Bernard Herrmann

Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911 – December 24, 1975) was an American composer known for writing music for movies.

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.

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 LeafWeep No More, Sad FountainsSomething TellsA 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

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 papers , 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 
Gramophone magazine obituary , February 1976.

1911 births
1975 deaths
Academy Award winning composers
American movie score composers
Deaths from heart failure
Entertainers from New York City