ORIGINATION Cape Fear
LAST LISTENED TO years ago
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Chances are you'll know something of Bernard Herrmann's work, although you may not know it was is. He was one of the most respected composers to work in film during the 20th century and as such scored nearly a hundred films during his lifetime. His best known work is probably the scores he did for Hitchcock, including such films as
North By Northwest,
Vertigo and
Psycho. Other well known work of his includes
Citizen Kane (his film score debut),
The Day The Earth Stood Still (wherein he pioneered the use of the theremin in film) and
Cape Fear (where his score was used in both versions). The last piece score was for
Taxi Driver and he was to die mere hours after recording it.
The
Main Title From Cape Fear is up there with his strongest themes. It opens on a descending brass piece, which is followed by a very sinister string part that makes for a frank warning of descent into fear and madness that is to follow in the film. The brass part is particularly effective and, indeed, it is one of the main leitmotifs throughout the film. It drops in out of both this piece and the film, often following on from a quiet tense string section. In the
Main Title he uses this device several times, whilst each time increasing the tension in the strings to an almost unbearable level. It ends without reaching resolution as, of course the film is about to begin, where the audience will begin their descent into fear.
In recent years this music has been somewhat co-opted by
The Simpsons. They used it in their
Cape Fear episode, which was a parody of the film that featured Sideshow Bob (voiced by Kelsey Grammer, best known as
Frasier) and contained the famous rake scene. Ever since it has become something of a theme for Sideshow Bob and has no doubt subsequently reached a bigger audience than probably both films put together.
You can find more info about Bernard Herrmann on
imdb.
