Bernard Herrmann

Ever imagined what cinema would be like without music in it? Would our collective cultural psyche still be hooked onto the “Wizard of Oz”, in the way that it is today, without the classic work of Herbert Stothart? Would ‘spaghetti westerns’ still possess their quintessential charm without Ennio Morricone’s parched-atmospheric compositions, like in “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly”? How stark would the “Star Wars” series be without John Williams’ triumphant score, or, “Jaws” without his legendary ominous two-note motif? Or, in more recent times, how well have Howard Shore’s operatic and thematic scores complemented the enchanting grandeur of the “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy?

Cinema is unimaginable without such prodigiously talented composers. But since the time French composer Camille Saint-Saens composed the first original score for “The Assassination of the Duke of Guise” (1908) and the ‘talkies’ arrived soon thereafter, there is one man who still reigns supreme to this day: Bernard Herrmann. Even over thirty years after his final score for Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” (1976), no one has been able to set an atmosphere for the movies with their compositions quite in the way that the master American composer did.

Herrmann, who would have turned 96 on June 29th, with his novel and often-unexpected orchestrations, made background scoring a highly integral, if not indispensable, part of the motion picture experience. His affinity for dark, brooding motifs that remarkably captures the film’s narrative delving into the characters’ minds is the stuff of legend. He was among the first to remark with any authority: “It is almost impossible to make movies without music. It is as important as the photography.”

Gail Hart, a documentary film-music composer opines that, as simple as Herrmann’s scores were, they consistently set rigorous standards in the movie industry. “You simply cannot imagine scenes without his music in it,” she says. “The bizarre and freaky alien scores from ‘The Twilight Zone’ (the science fiction anthology television series by Rod Serling), and his scores in movies like ‘Vertigo’ and ‘Psycho’ have all become part of the musical lexicon today.”

Herrmann’s entry into films first began when he secured an apprenticeship with the radio. As the staff conductor for the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) Symphony Orchestra in the late 1930s, Herrmann was able to pursue his passion of being a conductor (that, interestingly enough, remained intact throughout his life even after receiving widespread acclaim as a composer). He slowly began composing for a number of radio dramas that eventually laid the foundation for his illustrious film career. It was thanks to his scores for the Orson Welles radio adaptation of H.G. Wells’ “The War of the Worlds” (1938) that he immediately moved to Hollywood.

Herrmann’s association with the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock is one that has elevated the director-composer partnership in cinema to another level altogether, and en route, has come to be a part of cinematic folklore what with its own thrilling highs and lows. Right from their first venture “The Trouble with Harry” (1955), through the highs of “Vertigo” (1958), “North by Northwest” (1959) and “Psycho” (1960), till the box office failure of “Marnie” (1964) and the disaster that befell them in “The Torn Curtain” (1966), the Herrmann-Hitchcock partnership could easily form the script for another ‘Hitchcock’ for the world. But Herrmann would soon and with renewed energy find his artistic inspiration after this break-up, with a variety of new-age directors: Ray Harryhausen, François Truffaut, Brian De Palma, and Scorsese.

Bollywood music composer Sandeep Chowta, acknowledges Herrmann as one of his primary inspirations, and in his account, is still as contemporary and relevant today as when he was alive. Chowta cites the background score of “Taxi Driver”, a combination of two conflicting themes that remarkably capture the mindset of the loner cabbie Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), as his favourite Herrmann score. “A new-age Herrmann is whom we see here”, he says, likening it to, “An experience of how Jimi Hendrix would’ve sounded if he was alive today.”

Describing the role of music for the movies, Chowta illustrates, “Music should accentuate the scene and enhance the film without being conspicuous. Effect-and theme-based background scores should carry the film forward even without the protagonists playing a real part in the movie. This is crucial in capturing audience interest.”

Herrmann’s creative genius was such that his film scores not only created an interest in film but are also worthy of appreciation and performance in their own right. Herrmann once said famously, “The best film music should be able to stand on its own legs when detached from the film for which it was originally written.”

His music certainly did, and his recordings have a much greater scope than just film.