Regarded as one of the greatest film composers of all time, Bernard
Herrmann was responsible for some of the most memorable music in film.
His work with Alfred Hitchcock produced a slew of classics including Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), and Psycho (1960). Several years before collaborating with Hitchcock, however, Herrmann composed the brilliant score for The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
(1947), which remained a personal favorite of the composer's.
Herrmann's score reinforces the film's romantic theme, and much of the
music has an appropriately elegiac quality. In mood, orchestration, and
even to some extent thematic identity, it seems to prefigure his music
for Vertigo.
In this latest addition to the Scarecrow Film Score Guide
series, author David Cooper examines Herrmann's career in general, as
well as the specific elements that went into the creation of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir's
score. Cooper traces the development of Herrmann's craft as a film
composer, especially through his radio work, where he made contact with
many of the great artists of the age, most notably Orson Welles. This
association was to give him a passport to Hollywood and led to the
scoring of his first film, Citizen Kane. Herrmann's subsequent film scores of the 1940s included The Devil and Daniel Webster, The Magnificent Ambersons, and Jane Eyre.
In
this guide, Cooper considers Herrmann's musical technique and offers a
theorization of some of the ways in which music can be "meaningful" in
film. He also explores non-musical contexts of the film, including the
screenplay's relationship to the popular novel from which it was
adapted, as well as the contribution of director Joseph L. Mankiewicz,
the performances of Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison, and the editing of
Dorothy Spencer. Cooper also provides a quantitative, evidence-based
study of the score. In doing so, he discusses the extent to which
Herrmann adopted screenwriter Philip Dunne's suggestions for music in
the screenplay. A rundown of all the cues found in Herrmann's
manuscript is followed by an examination of the score as a
musicological artifact. In his evaluation of the overall approach to
the soundtrack, the author considers the musical detail of the score's
structure, its themes and their orchestration. Cooper's thoughtful
assessment of Herrmann's score is a fine tribute to this major work by
a great and influential composer.
David Cooper is Professor of Music and Technology and Head of the School of Music at the University of Leeds. He is the coeditor of The Mediterranean in Music: Critical Perspectives, Common Concerns, Cultural Differences (Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2005) and author of Bernard Herrmann's Vertigo: A Film Score Handbook.
2005, Paperback, 192 Pages REVIEWS:
"...David Cooper's approach—tightly organized like an
intro film theory class—will instill, certainly in some, new methods of
appreciating film music....Like prior volumes in the series, the book's
first section gives us an excellent portrait of the events that led the
cast, crew, and composer towards the film project...Cooper's technical
and theoretical breakdowns will be of particular interest to
composers...There's no doubt this book is the result of a long and
detailed effort to craft an important educational reference..."—January 2007, MUSIC FROM THE MOVIES
"In this guide, Cooper (music and technology, U. of Leeds, UK) examines
Bernard Herrmann's craft as a film composer, particularly in the score
of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.
He also explores nonmusical elements of the film, including the
screenplay's relationship to the popular novel from which it was
adapted, the contribution of director Joseph Mankiewicz, and the
performances of Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison. A rundown of all the
cues in Herrmann's manuscript is followed by an examination of the
score as a musical artifact."—REFERENCE & RESEARCH BOOK NEWS |
