Bernard Herrmann: Psycho Prelude, The City, Marion, The Murder (Shower Scene), The Toys, The Cellar, Discovery, Finale (for component 3: Appraising)

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1 Bernard Herrmann: Psych Prelude, The City, Marin, The Murder (Shwer Scene), The Tys, The Cellar, Discvery, Finale (fr cmpnent 3: Appraising) Backgrund infrmatin and perfrmance circumstances The cmpser Bernard Herrmann ( ) was an American cmpser and cnductr best knwn fr his wrk n film scres such as Citizen Kane, Jasn and the Argnauts, Fahrenheit 451 and Taxi Driver. He wn an Academy Award ( Oscar ) in 1941 fr his scre fr The Devil and Daniel Webster. His name is particularly assciated with the films f Alfred Hitchcck, scring seven films between 1955 and 1966 (when Hitchcck rejected Hermann s scre fr Trn Curtain). Of these, his scres fr Psych, Nrth by Nrthwest and Vertig are regarded as classics f the genre, Herrmann s uncmprmising music perfectly matching the twists and turns f Hitchcck s filmmaking. (Herrmann was als sund cnsultant fr Hitchcck s The Birds, where a musical scre was replaced by electrnically manipulated bird sunds.) Unlike the previus generatin f film cmpsers (wh had all migrated frm Eurpe, and whse musical styles were very much rted in late 19th and early 20th century Rmanticism), Herrmann was brn in New Yrk, studying at the Julliard Schl, and his influences were far mre varied and mdernist. He studied with Percy Grainger, lved the music f Delius, and, as a cnductr, champined the music f the early American experimental cmpser Charles Ives. In fact, his early career was as a cnductr and classical cmpser, and it was nly after he began wrking with the actr/directr Orsn Welles that he turned t writing music, first fr radi and then fr films. Renwned as quite a prickly character, with a (justifiably) high pinin f himself, he insisted frm the very beginning n artistic freedm, whenever he tk n a film (smething that few cmpsers, then r nw, have ever achieved!). Part f this independence was that he always rchestrated his wn scres, meaning that he culd have cmplete cntrl f the actual details f the sunds being made. As a cnductr wh had given first perfrmances f many new wrks in the 1930s and 1940s, he had a cmprehensive wrking knwledge f 20thcentury musical styles, and emplyed this in his wn music in Psych there are eches f Debussy, Bartk and Stravinsky. His last scre, fr Taxi Driver, was cmpleted in 1975, just befre his death. Herrmann, Hitchcck and Psych Psych was the sixth cllabratin between Hitchcck and Herrmann and is ne f the classic hrrr/thriller mvies, perhaps establishing the genre. Hitchcck always acknwledged the imprtance f Herrmann s music t the success f the film, saying that 33% f the effect f Psych is due t the music. Herrmann, fr his part, cmmented that Hitchcck nly finishes a picture 60%: I have t finish it fr him. It is very nticeable that n the pening credits f the film, Herrmann s name cmes up n the screen alne,

2 immediately befre Hitchcck s, and in the same large fnt size. (This imprtance was underlined in anther area, when Hitchcck dubled Herrmann s riginal fee t $34,500.) Herrmann s respnse t Hitchcck s disturbing, vilent masterpiece was t match the stark, cld, black and white images f the film with music in black and white, as he put it, by using nly the string sectin f the rchestra in his scre. Writing n less than 40 cues fr the film, Herrmann created tense, cld, ruthless music, evking madness at times, but als with ccasinal mments f tenderness. Using a dissnant and smetimes atnal musical style, Herrmann brke the muld f previus film scre styles by his widespread use f stinati, while achieving musical unity by the use f leitmtifs. The film s mst icnic scene, where the character Marin is murdered in the shwer, is ne f the mst famus in cinema histry, as much fr its music as fr its images. Yet this scene was riginally intended t have n music, and Herrmann had t wrk very hard n Hitchcck t get the (nw integral) string chrds added t the images. He succeeded, and the rest is histry! Perfrming frces and their handling Herrmann s bldest decisin in the scring f Psych was taken befre a nte had been written: that f limiting the frces t the rchestral string sectin. Withut the cntrasting wdwind, brass and percussin timbres, Herrmann was frced t be enrmusly creative in his string writing, using the instruments in a way that was very different frm the nrm in Hllywd. Perhaps his mtives in making this decisin were in trying t reflect the film s stark black and white images and tense claustrphbia with what might seem like a similarly limited clsed-in sund wrld. Writing fr a cnventinal five-part string sectin (vilins 1 and 2, vilas, cells, duble basses), Herrmann created a bld scre where the varied use f string textures is crucial. (Many see the film withut realising that there are n ther instruments present.) Anther imprtant blanket decisin made by Herrmann was t instruct the string instruments t play cn srdin (muted) fr all the music cues in the film apart frm ne the shwer/murder scene. This decisin nt nly gives the full, piercing chrds f that scene even mre aural pwer, but als creates a repressed, smbre sund fr all the ther cues, whether lud, sft, fast r slw. Sme f examples f string textures in the extracts are as fllws: Prelude Opening hammered chrds (see example 1 belw). Obsessive quaver stinat figures (bar 3 nwards). Pizzicat cell and bass ntes, smetimes as a pulse (b5-14) and smetimes as syncpated punctuatins (Bass in bars 21-24) Fingered treml (bar 41).

3 The City Lush, eight-part bwed string writing, very rmantic in style, with ctave dublings and very high writing in all instruments (see example 2 belw). Played pp. Marin In sme ways the mst cnventinal f all the cues. Straightfrward, mid-range, between three- and six-part arc string writing. Opening meldy repeated an ctave lwer in the secnd vilins. Dynamics imprtant here. The Murder Shrieking ultra-high ntes twards the tp f each instrument s range. Played sffz and senza srdini fr maximum impact. Texture builds frm the tp nte dwnwards, each f the eight divisi parts cming in after the ther t create a cmplex eight-nte chrd cluster. As a cmplete cntrast, frm bar 17, the upper strings (vilas/vilins) alternate arc and pizzicat lw cluster chrds, while the cells and basses play sinister ff-beat figures, als lw in their registers (starting in ctaves and ending with a diablus Diminished 5 th ). The Tys Vilins (divisi) play dwnward parallel seventh chrds. Underneath this, an stinat duble pedal perates vila plays arc F crtchets (using dwn bws), underpinned by pizzicat Es a ninth belw in the cell and held E pedals a further ctave belw that in the duble bass. The Cellar Begins with D ctave dubled trills in all instruments. Bars 5 46 tremland passages mving in quavers, building up a fugal texture. Musical phrases here are shared between ten divisi parts, with each half f the sectin verlapping the ther by a quaver each time. Bar 47 tremland cntinues, but nw with a change f sund by playing sul pnticell (near the bridge) in half f each part, while the ther half play arc nrmale and senza tremland. At the same time the cells and basses begin t play lnger ntes, again splitting the sectin between nrmal arc and sul pnticell bwing. The cue finishes with cntrasting sustained chrds, building a chrd frm the cells and basses and ending with a high, unreslved chrd in the first vilins.

4 Discvery Aggressive, highly rhythmic dissnant chrds, with accents strengthened by pizzicat in the duble bass. Rapid dwnward parallel seventh chrds in the upper strings. Finale Bleak string texture beginning with a lne vila line, jined by high vilins in a chrmatic, plyphnic texture. Vila intrduces three-nte Madness mtif at bars 15 16, taken up in ctaves by cells/basses bars Cncludes with dissnant ff lw register chrd cmbinatin. Structure One f the rles f music in any film is t bring unity t the ften rather fragmented visual language f cinema. In Psych, Herrmann used leitmtif technique t unify the musical cues, assciating musical textures and gestures with characters and psychlgical states n the screen. In Herrmann s case the leitmtif is usually a mre cmplex musical gesture than the Wagnerian mdel, including harmny, texture and rhythm, as a well as meldic shape. Three f the extracts under study here are used in this way: Prelude Used in six cues, mstly assciated with characters escaping in cars. The City Used in six cues, assciated with characters in mundane situatins. The Murder Used fur times, assciated with the act (r result) f the murder. A mre cnventinal meldic leitmtif, a three-nte mtif, assciated with Nrman Bates madness, is wven int the scre in several places, appearing fr the purpses f ur study right at the end f the Finale music. (There are ther leitmtifs in the scre, mst ntably ne representing Temptatin, but these are utside the scpe f these ntes.) Despite the relative mdernity f his material at times, Herrmann des favur phrases which are built up f tw-, fur- and eight-bar units. Prelude played under the pening credits. Built up f fur ideas, assembled int a flwing, driving whle: 1. Bars 1 3 stabbed, syncpated Hitchcck chrds (see harmny). 2. Bars 3 20 busy, bsessive ideas made up f shrt stinat. 3. Bars repeated dtted rhythm blck chrds answered by an ff-beat lw bass pizzicat. 4. Bars a mre cnventinal meldic line, mving stepwise. These ideas are played in varius rders (1 always precedes 2, while 3 and 4 are interplated int the texture mre unpredictably). All ideas underg sme variatin, either f idea r by transpsitin.

5 The City played as the camera pans ver Phenix and dwn t the htel rm. Based n varied repetitins f the pening three bars (see example 2 abve). Bars 4 and 5 reverse the music f bars 1 and 2 in a literal retrgrade. Marin played during Marin and Sam s clandestine meeting in the htel. Simple AABA structure, based n fur-bar phrases. Runded ff with a paused Hitchcck chrd. The Murder played during the shwer scene. The famus slashing chrds build up ver eight bars. These are repeated, with glissandi up t each nte. The rest f the cue cnsists f repeated tw-bar phrases befre a mre spradic final five bars. The Tys played as Lila (Marin s sister) explres Bates bedrm. Descending parallel chrds ver an stinat duble pedal three-bar phrases in the upper strings. The Cellar played as Marin descends the cellar stairs. Builds up a fugal texture frm eight-bar units, beginning at bar 5. Fur (related) cntrapuntal ideas eventually cmbine. Bars 5 12 subject cells/basses Bars subject vilas cuntersubject 1 cells/basses Bars subject vilin 2; CS1 vilas; CS2 cells/basses Bar 28 vilin 1 subject NB enters a bar early, verlapping Bar 29 CS1 vilin2; CS2 vilas; Bar 32 CS3 cells/basses Bar 40 CS4 vilas (based n CS3 but metrically displaced) Bar 45 CS1 gradually becmes dwnward chrmatic scales Bar 47 subject shared amng all instruments, with bass/cell sustaining first nte f each phrase Bar 68 final chrd builds up. The Discvery played as the figure in the chair is revealed t be Bates dead mther. Repetitive highly rhythmic idea in hmphny and hmrhythm (bars 1 18) then disturbed by crss-rhythms in the cells and bass. Descending chrds fllwed by a final chrdal gesture. Finale played at the end f the film as Bates sits in the plice statin, with his mther s vice heard n the sundtrack. Recaps material frm the Madhuse cue (nt part f this study). Makes prminent use f the Madness mtif F E D in the last fur bars. Texture

6 Psych is full f interesting string textures (see Perfrming frces abve). There are examples f mre general textures: Mnphnic and Finale (1 and 2) Hmphnic bars in Prelude Hmrhythmic bars 1 3 Prelude Plyphnic Fugal (cntrapuntal) textures in up t fur parts bars 5 46 in Cellar Three-part free plyphny bars 1 17 Finale Ostinat many examples, but bars in Prelude layers three ideas. Tnality Psych generally avids traditinal tnal centres and key schemes. The music is smetimes basically tnal (Marin), but at the ther end f the spectrum there are atnal cues (Murder, Finale). Sme cues use a dissnant, chrmatic language with sme reference t a tnal centre. Harmny In Psych, chrds are used fr their sund, rather than fr their rle in the prevailing tnality (tnic, dminant). This nn-functinal harmny avids traditinal prgressins such as cadences. Much f the harmny here is chrmatic, dissnant r atnal, aviding cnventinal triads fr the mst part. Several cmplex chrds are used here: The pening f the Prelude (see example 1 abve) uses a dissnant chrd which has becme knwn as the Hitchcck chrd. Cnsisting f a minr chrd with an added majr seventh, this chrd stands starkly as an immediately unstable sund at the head f the film. Mre imprtantly, it des nt develp, r indeed lead anywhere. This chrd used thrughut the Prelude, bth in its rhythmic versin (ex. 1) and as an accmpaniment t ther material (Prelude bars 47 48, ; Marin bar 17). Dissnant chrd clusters, based n chrds with ntes a semitne apart. The famus chrds at the beginning f Murder (bars 1 16) use the ntes E, E, F and G, but with the intervals inverted t frm descending majr sevenths between the ntes f the chrd. Other chrds are based n interlcking augmented furths (Murder bar 18 cmbines D/G and G/C ). Extensin chrds which make majr triads dissnant (Prelude bar 21 is a C 7 chrd with a minr ninth (D) added t it; the end f Discvery uses this chrd fr a lnger perid (ntated enharmnically in D )) Chrd cmpnents with rts a diminished fifth apart (clsing chrds f Finale D bass with A minr triad abve). Mre cnventinal harmny is ccasinally used: Harmny based n a falling chrmatic scale, but basically still tnal (Marin bars 1 4). Impressinistic use f diminished seventh and half-diminished chrds (The City bars 1 3, see ex. 2 abve.) Here, the first chrd f bars 1 and 2

7 is a diminished seventh chrd, while the rest are inversins f the same chrd with the D changed t an E, making it half-diminished. Parallel chrd mvement by step (Tys chains f majr seventh and minr seventh chrds; Discvery bars 1 10 rapid parallel mvement frm a fur nte chrd C/D/E /B). Juxtapsitins f chrds a semitne apart (Prelude bars E minr, bars E minr). Meldy Herrmann favurs the use f mtifs (shrt meldic cells) frm which he builds lnger meldic structures by repetitin, sequence and develpment. 1. The meldic cmpnent f Prelude Idea 2 (vilin 1 bar 5) is cnstructed frm tw interlcking majr thirds E/G and F/A. This cell is als used t create the accmpaniment stinat frm bar 29 a figure similar t ne frm Stravinsky s Rite f Spring. 2. The meldy f Marin begins with a lng descending meldic sequence, with the rising/falling perfect fifth in every phrase (except fr the very first nte). The middle sectin f this cue retains the rhythm f this idea, but changes the intervals t a rising diminished fifth and a falling perfect furth. A figure first heard in bar 3 f Prelude an upwards semitne is used in many ways thrughut the film. (Sme cmmentatrs cnnect this semitne figure t the duality f Nrman Bates mind it is smetimes called the Steiner mtive.) 1. As an stinat (Prelude bar 3 nwards). 2. Dubled in thirds and simultaneusly inverted (Prelude bars 9/10, 15/16). 3. As a sighing mtif inverted (Prelude bars 45 46). 4. With nte values augmented and intervals inverted (Murder bars cells/basses). 5. With intervals inverted t majr sevenths t create widely spaced chrd clusters (Murder bars 1 16). 6. As a verticalisatin (played as a chrd) in the bass f Tys (vila, cell and bass). A three-nte idea (F/E /D) assciated with Madness (Finale bars 15 18). This figure appears nly briefly in ur extracts, but features quite prminently in the cue Madhuse. In Cellar Herrmann creates meldic material fr his Fugal texture. The ideas here are all related. There are fur ideas here: 1. An eight-bar subject which rises sequentially. Internally, bars 2 and 4 are related sequentially, while bars 2 and 3 als bars 4 and 5 seem related in terms f meldic inversins and pssibly retrgrades. 2. Cuntersubject 1 chrmatic scale patterns and mving dwnwards in sequence. 3. Cuntersubject 2 with crtchet rests separating the ntes f the idea in rder t maintain the excitement f the quaver mvement. 4. Further develpment f the subject, this time using three ntes t a bar. All these ideas eventually evlve int empty dwnward chrmatic scales as the cue draws t a clse. Temp, metre and rhythm

8 Of the eight cues here, fur are bradly fast in temp Prelude, Murder, Cellar, Discvery. While fur are in slw tempi The City, Marin, Tys, Finale. The tempi are chsen t match the md/psychlgical intentins f the scene cncerned. Prelude 2/4. Strng rhythmic drive fuelled by incessant quaver mvement. Interrupted by the syncpated rhythm (ex. 1) f the Hitchcck chrd. A nervus Bartk-like triplet semiquaver figure (Idea 1 first vilin bar 5). Cntrasting dtted quaver/semiquaver figure (bar 21) always cncluded by a syncpated pizzicat accent in the bass. Mments f relaxatin in Idea 4 (bars 37 48). City 4/4, slw temp. Equal nte values thrughut (every nte happens n a crtchet beat), s it creates a feeling f pulse rather mre than f rhythm. Marin 4/4, slw temp. Syncpated rhythm, with an anacrusic start. Murder 3/2, fast temp. The dwnbw accents in bars 1 16 create a vicius pulse. Frm bar 17 nwards the regular upper string chrds are cunterpinted by the rhythmically displaced bass/cell ntes. Tys 4/4, slw temp. Three slw phrases (an augmentatin f the rhythm f Marin). Heard against a thrbbing vila/cell/bass crtchet pulse. Cellar 2/4, fast temp (Allegr mlt). The cntrapuntal ideas here maintain a mt perpetu stream f cntinuus quavers in rder t build up the tensin. This excitement is heightened by the use f tremlandi. Rests are inserted int the third and furth ideas here, t vary the rate f prgress thrugh the material The much lnger nte values in the cncluding bars settle the end f the extract, dissipating sme f the tensin Discvery Opens in 2/4 Allegr ferce, driven frward by ff-beat accents and rests. 3/8, fast temp (ne beat in a bar) (bar 26). Rushing semiquaver figures against tw-bar bass ntes.

9 Finale 3/4 and 4/4, slw sad temp Adagi e mest. Bleak and rather directinless rhythms, aviding a sense f metre. Syncpated vila idea bars Madness mtive heard three times (bars 15 18), with the third statement rhythmically displaced t begin n the third beat. Heavy, slw, ff-beat chrds in the last tw bars perhaps referring t the pening bars f Prelude.