Bernard Herrmann

Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911 – December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in film scoring. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest film composers of all time. Alex Ross writes that "Over four decades, he revolutionized movie scoring by abandoning the illustrative musical techniques that dominated Hollywood in the 1930s and imposing his own peculiar harmonic and rhythmic vocabulary." As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. As a young man, Herrmann was the chief conductor of the CBS Symphony Orchestra, which led him to become the composer for Orson Welles's radio series The Mercury Theatre on the Air. This led him to write his first film score, for Welles's directorial debut Citizen Kane (1941). That year, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for The Devil and Daniel Webster. He worked with Welles again on The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) and Jane Eyre (1943). He is best known for his work with Alfred Hitchcock, with whom he worked on nine films including The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) (where he makes a cameo as the conductor at Royal Albert Hall), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960), The Birds (1963) (as "sound consultant"), and Marnie (1964). His other credits include Anna and the King of Siam (1946), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Cape Fear (1962), Fahrenheit 451 (1966) and Twisted Nerve (1968). He composed the scores for several fantasy films featuring the work of animator Ray Harryhausen and composed for television, including Have Gun – Will Travel and Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone. Towards the end of his career, Herrmann scored films that were inspired by Hitchcock, such as François Truffaut's The Bride Wore Black (1968) and Brian De Palma's Sisters (1972) and Obsession (1976). His final score, recorded shortly before his death, was for Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976).

score

Torrid Classics - Voluptuous Music for Passionate Nights - 2026-02-13T00:00:00.000000Z

The Magnificent Ambersons (Music from the 1942 Motion Picture) - 2026-01-01T00:00:00.000000Z

Classics of the Cinema - 2025-11-01T00:00:00.000000Z

Cabinet of Curiosities - 2025-10-31T00:00:00.000000Z

Classic Soundtracks - 2025-09-17T00:00:00.000000Z

The Night Digger (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - 2025-08-13T00:00:00.000000Z

"Film Music" - Classic Movie Themes - 2025-07-17T00:00:00.000000Z

Battle of Neretva (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - 2025-07-09T00:00:00.000000Z

Citizen Kane (Music from the 1941 Motion Picture) - 2025-07-01T00:00:00.000000Z

Cinema Classics - Iconic Film Scores by John Williams, Ennio Morricone, Howard Shore, Nino Rota, Bernard Herrmann, John Barry, Maurice Jarre... - 2024-09-26T00:00:00.000000Z

Endless Night (Music from the Motion Picture) - 2024-04-05T00:00:00.000000Z

The Twilight Zone - 2023-09-22T00:00:00.000000Z

10 Hits of The Hollywood Symphony Orchestra and Chorus - 2023-04-14T00:00:00.000000Z

A Christmas Carol / A Child is Born (Original Soundtrack Recordings) - 2022-12-02T00:00:00.000000Z

The Day the Earth Stood Still - Complete Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - 2022-11-11T00:00:00.000000Z

Alfred Hitchcock North by Northwest - Complete Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - 2022-05-27T00:00:00.000000Z

Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho Complete Original Soundtrack - 2021-02-12T00:00:00.000000Z