Murder (Bernard Herrmann)

• 19 Sep 16:13
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Murder is a famous cinematic score written by Bernard Herrmann for Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 Horror-thriller Psycho. The score, its second movement in particular, is well recognized as arguably one of the most famous scores in movie history. It scored for an orchestra's string section.

The score is divided into three main movements:

The first movement of the score is made up of multiple runs, trills, and short, staccato stabs played agitato. While there is no direct melody, the fast-pacseded runs constantly switch around between the keys of F, F#, C#, and D, with a few sections played in G. A notable feature that Herrmann implemented is the use of alternating eighth-note semitones to create a sense of approaching and imminent danger. John Williams made this technique famous 15 years later in his score for the Steven Spielberg epic Jaws. The movement ends with a high Dbmaj7/Bb chord that crescendoes to an abrupt fermata cutoff.

The second movement is the most recognizable piece of the score: directly after the first movement's fermata, a lone first violin launches directly into a series of discordant, screechy glissandos before being joined by the rest of the string section. This...

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