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53
teamwork, perhaps the greatest such relationship in film (191). Unfortunately, Herrmanns
final partnership with Hitchcock ended with a
disagreement over the type of music to use in
Torn Curtain (1966). Hitchcock wanted music
that was jazz- and pop-inflected and was under
pressure from the movie studio to employ a
different composer who could incorporate into
the score a song with the potential to become a
profitable hit record. Previously, Hitchcock and
Herrmann had succeeded in doing this with
1956s The Man Who Knew Too Much.1 According to Hitchcock biographer John Russell Taylor,
the director insisted on keeping Herrmann on
board but attempted to coerce the composer
into meeting the studios demands. Instead,
Herrmann rebelled by creating an outrageous,
but quite effective, orchestration utilizing
twelve flutes and a stringless wind symphony
configuration (Brown, Herrmann 44). Hitchcock was furious, and the studio hired John
Addison to compose a new score. Herrmann
and Hitchcock never worked together again,
and Herrmann remained bitterly angry toward
Hitchcock for the rest of his life.
Herrmanns opening music for North by
Northwest was written in the style, as the
composer himself put it, of a kaleidoscopic
orchestral fandango (Smith 227).2 A traditional
Spanish dance seems an odd choice for a film
that opens in New York, proceeds across the
American Midwest to the Rockies, and features
urbane, civilized characters involved in sometimes unsavory behavior. The rollicking South
American rhythms of this fierce dance style are
tempered by Herrmanns characteristic employment of unusual modal and minor harmonies
and extreme chromaticism. The main theme of
the title music (which is later repeated, almost
verbatim, as the music of the downhill driving sequence and appears again in the chase
scene atop Mount Rushmore) bears a strong
resemblance, both harmonically and melodically, to the introduction of the gypsies chorus
in Verdis Il Trovatore, and in fact is written in
the same key. This may not be surprising, given
that Herrmann has often been described as a
neo-Romanticist. However, the ultimate tonality
journal of film and video 62.3 / fall 2010
2010 by the board of trustee s of the universit y of illinois
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55
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57
58
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ing that in Hitchcock, every moment was musical, even silence; a rest could be as significant
as a note (Sullivan 241).
Herrmanns collaboration with Hitchcock
contributed greatly to the artistic and commercial success of North by Northwest. Although
the music created for this film has not received
the intense critical scrutiny enjoyed by Vertigo
and Psycho, it nonetheless possesses the
sonic qualities and emotional dimensions that
elevate the music and the film to the level of
masterpiece. Herrmanns ambiguous tonal palette and unresolved chordal structures enhance
the suspense of the narrative while exerting
a measure of control over the comedic elements inherent in many of the storys scenes
(Brown, Film Music 63). Although Hitchcocks
genius for visual storytelling has left a legacy
of brilliant films, his skill and finesse in utilizing music to maximize a narratives emotional
impact cannot be underestimated. As Jack
Sullivan, Hitchcocks musical champion, has
asserted, Like the camera, music allowed
Hitchcock, who distrusted language, to convey
a meaning beyond words (174). Whether its
a fiery fandango, a lyrical love theme, or the
deafening silence of empty space, the music of
North by Northwest imparts an enduring emotional resonance to this classic film.
notes
1.In The Man Who Knew Too Much, Doris Day sang
Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be), which
became a hit record on its own, rising to number two
on the Billboard charts and winning the Academy
Award for Best Original Song in 1956. Herrmann can
be seen in this film as the conductor of the orchestra
in the Albert Hall scene. It is ironic, however, that the
work Herrmann conducts is not one of his ownthe
orchestra is playing the Storm Cloud Cantata, written by Arthur Benjamin and D. B. Wyndham-Lewis.
2.Smith is actually quoting the composers own
description, from Herrmanns notes on his 1968
Decca album Music from the Great Movie Thrillers.
3.West Side Story opened at the Winter Garden
Theater on 26 September 1957 and ran for 732 performances, closing in June 1959.
4.For an excellent and comprehensive examination
of visual and psychological themes present in North
by Northwest, see the chapter titled A Great Fall:
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59
references
Brown, Royal S. Film Music: The Good, the Bad, and
the Ugly. Cineaste 21.1/2 (1995): 6267. Academic
Search Complete. Web. 14 Mar. 2008.
. Herrmann, Hitchcock, and the Music of the
Irrational. Cinema Journal 21.2 (1982): 1449.
JSTOR. Web. 3 Jan. 2009.
Carroll, Nol, and Patrick Carroll. Notes on Movie
Music. Studies in the Literary Imagination 19.1
(1986): 7381. Academic Search Complete. Web. 2
Mar. 2008.
Handzo, Stephen. The Golden Age of Film Music.
Cineaste 21.1/2 (1995): 4655. Academic Search
Complete. Web. 21 Feb. 2008.
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