Psycho Flashcards
Context of Bernard Herrmann
- Bernard Herrmann (1911 - 1975) trained at New York University and the Juilliard School
- He developed his skills as a writer of background music at CBS where he worked in radio theatre
Notable film scores include:
- Vertigo (1958), North by North West (1959) and Psycho (1960) for Alfred Hitchcock
- Taxi Driver (1976) for mar Martin Scorsese
Name key features of Herrmanns music
- He orchestrated his own works
- A preference for motifs and ostinati over extended lyrical lines
- Extreme dissonance
- Chromaticism
Contest of Psycho
- Released in 1960
- based on Robert Bloch’s novel of the same name, published a year before with a screenplay by Joseph Stefano
- Horror film set in a Gothic-style motel. The set was modelled on a painting called ‘The House by the Railroad’ by Edward Hopper
- Low budget in black and white but enormous success
- Herrmann’s score contributed much tot he success of the film, Hitchcock himself commenting ‘33% of the effect of Psycho was due to the music’
Describe the Sonority of the work
- The entire film score is orchestrated for strings only rather than a full symphony orchestra or jazz band as Hitchcock suggested
- 14 first violins, 12 seconds, 10 violas, 8 cellos and 6 double basses
- Strings are muted throughout apart from the shower scene
- To intensify the sound in this scene, the microphones were places close to the instruments
Name the performing techniques used
- Double stopped chords (‘Prelude’)
- Repeated down bows (‘Prelude’ and shower scene)
- Combinations of arco and pizzicato (‘Prelude’ and shower scene)
- Glissandi (Shower scene)
- Tremolandi (on divisi strings) (‘The Cellar’)
- Sul ponticello (‘The Cellar)
- Relatively high lines (‘Finale’)
Describe the texture
- Chords (‘Prelude bars 1 and 21)
- Ostinati and pedals supporting short motifs (‘Prelude’ bar 5)
- Melody with tremolandi and chordal accompaniment (‘Prelude’ bar 37)
- Varying densities:
1. Two-part (‘Finale’, bars 1-9)
2. Three-part (‘Marion’, bars 1-9)
3. Eight-part with divisi in all four sections except double basses (‘The City’,bar 37)
4. Four-part divisi in both violin I and II (‘The Toys’) - Octaves (‘The Cellar’, bars 1-4)
- Imitative entries in ‘The Cellar’ from bar 5 creating a sort of fugal exposition
- Homorhythmic chords (‘Discovery’, bars 1-18)
- Free counterpoint (‘Finale’, bars 3-17)
Describe the dyanmics
- Herrmann covers a full range of dynamics from PPP in ‘The Toys’ to UNMUTED SFFZ at the opening in the shower scene
Describe the tempo, metre and rhythm
- Fast-paced music can be found in ‘The Prelude’ (Allegro (molto agitato)) ‘The Cellar’ (Allegro molto) and ‘Discovery’ (Allegro feroce)
- Duple time is used in the above movements, although ‘Discovery’ closes with extremely fast triple time music
- The shower scene is a moderately paced, but relentless triple time movement
- ‘The City’ ‘Marion’ and ‘The Toys’ are in a much slower quadruple time, while ‘Finale’ alternated between the two
Name the key features of rhythm in specific movements
- Constant, hard-driven quavers (‘Prelude’ and ‘The Cellar’)
- Triplets (‘Prelude’)
- Dotted rhythms (‘Prelude’)
- Distinctive rhythmic pattern at the opening of ‘Prelude’ which is frequently repeated
- Steadily moving crotchets (‘The City’)
- Syncopation (‘Marion’, throughout, ‘Discovery’, bars 1-2 and ‘Finale’ viola at bars 12-14)
- Cross rhythms (‘Discovery’, bar 19 with semiquavers against triplet crotchets )
What was Herrmanns approach to motifs?
- Herrmann avoided leitmotifs and preferred to compose individual material pour each cue
Describe the melody and motifs in ‘The Prelude’
- Based on 3 short motifs and one more extended melody
- The first is less melodic than harmonic and rhythmic
- Motif 2 is a triplet figure supported by semitonal ostinato. Its second bar is composed of the same pitches now in even quavers
- Motif 3 is marked by dotted rhythms and sequential repetition
The remaining thematic element is a more melodic line which appears three times. It contrasts with the motifs because:
- It is conjunct
- It consists of three four-bar phrases
Describe the melody and motifs in ‘The City’
- Consists of four three-bar phrases, the opening descent answered by a loose inversion in the second. A similar pattern is used in the remaining two phrases
Describe the melody and motifs in ‘Marion’
Diatonic C major and marked by :
- Descending sequence of a three-note figure
- Perfect 5ths
Describe the melody and motifs in ‘The Toys’
- very brief cue and is diatonic, with
- A descending conjunct line
- Three three-bar phrases
Describe the melody and motifs in ‘The Cellar’
- more chromatic throughout
- Pitch outline in bars 1-4 (D-A-Ab) anticipates chromaticism of the fugal subject at bar 5
- The subject initially moves by semitonal leap
- Later is expands to embrace minor 3rds, diminished 5th and minor 6th
Describe the melody and motifs in ‘Discovery’
- highly chromatic with prominent semitones, tritones and perfect 4ths
- It relates to ‘The Cellar’ as its first three notes are a retrograde of the opening motif of ‘The Cellar’
Typical melodic devices include:
- Sequential repetition
- Octave shifts
Describe the melody and motifs in ‘Finale’
- Chromaticism
- Angular intervals, especially augmented 4ths and diminished 5ths
- A three-note motif (F-Eb-D) quotes from Herrmann’s own Sinfoniette for Strings (bars 17-19)
Describe the harmony of the work
- non-functional and he avoids cadential harmony
- High dissonance levels and chromaticism
Name the harmonic devices used throughout the worj
- Minor 9th closing ‘The Finale’
- False relation e.g. the G and G# in Prelude, bar 21
- Diminished 7th (‘The City’, bar 1)
- Suspensions (‘Marion’), in bar 2 between outer parts
- Extreme dissonance formed by major 7ths and diminished octaves (e.g shower scene, bars 1-8)
- Tritone chords (Shower scene, bars 35-37)
- Parallel 7ths (‘The Toys’, bar 3 onwards)
- Chromatically moving parallel chords ‘Discovery’, bar 26 onwards
Describe the structure and tonality in general
- In the absence of cadential harmony, Herrmann relies on pedals, ostinati and ‘signature’ or characterisic recurring chords e.g. the opening Bb 7th of ‘The Prelude’ or concluding 9th of ‘The Finale’
- In some cues, there are slight traces of a ‘key’ e.g. the unrealised A minor at the close of ‘The City’ and the phrygian mode of ‘The Toys’
Describe the structure and tonality in ‘ The Toys’
- Uses the phrygian mode (white notes based on E)
- three three-bar phrases, with two-bar introduction and concluding bar
Describe the structure and tonality in ‘The City’
- five three-bar phrases plus concluding chord
- Unrealised A minor at the close of the piece (significant because most of the work is a tonal and hard to fine traces of a key)
Describe the structure and tonality in ‘Marion’
- Four sets of four bars with additional concluding dissonance (an inconclusive expanded dominant within C major)
- 21 bar coda (Death of Marion) is built on two chords
Describe the structure and tonality in the shower scene
- Is a more extended cue
- virtually non-tonal and consists of two eight bar sections, the second varied by the use of glissandi
- 21 bar coda (Death of Marion) is built on two chords
Describe the structure and tonality in ‘Discovery’
- Atonal
- Through composed, with component bars reappearing in contrasting combinations, e.g. bars 8-9 are composed or bar 1 followed by bar 6
Describe the structure and tonality in ‘Finale’
- Through composed and atonal, with a final unresolved dissonance
Describe the structure and tonality in ‘The Prelude’
- build on the alternation of 3 motifs and melody line
- opening Bb minor harmony
- Constant elaborations and variations of the basic material
- Uses an unrelated D natural at the close which has an alienating efect
Describe the structure and tonality in ‘The Cellar’
- short introduction and fugue, though Herrmann does not follow traditional fugal procedures like Vivaldi.
Bars 1-4 form the introduction
Bar 5 sees the fugue subject split between the cello and double bass (on G)
Subsequent entries begin on G (as opposed to the traditional dominant)
Rhythmic dislocations of the subject occur at bars 32 and 40
