Hitchcock Chronology: Bernard Herrmann
Entries in the Hitchcock Chronology relating to Bernard Herrmann...
1950
September
- 10th - Hitchcock appears alongside composer Bernard Herrmann on New York radio station WCBS's Invitation to Music, presented by James Fassett. Amongst the music played were Chopin's Piano Concerto no. 2 and selections from William Walton's score for the film Hamlet (1948).[1]
1954
November
- After many years of trying to hire Bernard Herrmann, Hitchcock finally secures the composer to create the score for The Trouble with Harry.[2]
1955
January
- Hitchcock meets with composer Bernard Herrmann to discuss the score for The Trouble with Harry.[3]
June
- Hitchcock films sequences at the Royal Albert Hall for The Man Who Knew Too Much, including Bernard Herrmann conducting the London Symphony Orchestra and Covent Garden Chorus.[4]
1957
May
- 9th - Herbert Coleman writes to Kay Selby at Paramount British Productions Ltd. in London asking for her help in tracking down a recording of Norman O'Neill's score for the 1920 production of J.M. Barrie's play Mary Rose. Hitchcock is keen for Bernard Herrmann to hear the recording and use it as a guide for Vertigo.[5]
1958
March
- With American musicians on strike, composer Bernard Herrmann is unable to record the score for Vertigo. Pushed for time, Paramount London negotiates with the London Symphony Orchestra and conductor Muir Mathieson but the recordings in early March are abandoned part way through when the orchestra walks out in support of the American musicians. Associate producer Herbert Coleman quickly tries to find another orchestra in Europe who can complete the score.[6]
1962
August
- 9th - The first complete rough cut of The Birds is screened to a select group, including Alma Reville, Patricia Hitchcock, Taft Schreiber (MCA executive), Herman Citron, Arthur Park, Jerry Adler (theater director), Vince Dee, Bernard Herrmann, Bill Blowitz (Head of Publicity at Universal), George Thomas, Joan Harrison and Norman Lloyd.[7]
October
- Hitchcock completes his notes for The Birds soundtrack. After hearing the tratonium test, he decides the film's soundtrack should be entirely electronic sounds and natural sounds, with no traditional orchestration. Bernard Herrmann is contracted to act as the sound consultant for the film, with Remi Gassmann and Oskar Sala recording the tratonium sounds in Germany.[8]
December
- 14th - Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann leave Los Angeles to travel to Berlin to oversee the progress of Remi Gassmann and Oskar Sala's electronic tratonium soundtrack for The Birds. En route, they lunch with Anny Ondra in Hamburg.[9]
1966
March
- Hitchcock listens to a recording of Bernard Herrmann's score for Torn Curtain. Rather than the upbeat score Hitchcock had asked for, and which the composer had promised to deliver, the score is typical Herrmann with heavy bass, brass and woodwind. Hitchcock immediately fires Herrmann and the two never talk to each other again.[10]
1975
November
- Universal's music executive Harry Garfield recommends composer John Williams to Hitchcock after the director rejects the studios suggestion of Henry Mancini, who had written the rejected score to Frenzy (1972). Williams first seeks approval from his friend Bernard Herrman and then spends several weeks meeting with Hitchcock over lunch to discuss the score and classical music in general.[11]
December
- 24th - Composer Bernard Herrmann, who created many of the most iconic Hitchcock film scores, dies in his sleep after completing the recording sessions for Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver in New York.
1996
September
- 5th - Composer Joel McNeely conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra at City Halls, Glasgow, in a recording of Bernard Herrmann's score for Psycho. The recording is later released on the Varèse Sarabande label.
1997
February
- 22nd - Composer Joel McNeely conducts the National Philharmonic Orchestra at Watford Town Hall, England, in a recording of Bernard Herrmann's unused score for Torn Curtain. The recording is released in 1998 on the Varèse Sarabande label as "Torn Curtain - The Unused Score".
1998
April
- 29th - Composer Joel McNeely conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra at City Halls, Glasgow, in a recording of Bernard Herrmann's score for The Trouble With Harry. The recording is later released on the Varèse Sarabande label.
1999
September
- 11th - Composer Joel McNeely conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra at City Halls, Glasgow, in a recording of Bernard Herrmann's score for Marnie. The recording is later released on the Varèse Sarabande label.
2000
May
- 5th - Composer Joel McNeely again conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra at City Halls, Glasgow, in a recording of Bernard Herrmann's score for Marnie. The recording is later released on the Varèse Sarabande label.
2007
July
- 10th - Composer Joel McNeely spends two days in Bratislava, Slovakia, conducting the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra in a recording of Bernard Herrmann's score for North by Northwest. The recording is later released on the Varèse Sarabande label.
References
- ↑ Radio listing from the New York Times (10/Sep/1950).
- ↑ The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 355
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 507
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock's London: A Reference Guide to Locations (2009) by Gary Giblin, pages 174-77
- ↑ Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 206
- ↑ Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic (1998) by Dan Auiler, pages 142-43
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 168-69
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 160-61
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 164
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 674
- ↑ Sleeve notes from Family Plot (VCL 1110 1115, 2010)
