Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911 – December 24, 1975) was an American composer known for writing music for movies.
Bernard Herrmann | |
|---|---|
 Bernard Herrmann in 1970 | |
| Born | Max Herman June 29, 1911 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | December 24, 1975 (aged 64) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Heart failure |
| Resting place | Beth David Cemetery Elmont, New York, U.S. |
| Other names | Bernard Maximillian Herrmann |
| Occupation |
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| Years active | 1941–1975 |
| Spouse(s) | Lucy Anderson (m. 1949; div. 1964) Norma Shepherd (m. 1967) |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | 1941 Academy Award for Music Score of a Dramatic Picture, The Devil and Daniel Webster a.k.a. All That Money Can Buy 1976 BAFTA Award for Best Film Music, Taxi Driver |
| Website | thebernardherrmannestate |
He won the Academy Award for the movie The Devil and Daniel Webster made in 1941. Herrmann often worked with director Alfred Hitchcock, including Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo. He also wrote music for many other movies, including Citizen Kane, Cape Fear and Taxi Driver. He also wrote music for radio drama including works for Orson Welles. He wrote for several fantasy movies by Ray Harryhausen, and many television programs.
Influences
Herrmann stated composers like Charles Ives, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Percy Grainger and Max Steiner as influences.
Movie scores
Note: This is by the date of release, not when they were written
Radio scores
Melodramas
These works are for a speaker and a full orchestra. These were written to be played over the radio because a human voice would not be able to be heard over the full volume of an orchestra. The 1935 works were written before June 1935.
- La Belle Dame Sans Merci (September 1934)
- The City of Brass (December 1934)
- Annabel Lee (1934-1935)
- Poem Cycle (1935):
- The Willow Leaf
- Weep No More, Sad Fountains
- Something Tells
- A Shropshire Lad (1935)
- Cynara (1935)
Music for radio shows and dramas
- Palmolive Beauty Box (1935?) (2 existing cues)
- Dauber (October 1936)
- Rhythm of the Jute Mill (December 1936)
- Gods of the Mountain (1937)
- Brave New World (1956)
Concert works
- The Forest: Tone poem for Large Orchestra (1929)
- November Dusk: Tone Poem for Large Orchestra (1929)
- Tempest and Storm: Furies Shrieking!: for Piano (1929)
- The Dancing Faun and The Bells: Two Songs for Medium Voice and Small Chamber Orchestra (1929)
- Requiescat: Violin and Piano (1929)
- Twilight: Violin and Piano (1929)
- March Militaire (1932), ballet music for Americana Revue (1932)
- Aria for Flute and Harp (1932)
- Variations on "Deep River" and "Water Boy" (1933)
- Prelude to Anathema: for Fifteen Instruments (1933)
- Silent Noon: for Fourteen Instruments (1933)
- The Body Beautiful (1935), music from the Broadway play
- Nocturne and Scherzo (1935)
- Sinfonietta for Strings (1935)
- Currier and Ives Suite (1935)
- Violin Concerto: Unfinished (1937)
- Moby Dick: Cantata (1937)
- Johnny Appleseed: Unfinished Cantata (1940)
- Symphony (1941)
- The Fantasticks (1942)
- The Devil and Daniel Webster Suite (1942)
- For the Fallen (1943)
- Welles Raises Kane (1943)
- Wuthering Heights: Opera (1951)
- Echoes: String Quartet (1965)
- Souvenirs de Voyage (1967)
- The King of Schnorrers (1968) Musical comedy
Bernard Herrmann Media
Herrmann conducts the CBS Radio orchestra at a rehearsal of The Mercury Theatre on the Air directed by Orson Welles (1938)
Herrmann conducting the orchestra in a scene from The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Related pages
- Columbia Workshop - a radio series for which Herrmann was music director and wrote music for many episodes.
- High Anxiety— a comedy that makes fun of many Hitchcock movies and Herrmann's music.
- Hitchcock & Herrmann— a stage play about the relationship between Herrmann and Alfred Hitchcock.
References
Other websites
- The Bernard Herrmann Estate
- The Bernard Herrmann Society
- Bernard Herrmann on IMDb
- Bernard Herrmann papers Archived 2008-05-09 at the Wayback Machine, at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.
- Bernard Herrmann: The Early Years
- Bernard Herrmann at Soundtrackguide.net
- Bernard Herrmann: A Celebration of his Life and Music Archived 2008-08-28 at the Wayback Machine
- Gramophone magazine obituary Archived 2011-07-10 at the Wayback Machine, February 1976.