Psycho

Question 1

How is Herrmanns style unusual?

Answer 1

avoided leitmotifs or extended melodic lines in favour of short motifs and frequent ostinati

Question 2

How does the title sequence match the prelude?

Answer 2

mechanical quality is underpinned by Hermann’s relentlessly moving music

Question 3

How does the prelude open?

Answer 3

aggressive double-stopped chords

Question 4

(prelude) Are the strings arco or pizz?

Answer 4

both

occasional tremonlandi

Question 5

(prelude) What creates an intense timbre?

Answer 5

high cello line

Question 6

(prelude) Do textures vary?

Answer 6

yes
chords/homophony
ostinati and pedals supporting short motifs
melods with tremolandi and chordal accompaniment

Question 7

(prelude) what’s the dynamic range?

Answer 7

ff-pp

Question 8

(prelude) how are contrasts created in dynamics?

Answer 8

reducing the forces

Question 9

(prelude) what is the tempo marking?

Answer 9

Allegro (molto agitato)

Fast (very agitated)

Question 10

(prelude) how does the duple time slacken?

Answer 10

At close

pause before final bar

Question 11

(prelude) what does the drive come from?

Answer 11

constant quavers
energetic triplet figures
dotted and broken rhythms
recurring rhythm associated with opening chords

Question 12

(prelude) what contrasts the driving quavers?

Answer 12

extended wisps of melody

Question 13

(prelude) what is the melody based on?

Answer 13

three motifs and a more extended melody

Question 14

(prelude) describe the first motif

Answer 14

series of repeated chords (stamping chords)

accented and staccato

Question 15

(prelude) describe motif 2

Answer 15

semitonal figure triplet figure over ostinato

Question 16

(prelude) describe motif 3

Answer 16

jagged dotted rhythms and sudden rest

one bar extended through sequential repetition

Question 17

(prelude) describe the main theme

Answer 17

conjunct crotchet figure
four bar phrase
diatonic

Question 18

(prelude) what does the prelude consist of?

Answer 18

varied presentations of three motifs

Question 19

(prelude) wht holds the motifs together?

Answer 19

driving ostinato of slurred quaver pairs

Question 20

Describe the structure of all the extracts

Answer 20

through-composed

Question 21

(prelude) is it tonally ambiguous?

Answer 21

yes - unsettling/unstable feeling

avoids traditional centres and key schemes

Question 22

(prelude) what key is the main theme centred around?

Answer 22

Bbmajor/Ebminor

Question 23

(prelude) what key does the main theme shift to?

Answer 23

Emajor/Em

Question 24

How does Herrmann use chords in all the pieces?

Answer 24

for sound not function

Question 25

(city) describe the tempo/metre

Answer 25

slow quadruple time

lento molto sostenuto (slow and very sustained)

Question 26

(city) what does the rhythm consist of?

Answer 26

steadily moving crotchets with crotchet-slurred-to-quaver pairs every third bar

Question 27

(city) what does the movement alternate between?

Answer 27

eight bar divisi upper strings and usual four-part writing every third bar

Question 28

(city) are there bars for violins alone?

Answer 28

yes - divisi

bars 6 and 12

Question 29

(city) does the texture change?

Answer 29

no

homophonic throughout

Question 30

(city) describe the dynamics

Answer 30

low, never rising above mf

Question 31

(prelude) opening chord

Answer 31

Bb7

Question 32

Comparisons

Answer 32

Star Wars 'Main title'/rebel blockade runner 
Bela Bartok string quartet no.2
Planet of the Apes-Jerry Goldsmith
Vertigo-Herrmann
Duchess
Jaws
Batman

Question 33

String quartet no.2

Answer 33

Driving triplets

High, piercing strings

Question 34

Jaws

Answer 34

extreme dynamics
heavy strings
motivic
tritones
repeated string ostinato
tonaly ambiguous
shrieking glissando
dim. 7ths

Question 35

Planet of the apes: The hunt context

Answer 35

Opening
Jerry Goldsmith
1968
full symphony orchestra and new electronics

Question 36

Planet of the apes sonority

Answer 36

large symphony orchestra
triple woodwind
unconventional ethnic instruments e.g rams horn and Tibetan horn
Electronic harp, electric bass clarinet
strings have a minor role
3 mutes - wood, straight and plunger
violins false harmonics
percussion important for terror e.g timpani on first beat

Question 37

Planet of the apes texture

Answer 37

complex built on riffs
heterophonic 
fragmented
polyphony
imitation

Question 38

planet of the apes: structure

Answer 38

through-composed

Question 39

planet of the apes melody

Answer 39

short, fragmentary ideas which don’t last longer than a bar
wide leaps with semitones
free inversion

Question 40

planet of the apes tonality

Answer 40

tonal centres e.g G
tertiary modulation Eb-C
semitones
chromaticism
verticalisation

Question 41

planet of the apes harmony

Answer 41

dissonant
bare octaves
chromatic
verticalisation
semitones
diminished 5ths

Question 42

planet of the apes tempo/metre/rhythm

Answer 42

hard, driving rhythms
quaver rhythm
continuous semiquavers
cross-rhythms
syncopation
sextuplets
frequent time signature changes

Question 43

context

Answer 43

Bernard Herrmann 1911-75
experimental and innovative
own orchestrations = atmosphere
music characterised by ostinato patterns, unstable chords and evoking a situation/psychological state

Question 44

psycho overview

Answer 44

American psychological thriller released in 1960
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
young women stolen £40000 and takes refuge at a lonely motel where she is murdered by Bates

Question 45

What is Psycho based on?

Answer 45

Book by Robert Blach

Gothic style hotel based on Edward Hopper’s painting: ‘The house by the railroad’