FILM SCORE BLOGS [Blog # 29] Happily I am on vacation this week after a heavy workload summer at the Post Office. Yesterday I finished my two-month backyard project on giving it a new look by installing sod. I finished by actually planting fescue grass seed on the unused (and largely unseen) west side corridor. I thought I would experiment with seed here but everywhere else I installed sod. Also yesterday at around 3:30 pm, an expected long-distance visitor from Marburg arrived named Thomas. This was his final full day in the United States before he had to return (with his girlfriend) to Germany. He is a young university teacher (born 1973) who is obviously quite bright and inspired because he gives film music seminars now and then! In fact his previous seminar involved Hitchcock’s THE BIRDS and utilized the three clips of music I had available (thanks to Markus) I composed for the movie (a purposely Herrmannesque score). His next project may involve students scoring to scenes of various movies that had to music wedded to them (or insert other composers’ music to). Or he may take my suggestion and do a seminar on Goldsmith’s score to STAR TREK: TMP. There’s plenty of alternate cues for the score, unreleased cues, sketch examples, etc., so it should be a very interesting seminar for lucky students attending. We also discussed in great depth another project he has in the works that is quite promising. Tom also was at UCSB researching Herrmann scores for four days. He commented on something that really interested me. He did some work on Torn Curtain and stated that timing sheet documents indicated that Herrmann intended to have three more cues placed towards the last 20 minutes of the movie somewhere (not including “The Bicycles” and “The Bus”). Cue names were not given but cue numbers. I believe they were #1202A, 1203, and 1204. Interestingly, when I researched the score at UCSB, those cues were not present, nor the Bicycle and Bus cues (although they existed somewhere because both Bernstein and McNeely recorded them!). Bernstein (and probably McNeely) got the cues direct from Universal (Bernstein needed the score for the remake of Cape Fear). Universal obviously had “The Bicycles” and “Bus” cues in storage, while UCSB did not have copies. However, if those final three cues Tom alluded to existed, then logically Bernstein or certainly McNeely would’ve recorded them. So, logically again, Universal does not have possession of those final three mystery cues (if indeed they actually existed). I wonder if Herrmann actually wrote them, although he alluded to them in his planned timing sheets. Perhaps once he got fired by Hitch, he understandably did not complete the project. I don’t know. Below is actually a blog entry I made on July 2 starting at 11:26 am. I did not finish the blog (intending to add more material in several succeeding days) since I became very busy at work during the next two months working loads of overtime. In fact, during the last two-week pay period I worked about 29 hours of overtime. I also had a backyard project that took four or five separate sessions installing Home Depot sod (but I had to prepare the soil, get rid of old decorative stones, break up the clay earth, spread Super Soil earth, etc). I needed the overtime money to pay for the yard project and also to pay for a $1,500 dentist bill (had two ceramic crowns put in and had deep cleaning done). “Yesterday was my 56th birthday. That’s 56 years already completed on this interesting planet (not the start of the 56th year). I finished my six-day straight of work at 4 pm and started getting ready to go back out. My wife & I already arranged to visit Stephen P.’s place 40 miles from here. We haven’t seen him since the wedding reception of Bill R. about a whole ten years ago! He’s an audio and film technician and a film expert. Bernard Herrmann happens to be his favorite film composer. He used to have film music soirees at his place that we attended. Bill, Richard, Rick, Leslie, Jeff, and various others also periodically attended. My wife & I probably went to at least four or five of them (and I cassette taped a few of them). I met Nick R. there at one of the informal get-togethers. I discussed one of these evenings briefly in a reply post of the Rozsa Forum in the topic thread “Rick Victor.” Here’s my post: “I remember going to several of Steve P.'s film music soirees back in the mid-Naughty Nineties. Rick was present in some of them where we would only watch "bits" of movies (fragments of movies and tv shows that usually highlighted certain music cues). The guys loved to do that but the ladies present (my wife included!) hated to endure this because they (the ladies) preferred to watch movies completely thru instead of just the "bits." The ladies would say it was a "guy's thing" to do. Anyway, I still have personal tapes of some of those get-togethers. In one session (I believe from 1996), I had Steve play a vhs copy of a Perry Mason episode from the first season (the pilot show, in fact, titled "Case of the Restless Redhead") that featured Herrmann music. There was a scene when Perry went to a movie studio ("Magnum Pictures") and Paul Drake were there as well. Rick saw the unfolding scene, and stated: "Well, that place looks familiar." Shortly several of us started to talk about meeting biggies at the studios, including composers of stature like Herrmann. For some reason I believe it was Rick who imitated Herrmann: We would then be intent on watching the show, making comments now and then (not unlike what they do on Mystery Science Theatre). A character on the show would say, "I insist!" and then one of us would rebuke, "Don't insist!" Or we would see a shady character, and one of us would say, "He's up to no good." Or we react to a character's dialog line with, "Mark my words!" Etc. It was fun. Rick was a real nice guy. I only saw him three or four times. I believe he was blond, handsome, medium build, and really into film and film music details (particularly Fox information).” We left home at about 5:20 pm and headed on the freeway north to Steve’s place. It was moderately hot in our home location but as we drove further north and inland, it really got hotter (even at this late afternoon) and really uncomfortable. We don’t have air conditioning in this old car (But don’t get me wrong: “Old is good!” : ) Forty miles later and about an hour later we reached our destination. We were glad to be warmly greeted by Steve and to also have a cool reception in his air-conditioned house! I took a few photos before we settled down. I also ordered a few pizzas and antipasto salad to be delivered (I believe it was Round Table Pizza locally). I gave Steve a few sound items of interest for him to make a copy for himself. The first mini-project I requested was making a cassette audio copy of that old 1995 Criterion laser disc of The Big Country. I brought over a 60 minute Sony audio cassette and wanted a copy of Bill Rosar speaking his commentary of the composer and his music, with Jeff Hunter doing the piano music examples. I believe this was the only time Bill made a film music running commentary. When the laserdisc format gave way to the much superior dvd format, Rosar’s commentary was not included because of expired rights, change of ownership hands, or whatever. That’s too bad because he did a pretty thorough job. When I get to listen to it better, I’ll comment specifically on it later in this blog. [resume Tuesday, Independence Day (July 4) at 3:01 pm] The Hallmark Channel is playing a Rawhide Marathon today. We’re pretty much relaxing today (my paid holiday day off). We may go out later to eat but I’m not sure. I managed to give a good, attentive listen to that Bill Rosar commentary he gave over ten years on that Big Country laserdisc edition. I’ll give a detailed overview of the thorough presentation since I doubt very few of you readers have ever heard it or will get a chance to hear it (although I saw a copy of that laserdisc on eBay for $14.95). The audio commentary actually opens with comments made by Jerome Moross himself in some prior interview. Rosar then enters in discussing how the power moguls of old Hollywood and many of the composers were dominated by Jewish émigrés (or their parents were). These include Kern, Gershwin, Irving Berlin, R. Rodgers, Copland, L. Bernstein, Alfred Newman, Tiomkin, Victor Young, Alex North, David Raksin, Herrmann, and Moross (meaning “frost” in Russian). He was born August 1, 1913 and died July 25, 1983. In the early 1930’s, Moross was evidently torn between writing in two highly different musical idioms: atonality/Schoenberg’s twelve-tone music AND American vernacular/American song & dance “popular” music. The latter was particularly reflected of jazz, dominant in New York City where Moross lived all of his life. I guess it was initially a struggle between “head” and “heart” in musical idioms, the intellectual rage of atonality at the time and the emotional pull of popular music. Eventually he found his voice in popular folk music or the American musical idiom. Moross started work on the score to The Big Country in the spring of 1958, Rosar offers. In terms of his film music approach, Moross rejected the so-called “mickey-mousing” technique epitomized by cartoon scoring where the music tends to “catch” or imitate the actions of the screen. Max Steiner of course was a main proponent of that style (that Levant apparently criticized, and I believe Copland).Anyway, Moross employed the other Hollywood approach known as the “overall” approach or Mood Treatment where you suggest the atmosphere of the screen sequence and offer perhaps a few main motifs. Herrmann of course was a proponent of this approach, and Alfred Newman, and many others. Rosar (and in an audio clip of Moross) stated that Moross’ style was well-formed in simple binary and tertiary structure rather like songs and dances, rooted in the American folk music tradition. Copland’s style was somewhat similar. Previously Hollywood had its own western music style borrowed from Stephen Foster, influenced by Grofe’s Grand Canyon Suite, etc. Rosar comments on how another writer stated that Moross based his music for this score on the black keys, the five-note or pentatonic scale. Then he discusses how Moross created seven “character” themes for the film: The Big Country theme, McKay, Pat, Cowboy, Buck, Major Terrill & His Horsemen, and the Julie theme. His Main Title suggests the epic landscape style of writing the “big” theme in this case, almost like an American pastorale. It was in the A-B-A form. The McKay theme is first heard in cue # 2, “Julie’s Horse.” The Cowboy theme is first heard in cue # 3, “The Welcoming.” Buck’s theme is not pentatonic (black keys) but rather jazzy and introduced in cue # 4, “The Hazing.” Eventually Rosar starts to talk more about the harmonic style of Moross, saying that it is primarily consonant in a rather hymn-like nature with its simplicity. He reserved dissonance for particularly expressive or dramatic effects such as in cue # 21, Horror Stories,” and cue # 38, “Death of Buck Hannassey.” Rosar goes on to say that Moross’s harmonic idiom is noticeably less dissonant than other American composers of his day, even Copland, and in general is closer to the harmonic language of popular music than to the music of the concert hall. Moross used primarily “common” chords (major and minor) but he would often juxtapose his chords in unusual ways that gave them great expressive power. The overall harmony is not diatonic in the strict sense of a given key. It is similar to modal harmony, characteristic of folk music and a technique associated with the French composers Debussy, Ravel, and Satie. These include cue # 16, “Night in Blanco Canyon” and cue # 25, “Night at Lawder Ranch,” and cue # 25, “The Fight.” In more complex chords for expressive color (as in “The Death of Buck Hannassey”), he uses them nevertheless in a simple & straightforward manner as block chords. Rosar says these polytonal or poly chords, often constructed by placing one triad on top of another, usually brings to mind the music of the French school of composers known as Les Six, including Arthur Honegger. But the use of these chords here evoke a feeling of starkness and desolation, an aspect of the American west. In the Buck’s death cue, we find the emotional starkness and tragedy of a man killing his own wayward son. Moross wrote over 70 minutes of music in 42 cues. While he got his start as an orchestrator, he had four orchestrators do the division of labor: Mayers, Salinger, Grau, and Alex Courage. 100 musicians were used, especially the strings sections, and the musicians were hand-picked from the cream at the top. There were three pianists, including the now famous John Williams. Gerald Fried played the oboe, and Dominic Frontiere played the accordion. The score was recorded at Goldwyn Studios at the then legendary Stage 7 recording stage known for its rich, full, resonant, spacious sound. While the orchestral style is rich and colorful, Rosar says, it is also simple and clear, not unlike Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances in 1940, the first one sounding particularly western music-like. The Main Title music is long, over three minutes. It encompasses three musical ideas: (1) a fast figure played by the high strings, a moto perpetuo series of figures, similar to country fiddle playing and hoe-downs, and shown in Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess; (2) trumpet fanfare (later the theme for Major Terrill and his horsemen; (3) full statement of the “Big” theme. The score was nominated for the Oscar but lost to Tiomkin’s Old Man & the Sea. Rosar’s commentary ends in the scene of the movie after McKay triumphantly rides Old Thunder. Chris Husted did a few music commentaries on Herrmann’s music, but I suppose there’s not much of a market for scholars doing music commentaries! That’s unfortunate. I would like to see Rosar and John Morgan do commentaries on more films. I’d love to hear Morgan do a Max Steiner film. In the Feb 20, 1996 entry in Filmus-L, Rosar comments that his was the first extensive music commentary on laserdisc. The producer, Sergio Leemann (who did TDTESS on laserdisc back then) planned to have Rosar do the music commentary for Goldsmith’s Planet of the Apes. However, it never happened. Sergio left Image Entertainment, and there may have been complications doing the first gig. Here’s my first post on Filmus-L back in June, 1998. I happened to come across this when I was researching info on The Big Country: From: Bill Wrobel <[email protected]> I wish to thank H. Stephen Wright for allowing me to become subscriber # 407 on Monday, June 22 '98. My wife,Susan, and I just purchased a computer for the first time last week, and went online with a new internet provider(Pavenet)locally for this Long Beach (562) area code, providing a very fast T-1 connection to the World Wide Web. I heard about Filmus-L three or four years ago, and once again I thank Stephen for welcoming me aboard! To introduce myself, I will be 48 this July 1, employed by the United States Postal Service. As an avocation, however, I have been a researcher of tv and motion picture scores since the early Eighties. David Raksin set this in motion then when I contacted him by phone re: my discovery & purchase of Herrmann's piano score for WUTHERING HEIGHTS at a local used bookstore, Acres of Books. It was autographed by Benny himself, dedicated to "David." I made an educated guess that it referred to Mr. Raksin, and indeed it was! Apparently, from what he told me, somebody stole boxes of his books & music manuscripts from his office--and WH was among the items stolen. How it ever showed up at Acres of Books we will never know! Anyway, Mr. Raksin informed me that Herrmann's written scores were recently acquired at UC Santa Barbara, and to contact Martin Silver. Within a few weeks I was already laboriously transcribing a Herrmann score (no xeroxing was allowed), and periodically did so over the years. The hand-copied process was tedious but rewarding. As an analogy, it is terrific to taste mom's homemade apple pie (ie., to HEAR Benny's music),but it is better to have the recipe (ie.,to learn HOW Benny made his atmospheric music). The next phase of my film music research took me to the USC/Warner Brothers archives in the early Nineties. Leith Adams was in charge, and he was terrific in assisting to satisfy my huge appetite for learning. Principally I focused on Max Steiner (I believe I started with BOY FROM OKLAHOMA), but also worked on the scores of Korngold, Waxman, Kaper's THEM, etc. Luckily I had a permission letter from Al Kohn of WArner Brothers which allowed me to xerox portions of each Score studied. Still, I hand-copied many cues to save money since it cost 50 cents per half page to xerox the full score. I still occasionally work at the Warner Bros. Archives. In fact, last week for one full day I worked on Steiner's CASH McCALL. The film happened to be on FLIX last week, and it renewed my love of the score and the marvelous sound of the Warner Brothers orchestra! The opening twelve bars encompasses two separate tracks. The secondary track was the "ticker tape" animated figures of the woodwinds, trumpets and percussion. Ten violins were utilized for the Main Title, three violas, three cellos and two bass. Several unused cue portions are evident, and at least one full cue(Reel1, Part 4). Bars 1-18 in Reel 2,Part1 were not used (dialog ending with "Hey, Will...."). The first four bars of Reel 2, Part 3 were unused (scene in which Natalie Wood comments to Dean Jagger, her dad,"Or a son-in-law." Cue Reel 3, Part 1 was not used. Bars 14-35 of the next cue(Reel 3, Part 2)were deleted(scene between Wood & her mother, dropping the portrait of Cash McCall as Robin Hood). The restaurant music of Reel 4, Part 2 was lifted from ILLEGAL, and so too, I believe, the Lobby music. Etc etc. It would be wonderful to hear the FULLY restored version of this score someday(are you listening, John Morgan?!). As a side note, the budget for Cash McCall was slated at $37,760 in May of 1959. The actual costs were $26,152. Max received $10,000, the musicians $9,995, the arranging $2,760, the copying $930, the Synch at $2,267, and Misc. at $200. The next phase of my research took me to the CBS Collection at UCLA Special Collections back in May of 1989(actually, I may have begun my USC research just before then). Steve Fry was the Music Librarian for Archival Services, and he was wonderful in introducing me to such radio and television treasures! I believe I started with Herrmann's HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL tucked away in Box 187. Over the years I have laboriously scanned hundreds of boxes, and "unearthed" many previously un-inventoried Herrmann scores, including his POLICE FORCE suite, HOUSE ON K STREET, STUDIO ONE, etc. My full inventory is available at UCLA Special Collections(contact Tim Edwards). I believe Film Score Monthly will eventually publish that inventory, but I am not sure(due to the length of the inventory).Recently I worked on Fred Steiner's delightful score for a Gunsmoke episode titled "Call Me Dodie" on 8-15-62.In March I discovered Herrmann's CLIMAX cues, including "Climax Closing," "Middle Lead-In"(or "Climatic Lead-In"), and "Middle Close." At that period, I worked extensively on the wonderful Rene Garriguenc--music used often in CBS shows such as Rawhide, HGWT<and Gunsmoke. Once again, there is a vast wealth of material in this collection! I hope Marco Polo or some other group will consider new recordings of these "lost" scores--especially Herrmann suites. There are several MORE cues in his Desert Suite that are not in the old Cerberus LPs., for example. Police Force is simply exciting music. House on K Street is similarly evocative and intense. Well, I guess that about does it for now. Thank you for your time. If you need any information that I may be able to supply from my researches, please feel free to e-mail me at [email protected]. Time for dinner! [8:06 pm] “ While I am interested in the “influences” debate, but I think it’s more fruitful to focus on other matters: Herrmann’s actual chord structures used, his composition process (including the study of rare sketches), and so forth (a focus on his actual scores whether or not some parts of them are remotely “influenced” by other composers). I wish Herrmann kept his sketches but apparently he destroyed most of them, sadly. All that remains of feature film material are several cues from Torn Curtain, Beneath the 12 Mile Reef, and a fuller sketch profile of On Dangerous Ground (that was recently “re-discovered” at UCSB). Rosar informed me that Seubert found them misplaced somewhere in the Herrmann archives at the end of June and has placed them in Box 94 (where the full score to On Dangerous Ground is housed). It’s a probability I can rent a car and go up there on Saturday to look at the sketches (and work on other Herrmann cues) but this may have to wait until my next vacation in October. Let’s see. It’s not a crucial project or priority. Another thread on Talking Herrmann was “Newbie Here—Looking For Info” : The “newbie” is a violinist from a college back East. She was under the impression that Herrmann wrote an unfinished violin concerto in his Early Works period. I checked the Herrmann Society database and noticed that someone did indeed insert in the Concert Works section that Herrmann allegedly wrote the Violin Concert (not completed) in 1937: Hmmmm. That’s interesting news! I wonder where he got that information from. I researched the Herrmann archives at UCSB many times and never came across it in the Early Works box (Box 55) and related boxes. I last looked at the contents of Box 55 January 20, 2006 when I was doing research of Herrmann’s tempo markings. The first item was “Bernard Herrmann Music notes” (brown cover). He had “George Herod (A Tragedy): A Dramatic Opera in 3 Acts” there. He wrote “Late Autumn” written Oct-Dec 1929; “Airia for Flute & Piano”; “Two Songs for Medium Voice & Small Chamber Orchestra” (April-Sept 1929); “Tempest & Storm”; “A Shropshire Lad” (Opus 8); “A Madrigal for Lucy”; “Song of the Madonna in the Cornfield (Nov 1935); “Pastoral (Opus 2) May 14-23, 1929; “Homage To Vergil;” “Eglogue” June-Oct 1928, 2 staves, 5 pages; “In Wintertime”; “Sonata for Cello & Piano in One Movement” (May 25, 1929); “Habanera” (2 pages); “Prelude” (piano); “Requiescat” (Nov 1929). Other works in various places are “March Militaire” (1932), “Music for Chamber Orchestra & Soprano” (Oct 1930-April 1931), “Ballet—The Body Beautiful” and so forth. No Violin Concerto, however! Even Steven C. Smith inserted in the Appendix (page 371) of his biography on Herrmann (A Heart at Fire’s Center) that Herrmann wrote an unfinished Violin Concerto in 1937. Where did he get his information from? Probably from a dubious secondhand source since no such written-score document is available at UCSB that I could find. I’ll ask Seubert when next I go there. Also on Talking Herrmann at the end of July, I wrote a post-thread “Dissertations-In-The-Works.” Go to: Some of you may be interested in the papers. If I had more money to spare, I would buy most of them. Family expenses come first, however, and forking over $700 would be a bit too pricey for me right now! I did buy recently for $60 the revised second edition of On The Track by Fred Karlin. The sub-title is “A Guide To Contemporary Film Scoring.” It’s a massive work of 553 pages. It looks very impressive especially with the many written music examples. For example, pages 301-304 give the full score reproductions of Horner’s “Main Title” to The Wrath of Khan. Pages 305-307 offer a reproduction of the Herbert Spencer orchestrations of Williams cue “The Arrival of the Mother Ship” (Bars 93-104) from Encounters of the Third Kind. Page 313 is the reproduction of the title page of the Main Title to James Newton Howard’s score to Signs. I still need to sit down and really spend a lot of time on the text. I’ve just been too busy this summer. So buying those dissertations would probably mean they would be collecting dust! As given earlier, several of us had a discussion on Schillinger (and his mathematical method of composition) on Talking Herrmann earlier this summer. In the old periodical, Modern Music, Summer 1946 issue (Volume XXIII # 3), Sidney and Henry Cowell make a glowing review in the “recent” books section (page 226) discussing Schillinger’s System of Musical Composition (1946), predicting a rather “revolutionary effect” in the long run (of course they were wrong). In rebuttal, Elliott Cater (freely atonal composer) writes his piece titled “Fallacy of the Mechanistic Approach.” He basically says that Schillinger’s pseudo-algebraic approach is a kind of shock and awe effect (he calls it then “surprise and shock effect”) where the hapless reader is browbeaten into submission! It’s too much to get into here but he concludes by writing, “The basic philosophic fallacy of the Schillinger point of view is of course the assumption that the ‘correspondences’ between patterns of art and patterns of the natural world can be mechanically translated from one to the other by the use of geometry or numbers. When this conception is carried to even greater lengths in the belief that music will stimulate reactions if it follows the graphic projection of geometric patterns of ‘mechanical and bio-mechanical trajectories,’ one can only feel that the whole idea is arbitrary in the extreme. It comes from a Phythagoreanism that is quite out of place as a primary consideration in art music…” We discussed Schillinger (and quartal harmony, etc) in the Talking Herrmann thread “Herrmann and Schillinger” that commenced June 22, 2006. Go to: http://herrmann.uib.no/talking/view.cgi?forum=thGeneral&topic=2406 In a far more Romantic or spiritual line, Edgar Cayce in trance stated in Case # 3253-2: In Case # 2783: In Case # 3460-1: In Case # 2156-1: In Case # 1804-1: In Case # 1776-1: Cayce gave a fascinating reading in Case # 2421, a composer. He was born July 30, 1905, in St. Louis, Missouri, dying January 30, 1951 in New York. Culled from the reading’s report: In 1945, he was hit by an automobile when attempting to cross a street in New York. My aunt reported that after the accident he developed severe cardiac problems resulting from a previously unknown congenital heart defect. Off and on, he was confined to bed from 1945 until his death on January 30th, 1951. He decided on January 30th to visit all of his friends in the music world and took a train into the city. He collapsed and died suddenly from a massive heart attack.” I’d love to know the identity of this individual (only the case # was given). I attempted to discover it thru Google but after an hour’s attempt, I gave up. Perhaps a reader can find it and tell me?? Now: In Case # 412-9: In Case # 826-8: In Case # 165-24: From Case # 3179-1: From Case # 1709-3: From Case # 1158-31: Now: I do not know if peanut oil rubs and eating almonds are conducive to film music appreciation, but they certainly won’t hurt! Speaking of the unusual or the metaphysical (somewhat like Cayce), I plan tomorrow (Thursday) to phone the New Awareness Network to order the newly published Book 7 of the Deleted Seth Material, and also CD # 33. In the Early Sessions (Book 7), page 337, Seth makes reincarnational comments on a new guest attending Session 333: “A musical talent but without the discipline or desire to perfect the gift. A series of petty crimes and a violent death as a direct result of business endeavors. “He was carried along somehow in a national rebellion; a minor character in this, following soldiers, seeking for scores of ballads. “You may take a break and we shall continue. I shall be listening in to your social chatter, and may make my own comments when I have the time.” (9:16. …During break Barbara [the new guest] said in conversation that she didn’t like ‘any’ Germans and that she has no musical ability. Resume at 9:28.) Seth: “The musical ability was misused, and therefore is no longer dominant, you see. “You were separated from your wife for many years, and did not get along well. You resented her as you would have resented any woman. If you will forgive me, she was more a male than you were, in reality, and the Germans to you now still represent arrogant masculinity.” Seth then continues with her incarnation in Late 17th century in China as a male also. In the past century, she was then a woman in Oklahoma, 1831-1876. Interesting material. [resume Thursday, September 14 at 10:43 am] “-Neo-Romantic Eclectic Modernist Moreover, Herrmann's homophonic style tended to utilize, most characteristically, sustained chord accompaniment (his standard type of accompaniment). This generally meant long, drawn-out, rather slow-moving chords. Of course he would also utilize this in passages where there is no "melody" or lyrical passage (usually soloistic instruments or soloistic choir of instruments such as tutti violins I). Like a true Romantic, he characteristically relied on the extensive use of crescendo-decrescendo and other dynamics, lots of articulation, and frequent usage of instrumental effects adding "color" (stopped horns, cup-muted trumpets, etc etc). The Romantics needed that orchestral texture to display the emotional and sensuous sonority (orchestral colors), and Herrmann was especially gifted that way. In a sense, he was like Rimsky-Korsakov (a brilliant orchestrator). Tchaikovsky was also skillful with orchestral color. Mahler seems to be associated with "quantity" and huge orchestras, and into the themes of suffering & resignation (perhaps leading to release and liberation). It's "great" music but somehow I see little of Mahler in Herrmann's music in most cases. I would probably see more dynamic heaviness of Wagner in Herrmann's music than Mahler's, and more of Debussy's color and sensual sonority. But of course music is subjective, so people can hear Herrmann in any of many different ways! I'm just trying to be objective in listing his dominant characteristics (Mood Treatment, overall tonal, overall slow-moving or sustained chord style, colorful orchestrations, overall homophonic, frequent use of ostinatos, parallel chords, "cell" treatment, tritone usage, etc). So you're right. I forgot about Herrmann's statement about being a neo-romantic. Herrmann's a Neo-Romantic Modernist, not a Neo-Classical Modernist. Would that mean that the name "Beethoven" (synonymous with "classical") should not really be connected with Herrmann? Usually Neo-Classical is synonymous to "non-Romantic" I would think. Now: As given in other posts and threads, I also think the so-called “cell format” was an important stage or transition in Herrmann’s musical development, but it’s not necessarily that important. After all, he used it to some degree (especially the eight-bar length) in his pre-1950 years, and he did not overwhelmingly use it (8-bar, 12-bar, 16-bar duration or however you want to slice it) in his after-1950 years. It’s there (and quite clearly in some scores) but I do not think it (and how Herrmann was “influenced” with any precision) warrants a major research investigation. As given, I think it would be far more important to discuss his harmonic treatments, his generally homophonic style, his orchestral color (timbre) expertise and patterns, use of dynamics, and so forth. I am sure he was “influenced” by various composers to some extent, including Debussy (and Holst). Perhaps he was influenced even more by Ives music. After all, he went to the time and effort to write an excellent article in Modern Music (May-June 1945) titled “Four Symphonies by Charles Ives.” Go to a university library, find it, and check it out. I believed I discussed this in a previous blog. Herrmann seems to follow some of the devices used by Ives (but certainly not all!). Herrmann liked polytonal (say, two simultaneous chords sounding) effects just as Ives did, for instance. He did that rather harmonic haze effect in his Twilight Zone theme—which is quite clever considering the subject matter (the gray zone between daylight and night time). Like Ives (and other composers, like Tchaikovsky, who was also largely homophonic), Herrmann often has a solo instrument (like a horn or clarinet) playing a nice “melody” line over slow-moving strings harmonies, say. Ives liked to experiment with overall sound effects with his sonorities, and Herrmann excelled in this. Herrmann’s consistent style (pre-1950 and post-1950) includes his tendency to enter imitatively with different orchestral choirs, repeating previous patterns. He would, say, have the strings play a phrase followed in imitation by the clarinets and bass clarinets, and then the horns and trombones, and so forth. In certain terms, Herrmann’s musical pattern is rather predictable once a piece gets started. This can be quite reassuring to the listener who likes this kind of approach. But he adds variety with his timbre treatment and perhaps some harmonic variations. Herrmann was known for his rich, full sonorities and variations in orchestral color, but his music is rather simple in most instances, not necessarily very elaborate and complex (but nevertheless quite interesting and deeply moving). Herrmann had a rather “modern” approach in comparison to the predominant European Neo-Romantic style employed in the Forties especially (Max Steiner, Korngold, etc). He tended not be as conventional, in those terms, freer form in style, much more chromatic. His forte was certainly not the spinning out of melodies (like Max Steiner) but he could be quite lyrical (with solo lines, etc). He often had this introspective, rather somber mood in his slow movements (rather meditative) but he could be quite masculine and extroverted in his music as well (North By Northwest fandango, etc). Of course, as given many times, Herrmann belonged to a different school of musical approach than the likes of Steiner and Korngold. They were all “Romantics” but Herrmann’s style was the “mood” approach. But they all during this “Golden Age” of film music were masters in musically portraying the drama shown on the screen, unlike the unpleasant sludge state of film music now (with few exceptions here and there). Herrmann, Steiner, Korngold, Rozsa (and many others back then) could easily evoke (as Edgar Cayce alludes to) a “higher” or “deeper” consciousness with their inspirational music. It’s “classic.” The effect of most movie music now is far more astral-sensational, rather annoying to hear. It’s like a sensory overload, especially in the action scenes. It’s too much the “same.” At least in the past we had distinctive differences with the “sound” of music (Steiner’s music sounds a lot different than Herrmann’s approach in most cases; Tiomkin’s approach is clearly different from Newman’s, and so forth). There was great art back in the Golden Age (and to some extent the Silver Age) but there is no discernible “great” music now. Occasionally Williams comes up with a terrific score (I liked Harry Potter) but he is not consistent (I did not find his War of the Worlds of invasive quality). If today’s composers are compelled by producers to compose according to some “same” amorphous standard, then the music is highly commercialize sludge. Probably most of them are not talented enough and capable enough to even create great music anyway! They do not reflect the caliber and high standards of a Bernard Herrmann or Erich Korngold or Miklos Rozsa. So far there are no “New Masters” that I can find. In the very beginning, I thought Horner would be a new master but that did not bear out. He’s better than most of the new guys out there now but he’s not going to be judged in film music history as a “Great” (like Herrmann, Steiner, Korngold, Rozsa, maybe in time Goldsmith and even Williams—too close to judge for the latter two). Time for lunch! [12:05 pm] [resume 12:44 pm] I also listened (and read) a portion of his Farewell piece for strings/harp/vibe/celeste. It really evokes the sensitivity and mood of Herrmann’s Fahrenheit 451. Unfortunately, Markus is based in Germany (not in the United States) and has not really done a full length film score, so American westerners will not know of him. I believe he did a short or two and also commercials. I think he really needs exposure. The same applies to Ady Cohen’s music. It is far different than Metzler’s but comparably of high quality and full of potential (in terms of the need to get out of relative obscurity and getting far more exposure). Again, as I mentioned before, there’s a glut of composers out there, an overpopulation of wannabes; that is, meager to moderate talent wanting to make it “big” out there! But I feel Markus and Ady have real talent. I do not know if they are potentially “Greats-in-the Making” (too early to tell) but I think their music is excellent. If there was, say, a Bill Gates Fund for Promising Film Composers, then I would definitely vote in these two for funding projects. Ady made some fairly recent posts on Talking Herrmann: Then click on the Mother Divine cues. I am hoping to get the written music for the cues soon and perhaps I’ll do a “rundown” of them on my site since there is an easily accessible audio reference to them on the Internet. [2:41 pm] Third From the Sun April 1, 1960. Cue sheet # 19,524
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