Storm Clouds Cantata
The Storm Clouds Cantata (or" Storm Cloud Cantata") is a cantata by the Australian composer Arthur Benjamin. This cantata was written for the assassination scene in the Alfred Hitchcock 1934 film, "The Man Who Knew Too Much", in the Royal Albert Hall. In the film version of 1934, the London Symphony Orchestra was directed by H. Wynn Reeves. In the 1956 version, however, the London Symphony Orchestra was conducted by Bernard Herrmann, the composer of new music for the remake, and the chorus is the Covent Garden Opera Chorus with soloist Barbara Howitt. The Cantata runs 8 -9 minutes. It starts with a "Lento" in three-quarter time in C major. The first half of the cantata is "Lento", at 108 beats per minute. Then begins the "Allegro agitato", characterized by rhythmic strokes of the timpani. The conclusion is "Presto". Text. D. B. Wyndham-Lewis, screenplay "The Man who Knew Too Much". This appears to be his only actual contribution to the screenplay although he is credited as co-author. Soloist: <poem>There came a whispered terror on the breeze. And the dark forest shook</poem> Chorus: <poem>And on the trembling trees  came nameless fear. And panic overtook each flying creature of the wild</poem> <poem>And when they all had fled</poem> Soloist: <poem>All save the child — all save the child. Around whose head screaming, The night-birds wheeled and shot away.</poem> Chorus: <poem>Finding release from that which drove them onward like their prey. Finding release the storm-clouds broke. And drowned the dying moon. The storm-clouds broke — the storm clouds broke. Finding release!</poem> Addition for the 1956 remake. <poem>Yet stood the trees — yet stood the trees  Around whose heads screaming</poem> The singers perform in an alternation between male and female: <poem>Finding release; Finding release from that which drove them onward like their prey.</poem> This last part is part of the "poco crescendo" played by the Tympani to culminate in the "Maestoso" in the finale which ends with the cymbal crash in which the assassin shoots. Publication. The full score of the Storm Clouds Cantata has never been published. A piano arrangement of the latter half of the work was published in 2014 in the collection "Music From the Hitchcock Films". Recording . A recording of the complete 1954 version [i.e. with Herrmann's embellishments] is included on the CD "Elmer Bernstein conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra: Bernard Herrmann Film Scores - from Citizen Kane to Taxi Driver" (1992).