", "Rawhide" and "The Twilight Zone". He also remained involved in the classical world, giving important premieres to music by composers including Ralph Vaughan Williams and Charles Ives, and writing his own concert hall music, which included his "First Symphony" and a dramatic cantata based on Herman Mellville's novel "Moby Dick". Although Herrmann was a notoriously prickly character prone to fits of rage, he nevertheless maintained many successful composer-director relationships throughout his career, the most notable being his near-legendary collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock - an association which ended when the great director rejected Herrmann's score for "Torn Curtain" (1966) and replaced it with one by John Addison. A new breed of directors, notably Martin Scorsese and Brian De Palma - were discovering Herrmann's talents in the 1970s, but sadly Herrmann died just hours after completing the final recording sessions for his powerful score for "Taxi Driver" on Christmas Eve 1975. Many of his classic scores have been re-recorded and re-released in the full glory of stereo sound, and the recent re-makes of "Cape Fear" and "Psycho" re-used his original underscore. Many people maintain that Bernard Herrmann was the greatest film music composer who ever lived. His legacy, in terms of musical structure, use of innovative instrumentation, and compositional style, is unmatched, and his impact on the way in which films were scored is incalculable.
Reviews:
The Devil and Daniel Webster, Psycho, Taxi Driver and The Classic Film Music of Bernard Herrmann (compilation).
Filmography:
Psycho (1998), Cape Fear (1991), It's Alive 2 (1978), Obsession (1976), Taxi Driver (1976), It's Alive! (1974), Sisters (1973), Endless Night (1971), The Night Digger (1971), The Battle of Neretva (1969), Obsessions (1969), Twisted Nerve (1968), Companions in Nightmare (1967), The Bride Wore Black (1967), Fahrenheit 451 (1966), Joy in the Morning (1965), Marnie (1964), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), Cape Fear (1962), Tender Is the Night (1962), Mysterious Island (1961), Psycho (1960), The Three Worlds of Gulliver (1960), Blue Denim (1959), Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959), North by Northwest (1959), The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958), The Fiend Who Walked the West (1958), The Naked and the Dead (1958), Vertigo (1958), A Hatful of Rain (1957), Have Gun Will Travel (1957), The Wrong Man (1957), Brave New World (1956), The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot (1956), A Child is Born (1955), The Kentuckian (1955), Prince of Players (1955), The Trouble with Harry (1955), A Christmas Carol (1954), The Egyptian (1954), Garden of Evil (1954), Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953), King of the Khyber Rifles (1953), White Witch Doctor (1953), 5 Fingers (1952), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), On Dangerous Ground (1951), Portrait of Jennie (1948), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), Anna and the King of Siam (1946), Hangover Square (1945), Jane Eyre (1944), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), Citizen Kane (1941), The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941).
Highest Grossing Films (adjusted for inflation):
Unavailable at this time.
Awards:
1941 Academy Awards - Winner, Best Original Dramatic Score - The Devil and Daniel Webster
1976 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score - Taxi Driver
1976 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score - Obsession
1946 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Dramatic or Comedy Score - Anna and the King of Siam
1941 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Dramatic Score - Citizen Kane
1976 BAFTA Awards – Winner, Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music – Taxi Driver
Links:
The Bernard Herrmann Society by Günther Kögebehn and Kurt George Gjerde
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