The man behind the low woodwinds that open
Citizen Kane (1941), the shrieking
violins of Psycho (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,
Der Glanz des Hauses 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
Psycho (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
Der zerrissene Vorhang (1966) on studio
advice. He was also an early experimenter in the sounds used in film
scores, most famously
Der Tag, an dem die Erde stillstand (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
Die Vögel (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".
