Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Wheeler Condon Patricia
Wheeler Condon Patricia
This dissertation examines the musical features of, and circumstances surrounding,
the film score composed in 1971 by Henry Mancini for director Alfred Hitchcock's
(
penultimate work, Frenzy. Mancini's music was rejected by Hitchcock, and replaced
melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, and form-were most apparent to the non-musician
film directors who engaged his services. This summation also includes an examination
overlooked in its minutiae by viewers and filmmakers alike, and, in the case of
Mancini's Frenzy music, characteristic of his scores for Laslo Bene_dek's 1971
production, The Night Visitor, and Terrence Young's Wait Until Dark, from 1967.
Mancini's Frenzy cue sheets, holograph, and recording were supplied by the
composer's estate, allowing for an analysis which considers cue placement and length,
the Goodwin score, reproduced by way of transcription from the film, is undertaken in
order to explore aspects of filmic point-of-view as they play on the composer of its
Mancini's music.
IV
Socio-cultural considerations pertaining to Mancini, Goodwin, and the three
composer's most favoured by the director for his American productions - John
Waxman, Dmitri Tiomkin and Bernard Herrmann - are included in a brief biographical
study of each man, as are the musicological characteristics found in the work they
This work suggests that Mancini's admitted refusal, both in his 1987 autobiography
Did They Mention the Music? and in subsequent interviews, to construct melodic
themes as a unifying element within his score, opting instead to craft timbral unifiers
through orchestration, was at the heart of his artistic conflict with Hitchcock.
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
During the months of November and December 1971, in London, England, film
composer Henry Mancini created, conducted, and recorded the musical score for
director Alfred Hitchcock's penultimate film, Frenzy. Although the composer expressed
his satisfaction with the score and his belief, at the time, in his employer's satisfaction, 1
he was removed from the project before the completion of the recording sessions, and
2
his music was replaced with that of British film composer Ron Goodwin.
Speculation regarding reasons for the dismissal abounds, including second and
third-hand quotations attributed to Hitchcock, Goodwin, and the composer most often
associated with the filmmaker' s work, Bernard Herrmann. Although speculation will
always remain as such, this in no way denies an opportunity to formulate questions and
seek out more complete answers pertaining to film music composition, how music was
stylised and incorporated into this particular film, and what the experience of doing so
1. Jimmy Carter. Interview with Henry Mancini. Accessed Feb. 12, 2008 from:
http://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=GZQbCyIP+6K
2. This was not Goodwin's first experience with composing a replacement film score. In
1969 the producers of The Battle of Britain dismissed Sir William Walton and hired
Goodwin to write ne~ music for the film. (Nick Joy. "Score: Reviews of CDs: "Battle
of Britain". Film Score Monthly 9, 34.) The practice is in fact quite common in this
industry. Gergely Hubai' s Torn Music: Rejected Film Scores, a Selected History
discusses the dismissal of 311 composers from film productions, among them Arthur
Bliss, Alex North, and Ennio Morricone.
Fortunately, for film music scholars aJ?.d musicians alike, tangible elements which
emerged from the Frenzy experience, in addition to the completed film, have been
preserved - Mancini's holograph, his cue sheets, and the recording; material, with the
exception of the composer's main title music, which for four decades has remained
unseen and unheard by parties other than those involved in the initial project. 3
This treatise provides an analysis of Mancini's score and its function within the
film, taking into consideration systems of tonality, rhythm, orchestration, and form, as
·well as cue placement and length. While the timing sheets supplied Goodwin are
unaccounted for, music notes dictated by Hitchcock exclusively for Goodwin after the
Mancini termination are housed in the Peggy Robertson Collection at the Margaret
departure from the initial musical direction the film was to take and a much clearer view
of the director's conception. 4 The possibility must be considered that the seemingly
conflicting instructions give.p. the two composers regarding the nature, placement, and
amount of music within the film may be due to decisions Hitchcock made during final
3. Written correspondence of August 20, 2010 with Mrs. Ginny Mancini resulted in her
kind donation of these materials for the purpose of this study. Permission was granted to
reproduce portions of the score and notes for this paper, while duplication of the
recording was· forbidden, and its broadcast limited to an educational forum.
4. "I wish I had had something like that to go by. It might have been a different story."
Mancini to Tony Thomas. Film Score, 173.
5. The process of combining all elements of a film's sound - dialogue, sound effects,
and music - onto one soundtrack to accompany the visual element of the work.
2
A comparison to the replacement Goodwin score not only incorporates musical
and filmic elements, but also brings to light an issue facing the film music student.
Although he re-orchestrated and arranged his main title theme for live performance, and
this piece is now available for rental from his concert library, the remainder of
Goodwin's score suffered the fate of much film music. An inquiry sent to Ron
Shillingford, Goodwin's final orchestrator and now archivist, yielded the following
result:
Dear Patricia;
Unfortunately the score of Frenzy has been lost. I expect it was
given to the film company after the music sessions, so it certainly
doesn't exist anymore. 6
Largely through the efforts of Elmer Bernstein, David Raksin, Fred Steiner, and
the Film Music Society, preservation of film scores became an archival exercise
beginning in the 1970s. Previous to this, the compositions were considered property of
the film studios and production companies, and subject to regular 'housecleaning'
operations. Composers, such as Mancini, retained their own orchestral sketches, but the
completeness of these varied from writer to writer - especially since, with the 1960s
and the gradual morphing of film score into song score, notation of a film's musical
content became less comprehensive. 7 One result of this lack of preservation is a paucity
6. Correspondence of June 16, 2011 with Ron Shillingford. The Goodwin examples
presented in Chapter 4 are the result of transcription directly from the film.
7. Fortunately, Mancini not only preserved every piece of music he composed, as well
as timing sheets and correspondence, but his sketches, or "short scores" were complete
3
of music scholarship related to this subject. While acknowledging the significant
contribution made to the field by the Scare Crow press series of Film Score Handbooks,
which at this writing number 14 volumes, and musicological writers such as Lawrence
Morton, David Cooper, and Annette Davison, all too often the analysis of a film's
book, Hitchcock's Music, author Jack Sullivan's discussion of a Roy Webb cue from
musical shading of, ironically, perhaps the film's most suspenseful moment.
Description of musical sound through the use of spoken or written language is not
only problematic for non-musicians, among whom may be included most directors of
film, but for musicians trying to understand and graphically or audibly encode the sonic
main issues at the heart of the Frenzy experience, and is by no means an uncommon one
and affects are often scorned by listeners and assigned the pejorative label, "cliche",
such vocabulary is necessary to the craft, if for no other reason than to arrive at a point
of mutual understanding between director and composer. Mancini and his colleagues
were steeped culturally and professionally in the traditional associations made between
musical gesture and its attending affects; the tri-tone as a symbol of evil, chromaticism
pulse voiced on a bass drum or timpani to mimic a heart beat and build suspense,
unison,forte, mid to high range violins bowing a melodic arc and conveying romantic
love, brass sections voiced in parallel fifths to accompany Roman legions, or the
accepts these codes as compositional vocabulary used by composers who worked within
this system. It is not concerned with attempting to explain the rationale behind, or
effectiveness of the system. Doing so would pale in comparison to the seminal work
done in this area by, among others, Annabel J. Cohen, Claudia Gorbman, and Shin-
ichiro Awamiya.
nearly 150 films and much television, and there were probably not more than half a
dozen directors that it would be safe to trust insofar as they have any knowledge of
music and its function in motion pictures." Thomas, Film Score, 302 ..
5
As any study of film music must in fact span two art forms - music and film -
Alfred Hitchcock's craft, and that of the three composers he engaged to score 16 of his
45 sound films - Franz Waxman (four films), Dmitri Tiomkin (four films), and Bernard
devices and cinematic use of music. Similarly, as Mancini's early success sprung
largely from his employment by director Blake Edwards, this paper considers musical
and filmic features which emerged from this relationship. Indeed, the very nature of
their relationship is a factor in this treatise, as i·t differs so dramatically from the
consistent theme emerges - his frustration, albeit tempered with gratitude, at being
which could be expected to include a piece appropriate for marketing as a popular song.
10. Carter interview. Using Mancini's own suggested parameters of melody, harmony,
and timbre, and adding characteristics of rhythm, form and performance practice to this
list of "trademarks", 400 of his compositions were examined for the purpose of this
work. The results are compiled and discussed in Chapter Two, "The Trademarks".
6
Clearly, the prospect of having his name in the credits of an Alfred Hitchcock film
- surely a forum for dramatic underscore - would have appealed to the composer, and
in the second decade of what would be a 42 year career, he was no doubt eager to add to
his cache of successfully scored productions made by Howard Hawks, Orson Welles,
Frenzy had a small budget, and Mancini agreed to a relatively low fee of
$25,000.00 for the score, covering his own travel, accommodation and living expenses.
Given that at this point in his career he was often commanding a much larger sum and
often partial copyright for his services, and that in 1960 Bernard Herrmann was paid
· $34,500.00 for his Psycho score, money was not, evidently, a primary motivation. 11
pressure Alfred Hitchcock was under to adjust the sound of his films in keeping with
the changing times. Six years previous to Frenzy, a letter sent by Hitchcock to Bernard
Herrmann while the composer was creating his doomed Torn Curtain music seems to
encapsulate the nature of a changing industry with which he was trying to keep pace.
November 4, 1965
Dear Benny;
To follow up Peggy's conversation with you let me say at first I
am very anxious for you to do the music on Torn Curtain ....
However I am particularly concerned with the need to break
away from the old fashioned cued-in type of music that we have
been using for so long. Unfortunately for we artists, we do not
have the freedom that we would like to have, because we are
· catering to an audience and that is why you get your money and
I get mine. This audience is very different from the one to
The first irony of th~ Frenzy music situation is that Hitchcock engaged, or was
under pressure to engage, the services of the composer who had penned Academy
Award nominated and.winning scores incorporating the "beat and rhythm" so enqearing
to "all of the European film makers," arid was instead presented with an orchestral,
atonal, a-rhythmic and ostensibly disunited study-in-darkness that not only finds its
origins in his work from the "creatu~e feature" projects of the early 1950s, 13 but at times
borrows from the underscore cues he had written for Wait Until Dark from 1967. The
second irony was that Mancini was fully aware and accepting of the need to keep
abreast of current musical sound and trends; indeed, he, like Elmer Bernstein, Leith
The third irony of the Frenzy experience is that the Ron Goodwin score accepted by
Hitchcock, while tonal and incorporating for the most part sections of consistent
diversify his growing portfolio, Alfred Hitchcock had his own reasons for making the
film. As acknowledged in his note to Herrmann, his audience was changing. The social
and cultural changes of the 1960s were reflected in the subject matter and style of
American cinema, and the escapist and fantasy elements at the heart of mainstream
American cinema of the previous decades had faded into a new era of realism, the
with new trends, but helped to usher them in. However, the remainder of his 1960s
films - Marnie, Torn Curtain and Topaz - had failed to stir critical or public reaction,
and, as the lower budget for Frenzy suggests, he was finding it difficult to guarantee
15
enough profit to secure investment for future, projects. The quest for a contemporary
accompanying score and, perhaps, even a 'hit' pop tune emerging from it was just one
Frenzy was filmed during August, September and October of 1971, in London,
England. From the early 1960s to the mid 1970s, the strength of the U.S . dollar against
the British pound~ cheaper labour costs, and the "Eady Plan" 16 encouraged many
American-based directors, Stanley Kubrick, Stanley Donen, and Blake Edwards among
Touted as Hitchcock's triumphant return to the city of his birth, 17 he set the film in
Covent Garden - as opposed to the source novel's Piccadilly Square locale - and
through extensive use of crane and dolly shots, 18 went to great lengths in conveying the
15. The 1963 budget for Marnie was $3,000,000. Frenzy was produced for $2,000,000.
(Francois Truffaut, Hitchcock, 339.)
16. Eady Plan: a law implemented by the British government under which a portion of
each cinema ticket sale was recouped by the film's producers, provided that a certain
amount of the production, including the music, was made in the U.K.
17. Waymark, "Murder with comedy at Covent Garden market", 3.
18. Using both aerial and mobile cameras set on lines of track.
10
He employed a British crew, and a cast of internationally unknown actors, mostly
culled from the London theatre community. The "London" element of the production
went so far as to include on the cast roster one Elsie Randolph, from the 1931 British
International Pictures production Rich and Strange, Hitchcock's final film for the
studio.
Italian-American Henry Mancini, steeped in the tradition of the American Big Bands
and to this point drawing on this musical heritage to serve him in composing the scores
to his other British-linked projects - the Stanley Donen trilogy of Charade, Arabesque
and Two for the Road - may have felt somewhat alienated within the Frenzy film
community. Ultimately, his replacement by Englishman Ron Goodwin made the Anglo-
The film was released in May of.the following year at the Cannes Film Festival,
only the second of Alfred Hitchcock's motion pictures, since Psycho, to be assigned an
"R" rating. By this time, filmmakers were recognising the potential profit inherent in
During the year in which Frenzy was made, what critic William Pechter termed
films such as Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, Don Siegal's Dirty Harry, Sam
summer of 1972, Frenzy was competing for revenue with Francis Ford Copolla's The
Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris - pictures which, with the exception of A Clockwork
.Orange, either came with jazz, rock and roll, or soul influenced scores, or yielded
Although the passage of time has seen Frenzy garner criticism and ,less favourable
commentary regarding its bleak, gruesome atmosphere - Mexican film maker and noted
incredibly brutal movie for its time; frontal, brutal, raw" 20 - upon its release, reviewers
20 .. "Q". CBC Radio. Interview with Guillermo del Toro, May 2, 2012
21. Film Quarterly, 58.
22. The Toronto Star, 16.
23. The Times, 15.
24. New York Times, 48.
12
Almost palpable within these headlines and reviews is a sense of relief that the film
would not be categorised, along with Marnie, Torn Curtain and Topaz, as another
failure for the aging director. An additional gesture of approval was made when it was
nominated for, but not granted, four Golden Globe Awards - Best Motion Picture, Best
Director, Best Screenplay (Anthony Shaffer) and Best Original Score, for Ron
Goodwin.
The gritty reality of Frenzy and its characters is in stark contrast with the visual,
after his 1939 emigration to the United States. There is no Janet Leigh of Psycho or
Montgomery Clift of I Confess among the cast, no formal ballroom scenes in the mold
North by Northwest filling the screen. In terms of character content, even the director's
most realistic, documentary-like picture, The Wrong Man, offered up a protagonist for a
viewer to identify with, in the form of Henry Fonda. Frenzy's "wrong man",· Richard
Blaney, is rude, hostile, grimy and alcoholic. His motivation seems to lie in avenging
his misfortune, rather than to deliver retribution for the rape and murder of his ex-wife
and girlfriend, respectively.· The most sympathetic characters in the film become defiled
corpses before additional content which may stir a viewer's empathy is revealed.
Frenzy, after ·The Birds, not only contains the least amount of music of any of
13
25
Hitchcock's American productions, but is photographed from the most objective point
of view, for much of the film relegating the audience to the role of voyeur. These
factors are especially significant when one considers the film's composer is subject to
the same manipulation by the camera, only with the advantage - or task - of
commenting on or within the narrative from the vantage point either of character, or
omnipotent observer.
even after consultation with the director, has conveyed a character's emotions, and if so,
how; or if he instead has partnered with the viewer and influenced the viewer's
perception of the character's emotions, working within the system of musical affect
colleague Elmer Bernstein, the influence that the visual had on Mancini's compositional
practice becomes evident, as does that of filmic point of view in steering his creative
direction.
I' 11 just look at the film until my eyes go crossed. And I look at it
7, 8, 9, sometimes 10 times. All by myself, just sitting there,
watching it, watching it go by. And each time another thing reveals
itself, another idea of where to start. Toward the end of that period,
when I sit down with whomever is in charge, the producer and/or
director, I know that picture as well as he does. I know every cut,
every dissolve. By the time I sit down to spot it, there is no
guesswork. I have a very good idea where I want the music to go.
Then the give and take wi.th whomever is in charge starts. 26
25. The Birds has no musical underscore, and only 2 diegetic cues.
26. Bernstein, Film Music Notebook, 493.
14
The score Mancini wrote for Frenzy is audacious, seeming to break some ·of the
most fundamental practices involved in the craft, yet he would maintain his belief in the
I still think what I did on Frenzy was good - a score. complete without
themes, because it seemed to me the film didn't require any. 27
Although there are indeed thematic instances and linkages within the material, an
understanding of the term "theme" as used by Mancini and most of his colleagues is
however brief, associated with a character.or place. 28 Potentially, such material could
piece.
Regardless of Mancini's intentional lack of, as defined, themes within this score,
Hitchcock simply criticised his music for the film as being "macabre." 29 The composer
himself offered no other reason for the director's response to the work, and intriguing as
the issue is, of more importance to music, film, and film music scholars and enthusiasts
Many questions regarding his rejected score - primary among them being, "What
did he write?" - have been answered with this work. While A score complete without
does offer new questions in the hope that future music, film, and film music scholars
will continue to examine this composer's large body of work with the serious attention
it merits.
16
Chapter One
Since its inception, the motion picture industry has brought uniquely capable artists
pairing of composer and director, a partnership common to this field. Sergei Prokofiev
and Sergei Eisenstein, Alfred Newman and John Ford, Ennio Morricone and Sergio
Leone, Howard Shore and David Cronenberg, among others, have combined to produce
narrative, visual, and musical pieces which have become benchmarks for other artists,
and social factors which shape an individual and contribute to the nature of his art. The
formative years and artistic backgrounds of f0ancini, Ron Goodwin, the preceding
contributed to the attainment of a level of success far exceeding mere survival, and
Edwards by, approximately, a generation, yet with the exception of Edwards and
Goodwin, these men were either immigrants to the United States or first generation
Americans. Excluding Edwards, each of them were the first in their families to pursue a
professional artistic life, and despite familial, economic, and social challenges, all were
exploit opportunities which arose. In every case but Herrmann, and reflective of the era
and educational structure of the first half of the Twentieth Century, private
training systems, served to prepare each artist for the careers they chose. With the
exception of Ron Goodwin, who struggled throughout his life with the vision issues
which would eventually lead him to abandon film scoring in favour of his composition
31
and conducting career, these men lived their entire professional lives engaged in their
. vocations, to the exclusion of all others. As well, Mancini, Tiomkin, Edwards and
Hitchcock benefited from the expertise of their spouses, relying on them for the type of
input only the combination of a life and professional partner could provide. Ultimately,
..32
H enry M ancm1
Enrico Nicola Mancini was born in 1924 in Cleveland, Ohio, the only child of
study of flute and piccolo under the tutelage of his steel worker father, and by age 13
was named first flautist of the Pennsylvania All-State High School Band. His primary
interest, however, rested with the popular music of the time, his childhood and
adolescence coinciding with the rise of the Big Bands and the era in which jazz thrived
as a widely accepted - and enjoyed-:- art form. Incorporating piano into his early music
autobiography:
Orchestra Scoring. Private studies with Max Adkins, the musical director of
Pittsburgh's Stanley Theatre followed, fellow students including future film composer
School of Music, but his tuition was interrupted by wartime service in Europe, where he
Upon his return to the United States in 1945, he found his first important musical
assignment as pianist and arranger in the Tex Beneke-directed Glenn Miller Orchestra,
where he met Mellow Larks vocalist Virginia O'Connor, whom he would marry two
years later. Eventually leaving Beneke to settle in his wife's hometown of Los Angeles,
he studied composition, arranging, and orchestration with teachers Ernst Krenek, Mario
Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and Alfred Sendry, and worked as a freelance arranger for radio
programs and nightclub acts. Virginia's regular work as a studio vocalist helped forge a
connection with Universal Studios, where he scored a number of short films. In 1952,
20
partnership with fellow writers Herman Stein, Hans Salter, and Frank Skinner, to scores
In Did They Mention the Music, Mancini provided a glimpse of the film scoring
profession as practiced by a staff of composers during the final years of the Hollywood
studio system:
Assigned to one of the Francis the Mule or Kelly the Dog pictures,
you'd go to the library and tell (the music librarian), "Give me the
music from so-and-so and so-and-so," pictures you thought might have
some things you could use. You'd get a big stack of music by eight to
ten different composers and proceed to create a score out of it .... The
trick was to fit these bits together smoothly. Sometimes I'd score a new
bar or two as a bridge, perhaps going from a few bars of Frank Skinner
to a bit by Miklos Rosza .... Sometimes you were working from scores
written for orchestras larger than the one we had available. Therefore,
you'd have to alter the instrumentation of the music, cutting it down to
the resources of our orchestra; and so, by one means or another, I'd
make sure Skinner's music didn't bump into Rosza's, and by this
means we'd assemble a score inexpensively. It was mechanical and
uncreative, but I cannot imagine a better apprenticeship in the
profession than taking apart and reassembling all that music. By the
time I was through, I knew those scores intimately. I'd really studied
the work of my elders and predecessors and discovered what they did
34
and why.
1958, Mancini would spend the remainder of his 46-year career as an independent film
composer, producing one hundred and five credited film scores, the theme songs to
fifteen television series, ninety-six albums recorded primarily by his own orchestra, and
countless arrangements for ensembles ranging from collegiate choirs to the North
maintained an active performance schedule from 1961 to 1993, appeared in his own
television specials as well as those headlined by Johnny Mathis, Julie Andrews and
Andy Williams, hosted the regular series The Mancini Generation in 1972, and
collected numerous awards throughout his career, including four Academy Awards and
Ron Goodwin
The artistic life and career of Frenzy replacement composer Ron Goodwin shares
aspects of Mancini's own. Born in 1925, in Devenport, England, Goodwin began his
British dance/big bands, and after the Second World War, during which he was exempt
from military service due to health issues, he studied arranging, orchestration and
wrote, arranged and con.ducted in excess of 300 recordings for artists including Petula
Clark and Peter Sellers. Four years later, he formed "Ron Goodwin and His Concert
35. Interview with Toronto-based Mancini contractor Bobby Herriot, May 7, 2009.
36. The American Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences annual recognition awards.
37. Stafford is co-credited with composer Hubert Bath for Hitchcock's first sound film,
Blackmail. (1929) Peter Noble. Index to the Work of!l(fred Hitchcock, 13.
22
well as Goodwin-penned arrangements of other film, classical and popular music. 38
This facet of his career would eventually produce over eighty studio recordings.
Goodwin scored his first film, a documentary for Merton Park Studios, in 1957.
Motion picture scoring assignments followed for the United Kingdom-based branches
film scores before his 1986 retirement from the profession in favour of concentrating on
his recording and performance career, which he maintained until his death in 2002. 39
Although Goodwin is known for producing mostly tonal, thematic film music for ·
such productions as Those Magnificent Men and Their Flying Machines and Force 10
from Navarone, often incorporating elements of the swing and jazz genres with which
he grew up, the serialistic approach was not outside his realm of experience, as
evidenced by his work on the 1970 Sam Wanamaker production The Executioners,
although this score remains unique within Goodwin's film work in its use of electronic
instruments.
Franz Waxman
Elmer Bernstein described composer Franz Waxman as "a product of the last, great,
40
German romantic movement. " Born in the German village of Konigshtitte in 1906, the
3~. The Goodwin concert catalogue includes a seven-minute medley entitled "The
Music of Henry Mancini". The American's Frenzy main title theme is not among the
pieces selected for the arrangement. (www.rongoodwin.org)
39. www.rongoodwin.org The Mansell interview of 2002 erroneously gives Goodwin's
year of birth as 1930.
40. Bernstein, Film Music Notebook, 100.
23
recreational interest in music and assigned a career in the banking profession upon
graduating from high school. He used the position to finance his study of the piano and
composition, eventually becoming a member of one of the most prominent bands in the
scoring came when he was hired as an orchestrator by composer Frederic Holland.er for
the 1930 vonSternberg/Dietrich work The Blue Angel. He would spend the next three
years at Berlin's Universum Film Company, until his 1933 score for the film Liliom
Selznick, combined with the rising threat of the Nazi Party in his own country, resulted
compose 21 television themes and. 143 film scores, among them Alfred Hitchcock's
Rebecca (1940), Suspicion (1941), The Paradine Case (1947), and. Rear Window
(1955). Additional music activities included founding the Los Angeles Music festival
and guest conducting numerous symphony orchestras around the world. He won two. of
the seven Academy Awards he was nominated for before his death in Los Angeles in
1967. 41
The longest score considered in this study is Waxman's Rebecca, the composer
contributing most of the 92:13 minutes of music written for the 130-minute film.
Film music is heard only once, not many times as in concert music, and it
must therefore have the qualities of simplicity and directness. The
emotional impact must come all at once. To be simple and direct, music
must have strong melodic lines and simple accompaniments .... The leitmotif
technique is common in film scoring, that is, the attaching of .themes to
characters and then varying them as the situations change, and I have found
this very practical in writing film music. Motifs should be characteristically
44
brief, with sharp profiles.
distinction of 18 separate cues, includes repetitions of the "Manderley Theme" for the
narrative's primary location, the "Rebecca Theme" for its villain/heroine, and a melody
to accompany the ghastly Mrs. Danvers. The music overlaps scene transitions, and
necessary moods, drawing on, and further embedding within filmgoer consciousness,
consideration; a Waxman melodic cell from any of his Hitchcock films frequently
exceeds the four-pitch motif used by his successors, particularly Herrmann. His
Andante
#11111 J~:@Jt:J
Figure 1. Waxman 's "Rebecca" theme provides melodic material suitable for
manipulation and multiple repetition.
heroine's struggle with anxiety before her confrontation with Mrs. Danvers, are shaded
extreme character/audience anxiety, such as Maxim's exclamation, "I hated _her," are
marked with single,fortissimo diminished chords. The Rebecca score provides one of
the first instances of music and film scholar Royal S. Brown's "Hitchcock Chord", a
minor triad combined with a major seventh degree, often attributed within the context of
26
45
Hitchcockian composers to Bernard Herrmann. Following Mrs. VanHopper's
arcing unison or octave lines to accompany moments of emotional release, such as the
platforms support alto flute, double reed, or clarinet solos, and cymbal crashes serve to
during the film's opening credits. The Rebecca score also provides an early example of
I set up a normal orchestra playing the accompanying music for the living
characters ,on the screen, whereas for the dead Rebecca I set up an
individual. group of mechanical instruments - a ghost orchestra, so to speak.
It consisted of three instruments - an electrical organ and two
Novachords. 46
Waxman's work in Suspicion and The Paradine Case. The main title cue from the
former production makes extensive use of Johann Strauss' "Wiener Blut", providing
thematic material for much of the score, and contributing a musical plot device which
allows for the blending of diegetic and nondiegetic material. As with Rebecca, the
estimated 67 minutes of music within this 99 minute picture continues through scene
chord accents, scenes of resolution with rising ensemble violin cadenza's rooted in a
47
major tonality, or employing the technique of "Mickey-Mousing" to mark physical
gestures, such as Lena's fainting scenes, the undulation of the ocean's waves, the
The music for The Paradine Case shares numerous features with Rebecca and
Suspicion, in no small part due to the reuse of cues from these films, as well as
additional Waxman material from The 7th Victim (1943), and Experiment Perilous
(1944). 48 The score's lengthy melody lines, subject to extensive modification and
maintenance through scene transitions, originate once again from the main title theme,
Paradine. 49 Use of diminished and minor/Maj 7th accented sonorities remains consistent
with the previous films, as does the deployment of the violin-centric orchestra,
complemented in this production with the solo piano, the "comical" solo bassoon, and
the ensemble's high brass section, serving to place the viewer at the city's Old Bailey
The contrasting location and period of Rear Window - New York City in an era
consistent with the film's production year of 1954 - as well as Hitchcock's desire to
shade the film purely with source music, made for a stylistically contrasting Waxman
score. Rhythmic, timbral, harmonic and melodic elements influenced by the American
jazz tradition emerge, and among the 39 pieces listed on the film's cue sheet are
Livingston. 50 The director made his musical wishes for the film clear to his composer,
providing him with a six-page "description of the manner in which the music is used" in
Due to the diegetic nature of the score, the extensive melody lines, sonic
fanciful, Anglo-centric pictures of the 1940s are absent in Rear Window, but the
49. Hitchcock's clos.e-up of the sheet music used by his murderess reveals its title,
"Appassionata Op.69" and composer, Francesco Ceruomo, an Italianised version of the
film composer's birth name, Franz Wachsmann. (Wachs-wax-cera/mann-man-uomo.)
50. Sullivan, Hitchcock's, 170. Also included is a selection from Waxman's score for A
Place in the Sun.
51. DeRosa, Writing With Hitchcock, 50.
29
concept of thematic repetition, particularly in the reuse of the title song, "Lisa" remains
consistent. 52 This production would mark the last time Waxman and Hitchcock would
work together.
Dmitri Tiomkin
Hitchcock's engagemerit of Franz Waxman bet~een the years 1940 and 1954
alternated with that of other composers, among them, Roy Webb and Lyn Murray, 53 but
his frequent use of Dmitri Tiomkin during this period suggests the Russian composer
Tiomkin, born in 1894, was the son of an amateur musician mother and physician
father. He showed an early affinity for the piano and composition and was enrolled as a
child at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, studying with Felix Blumenfeld and Alexander
Glazunov. His work in motion picture music began as a silent film accompanist in the
where he composed the music for her dance troupe's performance at the premier of
52. This piece was also integral to the film's plot and would mark but one instance of
the director's attempts at generating a popular song from one of his pictures, garnering
additional exposure for the production, and increasing revenue for its producers -
Hitchcock among them - through the selection's publishing rights. Harold Rome wrote
lyrics for "Lisa", but ultimately, the song did not merit a recording. (Sullivan, 173.)
As a matter of interest, the first five measures of the piece are remarkably similar to
Richard Rogers' "Where or When".
53. For Notorious and To Catch a Thief, respectively.
30
Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer's first production of Broadway Melody. Beginning in 1931,
Tiomkin's 40-year career would see him writing the music for 112 films, including
and Dial 'M 'for Murder in 19 54. He died in London, England, in 1979. 54
Although for this article Palmer cites monothematic Tiomkin s~ores such as Hi Noon
and Gunfight at the 0. K. Corral as typical examples, the structural device of setting
repeating melodic material - in Tiomkin's case, themes sharing features of length and
contour with those of Waxman, but lacking the same degree of chromaticism - against
narrative tool and primary subject for Tiomkin's thematic manipulations, guided by the
only noticeably abandoned for diegetic and locating cues, such as Tiomkin's "Santa
of his colleagues, but full ensemble accents, utilising the traditionally unresolved nature
employed to emphasize moments of extreme anxiety for character and audience alike,
the melodramatic tone of these productions by allowing his mid-to-high register unison
violins to dominate sectional string passages, interspersed with solo piano and electric
organ. He deviated orchestr.ationally from his predecessor with more frequent use of his
brass and low percussion seCtions, often underpinning orchestral accents with
Ward and John Palmer's waltz, "The Band Played On" spanning the barrier between the
diegetic and nondiegetic, providing material for the film's premise and the score's
57
lengthy, unifying cues. Additional source music served to add subtle commentary,
Tiomkin assuming a degree of audience familiarity with the lyrical content of Joseph
56. The fourth assignment, Rear Window, was both directed and produced by
HitChcock.
57. Use of the piece also adhered to the Hitchcockian tradition of linking waltz to
villain. Johnny Aysgarth of Suspician has his "Wiener Blut", and Uncle Charlie of
Shadow of a Doubt his "Merry Widow Waltz".
32
Myrow's "Keep Cool, Fool" and James P. Johnson's "Don't Cry Baby" during Guy's
confrontation with his estranged wife. Recurring themes for characters included the
composer's own "Guy's Theme", "Guy and Anne", and "Bruno's Theme", which
Waxman. (Figure 4)
obscure, tonally vague high-pitched motif performed by a solo flute and clarinet, the
chromatic ascent leading the same character up the Antony household staircase serve as
In addition to the three pianos and one Novachord used for the score, Tiomkin
creating a sound endemic to its time, locale, and characters - the wealthy and
The composer returned to the more romantic style of his first Hitchcock film with
the orchestra and soprano soloist of I Confess. As with his previous Hitchcock work,
pre-existing pieces served as material for large sections of the score, Dies lrae from the
remainder of the work is based on modified sections of the film's main title theme,
Tiomkin matched the protracted nature of his I Confess cues in his final work for
the director, Dial 'M' for Murder. Similar to the earlier project, the 1955 production
culminating at the printed word "Murder". The accompanying chord utilised a paiticular
cl~ck-implying linear cell, appropriate to a plot dependant for its design upon the
passage of time.
B
&A >-
~
b-e-
ft F lz~ r ~
bu-
Figure 5. "Dial 'M'for Murder". The sonority of 'A 'from the title sequence provides
the linear materialfrom which emerges 'B ', the recurring "Tick-Tock" Theme.
The waltz reappears as an original main title theme for this film, but contrary to the
portentous use of the form in his previous works, Tiomkin's major key, Allegro,
59. To this end, Tiomkin was paired with lyricist Ned Washington, with who'm he had
successfully created "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling", for High Noon. "Love,
Look What You've Done to Me", from I Confess failed to achieve similar results.
34
Hitchcock's wish for a commercially successful song emerging from this
production was again denied. Tiomkin and lyricist Jack Lawrence penned My Favourite
Memory, but the piece was edited from the film's final assemblage. 60
Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann was born in 1911 in New York City, one of three children of
Russian immigrant parents. Although the Herrmann family profession was optometry,
young Bernard was given violin lessons and developed an interest in composition while
still in public school. Post-secondary musical studies took him to New York University,
I have always regarded music as a highly personal and emotional form of expression,"61
he was a proponent both of the American and European avant-garde movement and at
age 20, formed "The New Chamber Orchestra" to perform new music exclusively.
composing for radio drama, and in 1940 became the conductor of the CBS Symphony
Orchestra. He used this position to feature new works by unrecognised composers of the
time, among them, Charles Ives. During this period, a prolific association with radio
His work with Alfred Hitchcock began in 1955 with The Trouble With Harry and
The Man Who Knew Too Much, continued with Vertigo in 1958, North by Northwest the
following year, Psycho in 1960, as a sound consultant for The Birds in 1963, Marnie in
1964, and finally, 1966's Torn Curtain, during which he was replaced by English film
Herrmann's career saw him vacillating between composing for film and the
concert hall and conducting studio a:nd symphony orchestras. His ultimate frustration
with what he viewed as a stagnant concert music environment in the United States, as
well as the stylistic changes taking place within film music, led to his emigration to
Great Britain in 1971. He died in 1975, after scoring 50 motion pictures, two television
cantatas, string quartets, and symphonic music. He won an Academy Award in 1941 for
The maxim:, "A good score is one that you're not aware of' does not hold true: in
the case of this composer. 63 His voice is as much a part of the narrative fabric of the
seven Hitchcock films he scored as the director's subjective camera angles and play of
shadow and light. This strength of presence is in part attributable to his orchestrations.
on Herrmann:
characterises the Waxman and Tiomkin scores, Herrmann's film ensembles changed
their composition according to the musical needs of the production as judged by the
Clouds Cantata" to shade Hitchcock's assassination sequence in The Man Who Knew
Too Much, adding harp and organ to The London Symphony Orchestra engaged for the
picture. 65 For The Wrong Man in 1956, a solo contrabass was all that remained of his
string section, part of a studio orchestra consisting bf nine brass, nine woodwinds, two
harps, and a cadre of percussionists. Thirty-one of the sixty-seven musicians used for
North By Northwest were violinists, violists, cellists and bassists, joining the six
percussion, two harps, three pianos, eleven brass, and fourteen woodwinds of the
ensemble, while the Marnie orchestra was void of any percussion, and included a brass
section.consisting only of four french horns. 66 Her~mann's design of the rejected Torn
Curtain score depended upon an audacious assemblage of sixteen french horns, nine
64.· Waletzky, Music for the Movies: Bernard Herrmann DVD. Kulter Video, 2007
65. Sullivan, Hitchcock's, 192-196.
66. Bill Wrobel, analysis of The Wrong Man, North by Northwest, and Marnie scores.
www.filmscorerundowns.net.
37
trombones, two tubas, twelve flutes, two sets of timpani, eight celli, eight contrabasses,
and a reduced section of violins and violas. 67 The music for Psycho was written for a
black and white photography of the film with a black and white sound." 68
Herrmann' s very use of the instruments within his orchestras differed from his
Hitchcockian predecessors. Where Tiomkin may have shaded with tremolo strings a
scene ripe with the potential of dramatic development such as Father Logan's
commentary for the similarly suspenseful Ambrose Chapel exterior shots in The Wrong
Man or the nightmare sequence of Vertigo was often dependant upon a woodwind choir
of three Bb and two bass clarinets. He was also comfortable with the weighty resonance
of the lower range of his violin sections, drawing rhythmically active, almost percussive
passages from them, as with the initial ten measures of his allegro opening music for
Psycho. (Figure 6)
"Hitchcock Chord", only one of several vertical constructs seemingly favoured by the
composer and contributing another characteristic element to his music for the director. 70
Additional sonorities containing augmented fourths and fifths were routinely employed
Vertigo
Throughout tower sequence.
Vertigo-Prelude North by Northwest
Hanging from Mt. Rushmore.
Psycho Psycho
Ladies' Room scene. Final Chord (8vb)
~~
t~ JJ
z. JJ.
#-U-~-U-
:c .JJ
IIJ . .
14 J JJ
q .
"'··~'.
. l:;p JJ
. .
(Am)
(E7b9b13)
Figure 7. Herrmann-favoured augmented fourth and fifth-containing sonorities.
Much has been made of the repetitive use of brief melodic cells within Herrmann's
work. Composer David Raksin, who maintained a rare, enduring friendship with the
artist revealed:
variation within even a small motif, and the unifying character which repeated
The short phrase is easier to follow for an audience, who listen with
only half an ear. Don't forget that the best they do is half an ear. You
know, the reason I don't like this tune business is that a tune has to
have eight or sixteen bars, which limits a composer. Once you start,
you've got to finish - eight or sixteen bars. Otherwise, the audience
doesn't know what the hell it's all about. 72
The melodic nature of his four-note sequences also factored into the characteristic
sound of his music for Hitchcock. Pitch placement usually followed an adjacent
ordering, allowing for the presence of the favoured semi-tone. When note distribution
exceeded half or whole-tone intervals, the augmented fourth or fifth utilised in vertical
'i
Four- note cell which begins film. at scene transitions.
&d d
>
~~ J
>
@i f 'F 1
YF bF IJ d r f
The Wrong Man
'Manny' bass line Telephone call-laV\iyer
IJ
Figure 8. Manipulation of repeating, often identical four-note cells characterises
Herrmann 's Hitchcock scores.
Frequently, Herrmann would combine additional chord tones with his four-note
42 ,
The Man Who Knew To Much - Approach to Ambrose Chapel
Vertigo - Nightmare sequence
1 1 1 1 1 1 1· 1
'"l: .
, ~r 11,p
Vertigo
f' r
Final gallery visit
~ '2J I~ ~ *
' 1· p LJ
North by Northwest
LJ
Thornhill's airport arrival
1·
~ LJ LJ
Marnie
'The safe'
is unjust. Perhaps it is the very nature of his musical constructs - linear and vertical
the orchestral palette - which makes his use of repetition more noticeable and his
musical presence within the Hitchcock films undeniable. Regardless, this stylistic trait
may have been a factor in the decision of both director and Universal Studio hierarchy
Alfred Hitchcock
Herrmann, he had directed 56 of the 59 films he would ultimately make. Born in 1899
in London, England, he began his professional life at the age of 14, upon the death of
his grocer father. He completed courses at the "London County Council School of
Engineering and Navigation" and worked as a draftsman and advertising designer for a
interest in photography, and found additional employment designing title cards 74 for the
owned Islington Studios, and by 1922 had made his first picture, Number 13. Relocation
to Germany and screenwriting assignments for, among others, the Universum Film
Company, allowed him to observe the work of F.W. Murnau and Fritz Lang, and
73. Smith, Heart, 268. Hitchcock's frustration may also have been linked to the ongoing
lack of a profitable popular song emerging from his films during this fruitful period for
other director/producers such as Stanley Donen and ·Blake Edwards. "Flaggin' the Train
to Tuskaloosa" written by Raymond Scott and Mack David for The Trouble With Harry
(Sullivan, 190) and "Marnie's Theme", from Marnie, lyricised by Jason Peter and
Gloria Shayne (ibid, 335) did not match the enormous success of Evans and
Livingston's "Que Sera, Sera" from The Wrong Man.
74. The series of (usually paper) cards on which was written the title of the film and the
members of the film's cast and crew whom the director/producer deemed worthy of
recognition before the picture began. The cards, often quite intricate in their graphics,
were then photographed and assembled in sequence for the film's opening moments.
44
develop his skills in such a way as to become a respected and successful filmmaker by
1926. He married the screenwriter, film editor, and assistant director Alma Reville the
same year, a union that would prove indispensable to his art and career.
developments and narrative themes used in the art of motion picture making. 75 Due in
part to his gift for advertising and self-promotion as "The Master of Suspense," the.
cameo appearances he made in most of his films, and the television series Alfred
nominated for five Academy Awards, and died in Los Angeles in 1980. 76
The hierarchy of sound in his pictures is impermanent. Music prevails over the
screaming and slicing of Psycho's shower scene due to Herrmann's extreme register,
down-stroked violins, while much of the soundtrack of The Birds is dominated by Remi
Gassmann' s ele~tronic effects representing the vocalising, flapping wings, and tearing
of New York City in The Wrong Man, or from the crop-dusting airplane of North by
of music used in each of his films. Among the productions scored by his principal
through the 30 percent of The Wrong Man to the 60 percent of Vertigo. The reduced use
of music in the former production is appropriate, given the director's wish to dramatise
Significantly, the respective 18 percent and 22 percent figures calculated for the
Goodwin and Mancini Frenzy scores suggest both a connection to the stark realism of
the earlier "wrong man"-themed narrative, and the reduced status of music within the
to accompany the sequence of title, cast and crew names shown during the opening
moments of a picture, imply location and era and - utilising the system of signification
familiar to composer and listener alike - establish the mood and genre of the overall
78. Sullivan, 264. An alternative consideration of the birds as protagonists is not denied.
79. Laurent Bouzereau, Guilt Trip: Hitchcock and the wrong man. "The Wrong Man"
DVD Special Feature, 2004.
46
production. To this end, the main title themes composed or assembled by Waxman,
Tiomkin and Herrmann evidently satisfied their director, given their repeated
engagement by him. However, using the same system of codification, and particularly
in the cases of Waxman and Tiomkin, most of these pieces were crafted in opposition to
. ·.,
47
TABLE 1 - Use of music by Waxman, Tiomkin, Herrmann,
Goodwin, and Mancini in Alfred Hitchcock's films. 80
Film Year Composer Inst. TimeTotal #of M.T. M.T. Final
Music Cues Time Segue/End Sonority
Rebecca 1940 Waxman Orchestra 130:00 92: 13 14 1:43 Segue Major
2 Novachords (71%) Maj. To Maj.
Elec. organ
Suspicion 1941 Waxman Orchestra. 99:00 66:42 28 0:57 End Major
Elec. organ (68%) Resolves/Maj.
Shadow of 1943 Tiomkin Orchestra 108:00 43:00 29 2:28 End Major
a Doubt (40%) Unresolved
The 1947 Waxman Orchestra 114:00 51 :50 19 1:29 End Major
Paradine Novachord (46%) Resolves/Maj
Case
Strangers 1951 Tiomkin Orch. R.S.(3) 101 :00 54:42 19 1:06 Segue Major
on 3sax.3pno. (54%) Maj. to Maj.
a Train Novachord
I Confess 1953 Tiomkin Orchestra 94:00 50:27 15 1:27 Segue Major
l Soprano (53%) Maj. to min.
Dial 'M' 1954 Tiomkin Orchestra 105:00 51: 15 14 1:07 Segue Major
for Murder (48%) Maj. to Maj.
Rear 1955 Waxman Orch. R.S.(4) 112:00 62:12 25 2:05 End Major
Window Saxophones (55%) Unresolved
The Trouble 1955 Hemnann Orchestra 99:00 39:00 31 1:37 Segue Major
with Harry (40%) min. to Maj.
The Man 1956 Herrmann Orchestra 120:00 47:08 19 2: 11 End No 3rd
Who Knew (39%) Resolves/min. l,b5,8
Too Much
The Wrong 1956 Herrmann WW, Brass, 103:00 30:17 25 2: 19 End Major
Man R.S.(4),Perc. (29%) Resolves/Maj
Vertigo 1958 Herrmann Orchestra. 129:00 77:49 25 4:33 Segue Major
Blee.organ (60%) min. to min.
North by 1959 Herrmann Orchestra 136:00 56:49 39 2:14 End Major
Northwest 3 pianos (42%) Unresolved
Psycho 1960 Herrmann String ens. l 09:00 48:00 29 1:34 Segue No 3rd
(44%) min. to min. l,b5,b7,b9
Marnie 1964 Herrmann Orchestra 130:00 47:00 41 1:58 End Major
(36%) Unresolved
Frenzy 1972 Goodwin Orchestra 112:00 20:25 13 2:30 End Milnor
(18%) Resolves/Maj.
Frenzy 1972 Mancini Orchestra 112:00 26:25 15 2:32 End No 3rd
(22%) Resolves/Maj. 1,8, 12
80. With the exception of Mancini's Frenzy score, the# of Cues calculation is
dependant upon a discernable beginning and ending of each piece. Original
manuscripts, if available, may reveal different totals.
48
The eight title compositions implemented or created by Waxman and Tiomkin
could easily have functioned as music meant to foreshadow romantic dramas or, in the
case of Strangers on a Train or Rear Window, comedic stage plays. Regarding the more
literal-minded Hermann, whose title themes for The Man Who Knew Too Much,
Vertigo, Psycho and Marnie left the filmgoer with no doubt of the mayhem which was
to ensue, audiences attending North by Northwest may have felt they were about to
watch an action picture, owing to its fandango-styled opening music, or in the case of
emotional plateau from which to experience the first sequence of the film, which may in
itself have been shaded by a musical segue rooted in an identical or opposing modality.
Notable in Table 1 are the decisions made both by Mancini and Goodwin to resolve
their main title themes for Frenzy to major, in the manner of six of Waxman and
82
Tiomkin;s eight samples, and in opposition to all but one of the Herrmann scores.
Similarly, the final sonority heard in a film can leave the viewer/listener with a
· 81. It is acknowledged that both films embrace elements endemic to these genres.
82. The exception, from The Wrong Man, is a source cue performed at New York's
Stork Club, appropriate to the revelry of the on-screen dancers.
49
institution of, if not the Happy Ending, the Conventional Ending, in which good
triumphs over evil, the wicked are punished, and conflicts are resolved. Table 1 reveals
a major tonality in 12 of the 16 films examined. The four exc~ptions are The Man Who
Knew Too Much, Psycho, and both Goodwin and Mancini's Frenzy scores.
Just as the introductory and concluding pieces composed for Hitchcock's films
showed instances of variance, so too did the pattern of cue placement as it pertained to
narrative content. By 1960, it appears the director was questioning the use of music
Dial 'M'for Murder (1955), and The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) all unfold to
the theme for the shower scene against his director's wishes, in order to eventually
convince him music could immeasurably increase the horror of Marion Crane's
murder. 83 The same battle of artistic wills was to ensue in 1965 during the completion
of Torn Curtain, when the composer scored the prolonged killing of Gromek, again in
opposition to his director. Herrmann's successor John Addison also created a cue for
the two-and-a-half minute scene, but ultimately, Hitchcock deemed the sounds of the
84
struggle itself sufficient for his audio track.
during disturbing filmic moments did not extend to other, traditionally scored- or
unscored - sequences. The technique of filling the screen with a newspaper headline as
a way of advancing plot extends from Suspicion through all of the films considered for
this study, but in only one case - North by Northwest - is music kept from the
soundtrack as the frame comes into focus. Lengthy scenes of dialogue considered vital
to viewer comprehension, such as the reading of the will in Suspicion, Emma Ne\\rton
rationalising her emotions in Shadow of a Doubt, the courtroom scenes of Rebecca, The
Paradine Case, and I Confess, and innumerable police interviews throughout the canon
Regardless of how he chose to use music within his pictures, Alfred Hitchcock
employed 20 different composers to shade the 45 of his films which required scoring. In
197 5, the most frequent of these, Bernard Herrmann, summarised the nature of his
Hitchcock was asked in 1975 by composer John Williams if he would use Herrmann
tinted both of these statements, 87 they remain significant to this study in their contrast to
declarations made by both Henry Mancini and Blake Edwards regarding their own
misjudge the level of trust established between himself and Alfred Hitchcock:
I love going to scoring sessions and hearing what he has done. There are
times when I feel he's embellished the effectiveness of the scenes by
fifty percent, he's made them come more alive than I had imagined. A
lot of my success is due to his scoring. 89
87. A 1964 interview of both men conducted by Fletcher Markle for CBC television
reveals a partnership initially rooted in mutual admiration. (Fletcher Markle, Telescope:
A Talk With Hitchcock. Transcription available at www.bernardherrmann.org)
88. Tony Mastroianni, "Henry Mancini: Composer's King", The Cleveland Memory
Project, www.clevelandmemory.org
89. Thomas, Music for the Movies, 276.
52
Blake Edwards
William Blake Crump was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1922. He was the stepson
Gordon Edwards, was a prolific silent film writer, director, and producer.
Blake Edwards began his career as a teenaged actor, but an injury sustained while
serving in the United States Coast Guard during World War Two influenced his turn to
assignments in the new medium of television, where, in 1958, he created the character
of noir detective Peter Gunn, and began his professional association with Henry
Mancini. Their feature film work commenced in 1960 with Breakfast at Tiffany's, and
ended thirty-three years later with Son of the Pink Panther. 90 Edwards directed 38 films,
all but ten scored by Mancini, including comedies, dramas, mystery/thrillers, and
musicals. He died in Santa Monica, California, in 2010, survived by his wife and
The music Mancini composed for eight categorically different Edwards pictures
which precede Frenzy varies from that of Hitchcock's composers both stylistically - in
its divergence from the Euro-centric Romantic/Post Romantic sound that characterises
90. John Wakeman (Ed.) .. World Film Directors Vol. 2., 302-310.
91. Undercurrents of connectivity often emerge when biographical considerations are
included in film score analysis. The Andrews partnership is not only significant to
Edwards' and Mancini's work, but forms a col)11ection to Hitchcock. In Torn Curtain
she played the unwitting lover of a spy dropped into enemy territory. In Darling Lili,
her first part for Edwards, she played a spy dropped into enemy territory, unbeknownst
to the lover she would find there.
53
all but Rear Window - and in its status as an additional performance art existing within
sound, music was ranked in such a way as to exceed the traditional roles of Main Title,
End Credits, and underscore to scenario, often mixed at-a higher volume than many
films - including Hitchcock's - and making its presence felt in such a way as to at
films. 93 While consistent with those Hitchcock works showing higher music-to-film
percentages and number of discernable cues, the Mancini/Edwards music diverges in its
lengthier locating and mood-establishing Main Title sequences, the varied way in which
main title pieces end or transition, and the diversity and size of the ensembles
assembled.
92. Note the cue, "They Fired Me" from Days of Wine and Roses.
93. Music in Edwards' films would see a progressive reduction in status post-
Victor/Victoria. (1982) See Blind Date, Skin Deep, Switch.
54
TABLE 2
Use of Mancini's Music in Blake Edwards' Films, Pre-1971
Film Year Instrumentation Film Total #of M.T. M.T. Pinal
Length Music Cues Time Segue/End Sonority
Breakfast at 1961 Orch/Big Band, 115:00 49:13 23 3:04 End Major
Tiffany's Mixed choir, (43%) Resolves/Maj.
hannonica
Days of 1962 Orch, RS (4), 117:00 50.02 23 2:05 Segue Solo
Wine and Saxes, chorus (43%) IMaj9b5/Maj. 'C'
Roses
Experiment 1962 Orch./Big band+ 123:00 56:25 33 2:27 End Min/Maj7
in Terror pno x2,autohro x2 (46%) Resolves/min.
A Shot in 1964 Big Band, 102:00 41:48 32 4:00 End Min/Maj7
the Dark vox soloist (41%) Resolves/Root add 9,11
Indian harmonium, Inc. Prologue
free bass accordian
The Pink 1964 Orch/Big Band+ 115:00 57:08 24 3:29 Segue Major
Panther vox soloist (50%) min./min.
Inc. Prologue
The Great 1965 Orch, Saxes, 160:00 92:54 (58%) 56 2:50 Segue Major
Race chorus Overture, exit Maj./Maj.
Intennission
Darling 1970 Orch, RS (4), 114:00 69:35 (61%) 37 2:45 End Major
Lili Acc., bass acc., Prologue Resolves/min.
barrio, chorus Overture, exit
Mancini's decision to compose the amount of music he did for the Edwards
productions may be due to the manner in which it was showcased outside the traditional
forum of title and end cues. In every picture considered, the composer was afforded an
underscore vignette, such as the Breakfast at Tiffany's shoplifting scene, in which music
dominates the few sound effects heard. Jack Lemon's drunken attempts to reach his hi-
rise apartment in Days of Wine and Roses inspired the near two-minute "Silly", while
the choreographed multiple-dalliance scene which opens A Shot in the Dark was
main title music of The Pink Panther - itself a 3 :29-minute piece serving as a model for
55
the increasingly ambitious opening sequences created for the sequels - and by 1965,
Edwards was allocating a portion of The Great Race 's screen time to his compose:r' s
overture, intermission and exit music, as he would again do in 1969 with Darling Lili.
The director's enthusiasm for music.extended to its visual representation within his
films. At least one diegetic cue in each picture is shown emanating from an ensemble,
with close-ups of musicians and instruments. The visual and aural ambiance contributed
by the club bands of Breakfast at Tiffany's, Days of Wine and Roses, Experiment in
Terror and A Shot in the Dark morphs into the narrative-extraneous performances
shown in The Pink Panther and The Great Race, culminating with the musical, Darling
Lili.
Though Mancini enjoyed similar creative freedom under the recurring direction of
Howard Hawks, Stanley Donen, and Paul Newman, 94 the professional simpatico
established with Edwards, and the volume of work resulting from it, was unusual in the
the value of such durable partnerships is evident; however, given the exceptional
strength of purpose, desire, and abilities brought to these alliances by Franz Waxman,
Dmitri Tiomkin, Bernard Herrmann, Ron Goodwin, Alfred Hitchcock, Blake Edwards,
and Henry Mancini, it is of little surprise that the art which emerged achieved such
94. Newman was Andrews' co-star in Torn Curtain. His second directorial effort,
Sometimes a Great Notion, was, in the year before Frenzy, the first of three films
Mancini would score for him.
56
Chapter Two
The Trademarks ·
This quotation has been mistakenly attributed to Alfred Hitchcock and cited as a
reason for the Mancini dismissal by Thomas Leitch in The Encyclopaedia ofAlfred
Hitchcock's Music, 3 and invoked by many who participate in on-line film music
discussion forums. For. the purpose of this work, the quotation is useful for two reasons.
opinion, on one level, within the context of casual conversation, and on another, from
those who, like Herrmann, may in some way be connected to the principals involved,
giving rise to more significant repercussions. Herrmann had no contact with his former
I. Royal S. Brown, "An Interview with Bernard Herrmann", High Fidelity and Musical
America: Vol. 26 #9, 64.
2. Thomas Leitch, The Encyclopaedia of Alfred Hitchcock, 113.
3. Sullivan, Hitchcock's, 298.
57
director after the termination of the 'Torn Curtain" assignment, 4 and while one may
speculate on the anecdote being told him by a particip'1;nt in the Mancini recording
or in the case of his rare programmatic material, impart, the visual. 6 The "song
catalogue" associated with this composer emerged from his film scores. Often,
incomplete fragments of diegetic music only became fully developed pieces when they
It's strange, but all of the so-called hits I've had have been outgrowths of
dramatic situations. I couldn't sit down and write "Wine and Roses" just
from scratch and have it come out like that. There'd be no reason. 7
For the purpose of this study, 400 of Mancini's compositions drawn from motion
picture underscore, soundtrack albums re-recorded for commercial release, and the rare
pieces of program music he wrote were examined, using the composer's own suggested
"trademark" parameters of melody, harmony and timbre, and adding to this rhythm,
Factors requiring further analysis were added to the criteria above. "Primary Melodic
Ml ./I M21' CM21' M31' String Section+ pno, bs, dr, vb.
Improvisation
A distinction exists within the catalogue between the pieces Mancini would refer to
as "themes" - which transformed most readily into "songs" such as "We've Loved
Before" from Arabesque - and the underscore used to manipulate or reinforce mood, for
example, "The Zoo Chase: pt. 2" from the same score. The former is characterised by
frequent use of the four measure phrase or its multiples, a consistent time signature, and
a key centre, while the latter is usually plastic in form and metrical measurement, and
constructed from the position of considering each distinctive pitch set within either type
of cue as "melody", labelled, "M". Use of this term is less restrictive than that which
subscribes to the definition supplied by Hanns Eisler in his 1946 treatise Composing/or
9. Hanns Eisler, Composing for the Films. With a translation of the postscript from the
German language edition, 6.
60
While clarifying categorisation and avoiding a discussion of semantics, employment of
this label also recognises perhaps this composer's most widely acknowledged strength -
Factors distinguishing one melody from the next, resulting in the designation M1 ,
M2 , etc within the survey, are a redistribution of pitch order, and discernable
rhythmic activity. Applying the same parameters to song cues and implementing a
or multi-sectional.
While acknowledging the wealth of material in the Mancini canon that is not
readily identifiable as his work, 11 this study nonetheless revealed definite creative traits
and constructional tendencies, several of which emerge in the Frenzy score. It is useful
many of his choices regarding melody. The piece is one of 297 compositions found
within the survey to employ an ascending interval as its initial melodic gesture. This
figure includes the multi-thematic dramatic underscore cues in which the first melodic
motion heard in each 'theme' is upward. Included in the 103 exceptions - among which
10. "The job of the composer is to write a great melody, so Hank was .one of the most
supreme melodists in film scoring history - an indisputable great melodist. Not
every composer, film composer especially, is a great melodist, but Hank was. I
would venture to guess - I'm not certain about this - but I would say it comes from
two sources: his Italian heritage, and his jazz heritage." Interview with film
composer and Bernstein orchestrator David Spear, June 29, 2008.
11. The White Dawn; Tom and Jerry: The Movie, Lifeforce, Nightwing, The Night
Visitor.
61
are no evident connections between er·a, film, genre, or director - are compositions such
as The Peter Gunn Theme, which introduces its descending, principal melodic line only
Principal Melody
f'I I r-i I
Ens.~~~~~~~~§·~~3
I
• - '·._____,- '*-_
,
•)
....
Gt/Pno. :· ::- ::
•• -
-
~
- -
- "'
--
-
-·
Osti11ato!Co1111ter A1elodv
· - r-- -
- - -- -
... - "
_,# \
- - - - l-,... -
'
Figure 1: Peter Gunn Theme (1958.) Principal melody begins in a rare
descending direction, after introduction of ascending countermelody.
Also found in the Moon River melody is an example of Mancini's fondness, when
working within the parameters of a key centre, to use non-harmonic note choices at
moments of melodic prominence, in this case the 4th degree over the vi chord of m.2 and
more significantly, the augmented 4th degree at the strongest rhythmic moments of
c A-<add4) p6t#4) c
&1 J. I r v I r·
\
J) j j IJ J
F6<#4)
c B-1bs E7b9
F. -j j ~ I ~
' ~-~ -~ II
1 ·
~ *
Figure 2: "Moon River" from "Brealifast at Tiffany's" (1961). Ascending
interval begins melodic statement. Augmented 4th used as emphasized melody
note in mm. 3 and 5.
62
A tendency for harmonically contextual augmented 4ths and 5ths is evidenced
repeatedly in the song catalogue - "Mr. Lucky," "Soldier in the Rain", "Little Boys" -
as are major and minor 6ths and 9ths, appearing over both major and minor sonorities,
found in "Just You and Me Together Love", "Theme from Mommy Dearest," and The
Mancini was well aware of this 'trademark' of assigning non-triadic and often
John Caps in a 1992 discussion of a cue from Fear, "Casey's Theme." (Figure 3)
(pno/stg/clar)
~
Figure 3: "Casey's Theme" from "Fear" (1990). Compositional goal of suspending
resolution achieved through implementation of non-triadic and altered pitches in
both primary and secondary melodic material.
3rd, and 5th of the accompanying harmony, the composer would add interest, richness
and tension to his piece by using extended or altered chord tones within supplementary
melodic material placed in another voice. In examining much of Mancini's thematic and
dramatic music in fact, it becomes apparent he rarely settled for a single melodic line
This secondary melodic material can be classified in one of two ways: a counter
line, (CL), unfolds behind the main melody or an improvised solo at a slower rhythmic
rate, in an ascending or, more commonly within thematic cues, descending stepwise
In keeping with examples emerging from the cinematic source of "Moon River,"
"Sally's Tomato," from Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) illustrates use of the descending
counter line in a bossa nova acting as both source cue and underscore to a scene of
light-hearted banter bet~een the lead characters. The inner line makes its descent from
being bar to bar. The affect imparted, accepted and understood within the Western Art
64
Fig. 4: "Sally's Tomato" from "Breakfast at Tiffany's". 7-3 descending line
assigned to wordless choir, emphasizing sensation of resolution.
Mancini would use this device to impart anxiety as well, simply by adjusting the -
starting pitch of the descending line in relation to its surrounding vertical harmony. A
similar sequence entitled "Megeve" from the 1963 production of Charade "fights for
resolution" between minor 13ths and 12ths, and minor 9ths and octaves, contributing to
a less settled listening/viewing experience; the filmgoer has just witnessed a murder,
and is privy to the point-of-view camera angle of a potential assassin, training a pistol
The composer's use of countermelody is found in his first solely credited film
score, for The Glen Miller Story. A principal melody and accompanying harmonic
65
commercial dance band - was given sonic propulsion through the inclusion of a
secondary melody which used 13ths, augmented 11 ths, 9ths, and unresolved 7ths at
(Figure 5)
Strings
French Hom
Bass
-:e-
Str.
Hn.
F E-7 A7
Bass
~
Figure 5 "Too Little Time" from "The Glenn Miller Story" ( 1954). Altered
sonorities in french horn countermelody provide contrast to '3rd and 5th _oriented
principal melody.
66
"Life in a Looking Glass" from l 986's That's Life illustrates the combination of
these two devices enhancing the principal melody of a thematically-based cue. (Fig. 6)
The type of rhythmically pedestrian ascending counter line crafted for the "Life in
building suspense. "En Garde" from The Great Race shades a rapier duel between hero
and protagonist. Constructed over a chromatic, two note vertical tension established and
maintained between the rolling timpani and ·sustained double basses - an orchestration
technique in which the resulting effect is one of low muddled sound rather than
distracting dissonance - the melodic line gradually ascends in short phrases, ultimately
covering the range of an augmented 6th but never exceeding A#3, in order to avoid
interference with the voices of the male actors, and emphasize through contrast the
13. Textual references to pitches are expres~ed according to the International Pitch
Notation system.
67
This example also illustrates two additional Mancini dramatic underscore
'trademarks' - introducing the cue with a low-pitched sonority, often assigned to piano
as well as bass and reinforced with additional percussion instruments such as a gong or
crash cymbal - and completing it with a rapid, high volume crescendo which ends
abruptly. The three compositional devices illustrated below pervade the composer:· s
Bs Cl., bsn,
Altoflts
I I I I
.......I I "I
r~
L.
1-.I.·1np . -6- sim ... -e- -e- -e- -e- -e- -e- ~ -e- -a-:
. . . . . . _ _ , . . ,_ _ _ _ _,>-----"'..._.-·.._....·...___...,,-i,..____,. - - _ . . . . . - . . . -
mf ::::::=- PP
C.B. -e-.
mf
vlns.~-
,,
I J ~I - 17'. II
.._..-...___-,.__.,..___.....
-e- -e- -e- -e- __ .____________
-e-
p
-e- ' - - --e-
-e- ' ' ' - - - - -e-
'
.ff
II
Figure 7: "En Garde" from "The Great Race" (1965) Pitch ascension begins at
CJ in the lower woodwinds and reaches A #4 in the violins. Excerpt shows
characteristic establishment of low sonority in first measure, and rapid
crescendo, with abrupt ending, in.final measure.
Motivic material within Mancini's dramatic underscore was drawn from his larger
themes; from the "tunes" which, to Herrmann in the Royal S. Brown interview, were
assumed limiting due to their dependence upon the eight or sixteen bar phrase for
68
completion. Mancini's method of using the first two to four-note fragments of his tonal
or horizontal progression enabled him to avoid the potential restriction inherent in the
four, eight, or sixteen measure form, and construct linkages throughout the entire score.
His Pink Panther Theme offered up a wealth of melodic cells from which to construct
Alto Fits
' '
-...__,,. r
r r
· Vln/Vla (mut>s)
('\ ::: :::; ::: ::; ::: .
,
~.
'
~.
".'.'.
~
-
c~
-
~
-
~
<11
,._
-
"
~
-
c~
~
::
CB/VC (mutes)
Figure. 8: "The Safe 's Empty" from "The Pink Panther" (1964). Main Title theme
provides motivic material used in dr_amatic underscoring.
Melodic fragments drawn from the themes would also be used in sections of
imitative writing within underscore cues. Although complete fugal sections only
became apparent in the 1980's with such cues as "It's Shearing You're Hearing" from
The Thornbirds or "Feeding Time" from Lifeforce, more frequently, imitation both at
the tonal and real level was abandoned once the recognisable opening gesture of a
69
J. = 110
1]Jts./Vln I
Vla./V.C.
Figure 9: "Mollys Strike Again" from "The Molly Maguires" (1970). First statement
of thematic material used as source cell for imitative writing.
Just as a great deal of Mancini's music shows evidence of certain melodic traits, so.
progression linked to the melodic device of stepwise descending counter lines is the use
successive major, minor, and dominant seventh chords are found in several "B" sections
of binary forms. "Lujon", from 1961 's Mr. Lucky is such an example, as is "Ohio
r
Riverboat" and the "Theme from Harry and Son". (Figure 10)
BMaj7
I) #J aJ ,J
G-7 c11!><1)
I;
Fig. 10: Parallel Major ih chords form harmonic progression of "Lujan" B section.
structure over a bass note other than that chord structure's root, the most common of
70
14
these being iim7/I, and vm7/I. Examples include the "Theme from Hotel" and "The
lines moving concurrently at different rhythmic rates. Sonic tension, usually in the form
created by more stable intervals frequently following each other in parallel motion,
" -q-
Pn 0. ">'-------"'~~ T! -e- -e- -e-
'-_..-'~==::::=>o-
C.B. (Pno.) Sfp
Figure 12: "A Gone Mommy" from "Days of Wine and Roses" illustrates
independently moving lines achieving unpredictable moments of tension (dissonance)
and release.
In keeping with Mancini's divergent approach to melody and harmony within his
thematic material, there are many instances of a thematic form varying from the
common four bar phrase structure generally associated with popular music, in particular
the "Great American Songbook," which was so much a part of his musical heritage.
At its outset, the piece would seem to be well on its way to becoming a typical 32
bar structure consisting of four eight measure phrases, designated "ABAC" in the
Compositional Traits Survey. However, the final formal section of the piece is in fact
fourteen measures long, finding its point of extension after the first eight measures of
the recapitulation of the 'A' section, and most notably in measures 30-34. (Figure 16)
A- A-/G A-/F~ F7
II J. I .J J Iv· 9
11 r d
C/E F C/E F
~ J= - - -J)
29
f?J j J I J= jJ J f?J J J~
C/E A- D- G7 F
~'~J~~'J~.~~IJ~J~~l~J~~J~l4~~~~'J~.~~
_____
Figure 16: Extended.second half of "Moon River" form, resulting in 38 bar larger
structure. Mm.30-34 clearest point of augmentation ofphrase.
It may be argued that this uncommon phrasal design was due to the fact that
Mancini was often partnered with a lyricist, necessitating adjustments made to the
material in order to accommodate text; however, these themes were composed during
examination of the film, and the decisions to transform cues, including main titles, into
"songs" were made by the film's production team only after hearing the original
composition, and under consideration of the profit potential inherent in the process.
72
We work very well together. All the things we have done have
been ballads. I do the music first and then he writes the lyrics. One
thing about Johnny: he'll take exactly what I do. He would never
say, "Can we have another note here to fit a word?" It would kill
him before he'd do that. He'll take the melody as I do it and find
words to fit. This is the challenge. 15
Further exploration of thematic cues largely adhering to the popular music tradition
reveals a propensity, within the "B" sections of binary forms, to construct phrases
outside the parameters of the usual four-measure constraint. The bridge section of "It's
/
Easy to Say," written in 1980 for Blake Edwards' 10, consists of two five-bar phrases,
(Figure 18)
r· ~j
r· Ir· ~j
r· p r r· g E. ~ I ~~.
' F
~
p If
E-7 D-7 Cmaj7 BP9
iF
I
A7b5b9
£)·
A9
! J~~
D-7
I J. ~I
D-7/G
J J IJ :J J J :1
i t£jJ
I
' f f F lo ........... I
· Figure. 18. Ten bar "B" section, consisting of two five-measure phrases, divisible
into smalier 2+3 and 3+2 segments.
A device forming the foundation upon which entire compositions rest within the
stylistically contemporary rhythm section, this ostinato figure was often assigned to an
15. Les Tomkins, "An Interview with Henry Mancini", Melody Maker, 14.
73
of keyboards or non-orchestral stringed instruments. This rhythmic activity underpinned
an elongated principal melody line written for instruments more capable of sustained,
J = 132
Figure 20: Main title theme from "A Shot in the Dark" (1964). Ostinato, distributed
between bass and guitar, constructed from eighth-note oriented repeating propulsive
figure, which incorporates both major and minor 3rds.
Although this feature is most evident in main title themes - Peter Gunn in 1958, l 976's
"Background for Murder" (Touch of Evil, 1958), "Bulbus Terror Pt. II" (Wait Until
Dark 1966), and "Enter Ratigan" (The Adventures of the Great Mouse Detective, 1992)
Further exploration of this rhythmic and melodic device brings about further
found to be assigned to mid ranges of harps, auto harps~ harpsichords or· pianos in order
to fulfil a more holistic, less isolated role within the larger orchestral spectrum. As the
resulting sonority did not match the timbral weight of the lower-pitched propulsive
phrases of the above example, and was void ofrepetitious percussive accompaniment,
the device was used either as the opening statement of a larger piece which gradually
74
developed thematically and orchestrally, as the narrative dictated, or as a brief,
otherwise dense and active cue underscoring tension on the screen. An early example is
found in the "Dessert Rendezvous" cue from Creature from the Black Lagoon (1953) as
two harps alternated single notes within an eighth note-oriented phrase. (Figure 21)
J Harp I
,:1° J r J r J c J r
Harp/I
Figure 21: Dessert Rendezvous from "Creature from the Black Lagoon"
illustrates early use of repeating figure distributed between two instruments.
By 1962 and the Days of Wine and Roses assignment, Mancini was distributing
repeated pitches between two instruments - in this case pianos - in the construction of a
Figure 22: "No Guts" from "Days of Wine and Roses" shows developed use
of repeated pitches distributed between two or more instruments.
In 1967, with the creation of the Wait Until Dark score, the 'echoing' instrument
was detuned by a quartertone, four-note voici,ngs were substituted for single pitches,
and the resulting sound was introduced in the production's main title theme and used
75
throughout the dramatic underscore as unifying thematic material linked to the
of tuning systems, well into the 1970s with productions such as The Night Visitor, and
Nightwing.
A similar device used to. build suspense within underscore cues is the cross-
orchestral antiphonal accent, appearing with rhythmic irregularity and placed amidst
sustained passages in other voices. An emphasized pitch or cluster was echoed in either
traced from the 1950's Universal Pictures productions Mancini scored, such as "Terror
Strikes" from Tarantula, to the 1987 cue "Feeding Time" from Life.force. When
advances in technology allowed for stereo music tracks within the context of cinematic
sound, the composer came to assign the two events within the accent grouping to
~ Vln. (Mutes)
A A
l'I \ I l
-· - . .
,
- ,,.
~
-
~
Pno. f
A A A
I l l
, ._ "
-
£.. ,... '·
- •• £.5
, ... I
-
I
Pno./C.B. ~ ~
t':'\ f
•.• -·
-e- -e- ~
CJJ--:- -/- ------- ------
Figure 23: "The Big Snatch" Fom ''Experiment in Terror. "Rhythmically
unpredictable antiphonal accents of contrasting register and density distributed
· throughout suspense cue. · .
76
An additional characteristic melodic/rhythmic cell found in the survey was the
"The Nutty Professor" from Blake Edwards' 1960 production of High Time predates the
J = 120·
L_3--J
More commonly found within dramatic sections of various scores was the
strings or upper woodwinds, these figures would serve to emphasize the longer, 'target'
note written at the completion of the phrase, through the natural crescendo produced in
Fln.
Figure 25: MJ3.from "Bulbous Terror, Part A" of "Wait Until Dark. "(1967)
77
The "features" column of the Compositional Traits survey reveals repeated use of
certain instruments from decade to decade and film to film. Mancini was well aware of
how the choices he made regarding orchestration contributed to his 'trademark sound',
and chose to share his experience and knowledge regarding the craft in his textbook
orchestration, and as such, discusses all instruments not only involved in a large
orchestra, but the commercial dance/big band, small jazz ensemble, and theatrical show
band. Chapter and page allotment points to the instruments used with enough regularity
identity: the saxophone is given a chapter apart from that of the woodwinds, in which
the flute family merits 2 i pages. Brasswinds and their various mutes and articulation
techniques are granted a chapter dedicated mostly to the trumpet, trombone and french
Section" chapter, while that which is referred to as "Latin Instruments and Rhythms"
Two elements emerging from this book provide insight into Mancini's creative
mind-set when composing, and his holistic attitude toward sound. The first, from his
78
The clarinet is a very sociable fellow, especially when it comes
• 16
to umson passages.
The English horn can keep up pretty well with its brother, the
oboe, when it comes to light, staccato passages. 17
All in all, despite its look, the bassoon is a welcome and useful
friend to the writer. 18
·penned for the 1973 re-edition of the manual, revealing an ongoing curiosity regarding
'trademarks', the musicians involved in performing his film music cannot be ignored.
He required his players not only to play with the precision and expediency expected of
16. Mancini. Sounds and Scores: a practical guide to professional orchestration, 64.
17. Ibid., 81.
18. Ibid., 86.
19. Ibid., 106.
20. Ibid., 243.
79
scoring stage musicians, but to be able to improvise solos in many of his thematic
cues. 21
By all accounts, the composer's sense of loyalty to personnel was such that, at the
time of his death in 1994, he was still contracting musicians such as trombonist Dick
Nash and woodwind virtuoso Ronnie Lang from his 1950s' Universal Studio sessions.
Consistently fulfilling the roles of their American counterparts for the London-recorded
Charade, Arabesque, Two for the Road, and Frenzy assignments were members of the
In view of the distillation of the data compiled for the Compositional Traits survey,
construction, harmony, form, rhythm, timbre, and even performance practice emerge
with enough regularity to be considered "trademarks". Within the thematic cues, these
elements are clear. As early as 1971, Alfred Hitchcock, and the financial structure of the
American filmmaking industry that supported him, could reasonably assume Mancini
guitar; however, they were highly remiss both in ignoring the musical characteristics of
21. Although Mancini's musicians, like most involved in the recording industry during
the era of effective union representation, could rely on regular residual payments and
pension contributions, the element of improvisation, or spontaneous composition, does
give rise to a consideration of ownership. Cues such as "Orson Around" from Touch of
Evil (1958) consist of lengthy improvisations on a blues progression book-ended by an
introduction and conclusion of a 12-measure theme. Clearly, this discussion need not be
limited to film music.
22. John Richards interview.
80
his often subtle dramatic underscore, and the degree to which visual stimuli and
character shading within the narrative influenced its nature and construction.
81
Chapter Three
I'm a nut about detail - about the performance and the writing and the music
and how it all comes together in a movie.
Henry Mancini1
The work schedule for any commercial feature film, from the pre-production tasks
\
print, is attendant upon the film's release date. American film history includes
studios and production companies, and projects being terminated before their
As Frenzy was scheduled for release at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17,
1972, 2 filming commenced in August of 1971 and was completed by the end of
3
October. Editing, dialogue looping, insertion of sound effects, and the generation of a
final working print allowed Mancini to begin scoring the production in mid-November.
Due to the pre-digital era complexities inherent in sychronising sound to picture, film
various formulaic details this implied, until provided with a "locked-in" print, or, the
version which would ultimately be shown in theatres. Although the film's script could
be used to influence and generate thematic and timbral ideas in anticipation of the larger
score, the modifications made to this document throughout the film-making process
were often substantial enough to warrant much of this pre-study futile. For the
composer, this situation made for a limited amount of time in which to complete his
4
contribution to the project.
The Mancini Frenzy score was initially scheduled for recording over the duration
limited budget under which the production was operating, familiar with, the capabilities
of his regular core of.London musicians, and accustomed to producing ten minutes of
usable recorded score per session, Mancini convinced Hitchcock's office that only three
The recording studio of choice, Cine Tele Sounds, was located at 49-53
Kensington Gardens Square in the London district of Bayswater until its relocation to
4. '' ... for every assignment I've ever gotten, the first thing I was told was, 'And listen,
Hank, we need it by yesterday."' Mancini, Jerry McCulley liner notes for The Man Who
Loved Women Soundtrack album, Varese Sarabande Records, 1985.
5. Frenzy Documentary
6. The timing sheets dictate 26 minutes and 25 seconds of this be used in the picture.
The diegetic cues "Posh for Two", "Classical", and "Tijuana on Thames" were
abbreviated from their original lengths.
83
Wembley in 1972. The building, operating as "Whiteley's Gentleman's Dining Club"
environment a converted dining room with an eight-meter high ceiling and a floor space
orchestra. Eric Tomlinson served as the facility's chief recording engineer until his
departure in 1966 to competitor Anvil Studios, in Denham. Despite this personnel shift,
over the ensuing years Cine Tele Sounds remained a favourite European recording
location for John Barry, Burt Bacharach, Frank Cordell, and Frank Sinatra. 7
Mancini's preference for this venue for his non-American scoring projects was
exclusive, beginning in 1964 with Charade and continuing with the remainder of the
Stanley Donen trilogy -Arabesque and Two for the Road - Laslo Benedek's The Night
Visitor, and his 1980's Pink Panther assignments. His comfort with CTS and its new
8
chiefrecording engineer, John Richards, was such that he contributed an endorsement
7. Information regarding the history and operating procedures of Cine Tele Sounds was
provided by audio restoration engineer Chris Malone, via his website
www.malonedigital.com, and through correspondences of June 17, 2011, and Feb. 21,
2012.
8. Richards began his internationally successful career as Tomlinson's 19-year-old tape
operator, editor, and general assistant at CTS in 1962.
9. Mancini, Cine Tele Sounds brochure, 1970.
84
At the time of the Frenzy project, the studio offered commercial and film
cham1el Neve mixing console, three EMT echo plates, ' 0 Philips and Ampex tape
Engineering and recording fees increased with the studio's reputation, and a 1968
rate sheet offers a glimpse of the economics involved in the engagement of a premier
engineer's fee for one hour of mono recording at CTS was £16, the equivalent of £216
multitrack recording for film accrued a cost of £16 per hour plus a £7/hr. labour fee.
Mancini, familiar with the technology and techniques involved in all levels of the
recording process due to innovations he had been forced to develop during his work in
the American television industry of the 1950' s and his continuing association with the
commercial recording division of RCA records, was wary of the rebalancing potential
insistent on having his motion picture scores at this time mixed to a monophonic
setting, as opposed to the available three-track stereo spectrum, in order to ensure the
not be altered. 12
For the Frenzy assignment, Mancini assembled a studio orchestra consisting of, at
its largest, four C flutes, with auxiliary alto and bass flute capability, four clarinet/bass
clarinets, four bassoons, and four French horns. 16 violins, 10 violas and celli, and six
contrabasses formed the string section, while two harps, one piano, a timpanist and
Although the initial phase of the film scoring process - discussing the musical
requirements of the production with its director and producer, or "spotting" the film -
remains consistent throughout the sound film era and, by Mancini's own admission, was
conducted on the Frenzy project with no indication of the difficulties which would
ensue, 14 the technical elements involved in synchronising music to actual film stock, as
practised by the composer, his contemporaries, and predecessors must be considered,
especially given the significant methodological changes brought about by the recent
feet per minute. Given that Frenzy in its final edit was a 112-minute production, it
would generate a minimum 10,080 feet of film. This stock was spooled onto reels in
lengths of 1,000 feet; therefore, the complete film could be printed on a series of 11,
implemented which would not only track the musical segments in sequence, but the
reels they were associated with. Mancini's cue sheets for this picture are consistent with
any used by a film composer of the time; the first instance of score heard after the main
title is labelled "M-102", indicating "Music, reel 1, cue 2". "M-302/400" denotes the
second musical episode written for a reel three segment, which continues onto-reel four.
In order to help disguise the projectionist's shift to the new reel and maintain the
link with the first sonority dubbed onto the beginning of reel four would be written.
For this scoring project, notes taken at the spotting sessions by an assistant called a
paper and compiled in a green, cardboard, three-pronged folder. A _typed, adhesive label
on the front cover identifies the production number as "#95837". 15 The first three pages
of the music timing booklet are a compilation of the musical cues to be composed for
each reel, labelled according to the system described aboye, and summarising in point
form where each musical episode was to begin and end. (Figure 1.)
15. All spotting notes given Mancini are herewith reproduced verbatim ac litteratim.
87
Music - "Frenzy"
REEL #1
REEL #2 NO MUSIC
REEL #3
M301 WOMEN'S CLUB. SOURCE MUSIC in the restaurant.
Overall timing.
Figure 1. "Frenzy" cue sheets summarize all points within lhe film requiring scoring.
In addition to this set of cue sheets were the more comprehensive "Detailed
Timing Notes" recorded at the same spotting sessions. Descriptions of camera and
narrative activity, segments of the film's script, and timings calculated to within one-
16
half or one-third of a second were included on these typewritten pages. Each new cue
16. In the mid 1970s, more finite measurement of the moving image was made possible
through the increased use of video technology and the implementation of the Society of
Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) time code. Synchronisation with
sound could be achieved through reference to a constant readout, embedded into the
picture, of Hour, Minute, Second, and Frame Number, ie "1:02:24: 17". Regardless,
Mancini adhered to the methods he had developed during his six-year tenure at
88
began on a fresh page; each .page listed Mancini's full name, the production's title: and
number, and the date. The composer, in part to associate the music with its scene of
origin, and also to register the work officially with AS CAP, created a title for each
number, which was pencilled in. 17 All remaining descriptive material pertaining to the
scene in question was documented in double-sided format until the next number.
Mancini used the empty page remaining at the end of each cue for listing the
instrumentation of the next. From this information the composer could derive logistical
details linked to instrumentation, ensemble size, specific musicians required, 18 and time
necessary for the writing and recording ofthe score. (Figure 2.)
REEL I - M-102
0:47-2/3 31. MINISTER: "I say, that's not my club tie, is it?"
(We hear the people getting uneasy.)
~:50-2/3 32. CUT to close shot of body with a tie around her neck.·
This descriptive summary of the sections requiring music allowed the composer to
both recall the scene in question, thus avoiding further time""consuming film review, and
to plan within the progression of the music the location of "Hit Points", or, specific
90
To refer to Mancini's original Frenzy score as a "sketch" does it a disservice. It
generated a maximum of 59 instrumental parts and was the document from which the
composer conducted. All information necessary to the production of the final recording
was included in its contents and an examination more extensive than a musicological
analysis is warranted.
manuscript manufactured by Pacific Papers of Reseda, CA. 19 The top of each leaf is
imprinted with a one-and-a-half inch horizontal line in the left corner on which to write
the cue number, a three-inch line in the centre for the cue's title, and the composer's
name in small upper case letters in the right corner. All sheets are engraved with two
systems of eight staves, the bottom stave of each group - engraved "Dr" - spaced
slightly below the others, its bar lines in alignment with, but unattached to those
20
above.
groupings? which does not appear to influence phrase structure within this, or any of the
19. This small, independent company, also known as "Glasser Printing Lithography" is
still in existence, offering a varied selection of music manuscript paper, as well as a
unique dark-imprint pencil with an over-sized, soft eraser. The shop's location on Van
Nuys Boulevard in the Los Angeles community of Reseda was minutes away from
Mancini's home in the neighbouring suburb of North Ridge, before his family's
relocation to Holmby Hills in the 1980s. He was using the same paper for his final
score, A Memory.for Tino in 1993.
20. An abbreviation for "Drums". Notation for any percussion instrument used by the
composer was mad~ on this stave. ·
91
University of California at Los Angeles, and is more likely linked to the occasional
compensation practise of payment calculated per every four measures of music written.
In the case of duplicated bars, as with a Del Segno or Da Capo, the pre-inked measures
were subdivided with pencil, and the numbers assigned to bars slated for repetition were
Mancini composed the Frenzy score in concert pitch, including viola parts which
were notated,in the bass cle(Although instrument assignation to staff varies from cue
to cue due to orchestrational changes, the top stave was generally used for upper
woodwinds, organ, or principal melody line, the second and third for secondary or
lower woodwinds, followed by french horn on the fourth, harps and piano below this,
violins or, more often, violas on the sixth stave, the combination of violas and celli on
Bar numbers were written by the composer in blue pencil, circled, and located over
the centre of each measure at the top of every system. Synchronisation timings
conventional dark pencil at regular intervals above bar lines. Descriptive tempo
indicators, click track, or metrical markings were not noted within this score - an
interesting omission given that, by his own admission, the composer conducted his film
92
scores from his sketches, as opposed to the detailed full orchestral scores prepared by
21
his orchestrator.
All words in the holograph, be they titles, dynamic markings, instrument names,
script cues, or instructions to the orchestrator or copyist, were either printed in block
capitols, written in cursive style, or, often within the same phrase, expressed using a
combination of both. The small case letters "j" and "i" are occasionally topped with a
22
tiny circle rather than a dot.
When conducting this score during the recording process, the synchronisation of
accomplished with the aid of several aural and visual cues. Mancini preferred three
specific timing techniques, and used each one according to the musical and dramatic
23
circumstances of the segment. In the case of cues such as the Frenzy main title, which
metronomic beats calculated from the composer's timings was constructed, its
measurement producing either one or two beats - "clicks" - per bar, audible to the
21. Mancini/Phillippe, Case History of a Film Score, 24. Although such information can
be found on other Mancini sketches, it may be surmised that click track rates could have
been included in the full score followed in the recording booth by the music editor. The
conductor may simply have asked to hear them at the beginning of each take, before
giving the first downbeat to the orchestra.
22. This stylistic tick is in evidence throughout all of the 1960' s scores archived at the
UCLA facility, and samples from the 1987 short score included in the Phillippe
Thornbirds text show the same feature.
23. Mancini/Phillippe, Case History, 41
93
Visible in many photographs of scoring stages, including an obviously posed
picture of Mancini and Hitchcock at the conductor's podium of the CTS main studio, is
a large clock equipped with a single sweeping hand and imprinted with the numbers
five through 60. Included in the conductor's visual field of orchestra and large
projection screen, the clock would impart the information calculated at the seconds
level by the stopwatch used during the initial writing process. During lengthy adagio
sections, in which the relentless sound of a click track would result in a stilted, rigid
boldly printed timings could be arrived at in alignment with the appropriate pictorial or
.
useful to him when . ru bato segments. 24
conductmg
Often used in conjunction with the free-timing method was the visual aide known
as a "streamer": By scraping part of the chemical emulsion from the physical film, the
music editor would create a diagonal white line beginning at the bottom left of the
picture's frame. During projection of the film, as the line travelled across the screen at a
consistent pace, the conductor could make minute adjustments in tempo in order to
reach the score's "hit-point" at precisely the moment the streamer arrived at the right
edge of the screen, corresponding to the image deemed by director and composer to
and recording of the Frenzy score resulted in a usable performance marred by four
apparent mistakes. It is reasonable to conclude the cancelled third recording session was
was given to the sound mixing technicians for dubbing to the film. The nature of these
mistakes - instrument intonation and control issues, and one wrong note shared by the
Goodwin's Frenzy score was recorded at Anvil Studios, and engineered by John
Richards' mentor Eric Tomlinson. Goodwin recalled his initial contact with the director
First of all I was asked to go to Pinewood Studios to meet him and I was
a bit nervous about meeting him. But he was very relaxed, very
humorous and told me some funny stories. He was very, very friendly
and made me feel welcome and relaxed, but he was very, very
meticulous about what kind of music he wanted. I mean, I left to rewind
the film and his secretary transcribed all the notes Qf our conversation -
she spent some ·paper with all the suggestions he made with the current
scenes. He went back to Hollywood before we recorded the music,
having said that he would like the first stage recording sent by courier to
him so that he could run it with the picture and see how it went. To my
great surprise - it was quite late on the evening of the first recording -
and my first ring was a call from Hollywood just to say that he'd run the
95
first reel and he was very pleased with it, so I thought it was very kind
. th"mg to do. 25
an d a mce
consultation with engineer Tomlinson, who later revealed he was able to keep him
informed of events taking place within the Anvil recording studio by holding a
.telephone receiver in the vicinity of his control-room speakers and playing each day's
work to the director overseas. Hitchcock's response to each Goodwin cue was, simply,
"fine". 26
Given the logistics involved in the musician contracting, recording, and mixing
processes associated with the Frenzy soundtrack assemblage - all accomplished under
the increasing weight of the film's impending release date - Hitchcock's satisfaction
with the Goodwin contribution was no doubt a relief to those involved in the
production. For Goodwin, especially in light of his respect for Mancini, 27 the director's
25. Jorge Leiva Romero, "Excerpts of a Ron Goodwin Interview", Film Score Monthly
(May 9, 2001), http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/articles/2001/09_May
26. Chris Malone, interview with Eric Tomlinson, June 8, 2003
27. Romero, Film Score Monthly.
96
Chapter 4
In 1948, before a motion picture scoring career was seriously considered, Henry
Mancini created an arrangement ofNacio Herb Brown's The Wedding of the Painted
Doll for Tex Beneke's Gle1U1 Miller Orchestra which amounts to a type of instrumental
pantomime, with horns assigned the roles of bride, groom, minister, and congrega.tion. 2
Decades later, when asked by interviewer Tony Thomas what he felt the primary quality
necessary to a successful film music career was, he replied, "A sense of drama. I can't
stress that too much. It's as important as the ability to compose." 3 Mancini was a musical
dramatist who viewed instruments in such a way as to describe them in human terms,
and with few exceptions, his main title themes are notable for the presence of a
prominent instrumental character. The themes for Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Pink
Panther, A Shot in the Dark, or The Great Race rely on the harmonica, stylistically
1. McCulley, liner notes, The Man Who Loved Women Soundtrack Album.
2. Tex Beneke and The Young Ginny and Henry Mancini, Submarine Records, 2009.
3. Thomas, 275.
97
4
contemporary tenor saxophone, Indian harmonium, and jangle box for their timbral
identities, while the principal melodies of Days of Wine and Roses and Nightwing are
linked to the french horn and the ocarina. The rise of electronic instruments simply
expanded his timbral vocabulary, evidenced by the prominent appearance of the Arp
synthesizer in the NBC Mystery Movie Theme and Theme from Cade 's County. For
Frenzy, the composer remained true to form, casting the Royal Albert Hall pipe organ in
The organ component of this part of the score was performed by Leslie Pearson and
engineered by John Richards using the CTS remote unit in one, three-hour session. The
take was .then mixed with the full orchestra to a destination master track during the
5
ensemble's recording of the theme during the two-day schedule in the Bayswater studio.
The score really had no binding, there were no themes in it. I never even
used the title music again. The reason for that title theme was the helicopter
shot coming in over the Parliament and all that, to give it the appropriate
aura and at the same time, with the organ, to get the mystery going. 6
Herrmann used the electric organ in The Wrong Man to underscore Rose Ballestrero's
mental illness. The climactic assassination attempt scene in The Man Who Knew Too
Much takes place during a concert in the Royal Albert Hall. For Mancini, the
unmistakable sound of this venue's organ served to locate the film in London and
contribute to the stately, dignified aura which Hitchcock wanted to convey regarding the
city of his birth, as British composer Leighton Lucas had done with the Stage Fright
American film music, the pipe organ also foreshadowed the mystery and menace which
was slated to commence within three minutes of the music's opening sonority.
A summary analysis similar to that undertaken for the Mancini compositional. traits
survey yields the following when appl~ed to the Frenzy main title theme.
The choice of D minor as the theme's key is consistent with many main title cu:es of
this period in the composer's career; however, Touch of Evil, Experiment in Terror, and
A Shot in the Dark differ from the Frenzy theme in that instruments more commonly
7 .Jolm Mansell, Ron Goodwin: Notes, Quotes and Film Music", 2002. P.1-6.
Soundtrack, The CinemaScore and Soundtrack Archives.www.runmovies.eu Accessed
Jan.13, 2011.
99
associated with jazz, rock and roll, or popular music figured prominently in the
ensembles used in these films. Despite the use of a more traditional orchestra for Frenzy,
one of the characteristics of the key of D minor which Mancini the orchestrator exploited
was its tendency to place strings, woodwinds, and french horns into a mid-range,
sonorous timbral spectrum which would contribute to the depth, fullness, and foreboding
As well, the triple time signature - a key element in such Mancini themes as "Moon
River", "Charade", "Dear Heart", and "The Sweetheart Tree" which led to his being
associated with popular contemporary waltzes - is relegated via the slow tempo to a
mere pulse grouping with no connotations of dance. Within the context of the traditional
use of "the waltz" in the Hitchcock canon, this choice of meter is significant. Given that
the narrative focuses both on the plight of an arguably unconscionable protagonist and
his sociopathic antagonist, Mancini followed the Hitchcockian waltz /villain tradition;
however, by refusing to implement the tempo necessary to transform the theme's pulse
into a dance-inspiring selection, he eliminated, from the film's outset, any suggestion of
seconds, before the actual starting point of the version of the theme which was ultimately
ascending gesture of A to D; however, until the organ and strings reach the final beat of
measure six, the key centre of this passage is nebulous. Pitch material after the fortissimo
entrance of measure 1 - with the organist instructed to play "Full" - and the answering
chord but for the presence of a minor 211 d and 6th in mm.3, 4, and 5. It is not until the
Mancini's "Alternate Start" at m.7 conveys the initial D minor tonality of the piece,
in part due to the introduction at this point of a pedalled low D shared by the celli and
basses, and sustained for four measures at a tempo of 72BPM. As with the Experiment in
Terror theme of 1962, the implementation of a pedal tone set in opposition to the
principal and countermelodies results in a subtle undertone more felt by the listener than
heard.
The alternate start of the theme also comes with an instruction to the organist to
adjust stops in such a way as to produce a "High Woodwind Sound: Not thick" for the
Characteristically, the composer's familiarity with and fondness for the flute emerged
9. Although timings were reset to commence at a reading of 0:00 at m.7, he did not
readjust bar numbers.
101
As well as lacking pitch material which may immediately suggest a key centre, the
original, unused six measures of the main title do not instantly convey a steady pulse and
comprise the first two measures, rhythmic density changes to consecutive sixteenth notes
in mm.3-4, measure five incorporates a quintuplet, and measure six shifts to common
Organ { ~f\v .. ff
..
>
,_. -·- --··
.---...
-. ..
-
~
u .ff
2.
-
3. 4.
i:::-'
5. 6. 7. mf
-
detache __ 5.-.>
(\
-
Vin
u
'·
=~~
fl---,
-======= ;:. >>>>>>> >>>;.
>/L'.,;..lt.;;.~....
H-.-
/\
Via
- ~
.ff '
>------. 5 (J
5 I 6_ I
Ve
.ff '
- =~ - ::. "
>
·-~
5 I 6_ I
...
Cb
-=-~?·-·· -======= ~~~>~>> >>>t =~
Figure 1. Mancini's "Frenzy" Main Title Theme: unrecorded six-measure
....... ·- _
.......
>
-
..,.;.________..,
introduction. To the listener, the initial five measures defy ready categorisation of
meter and key centre. The recorded version begins at m. 7.
10. The 4/4 construction of the final bar of the section results in the sonic illusion of a
ritard. In reality, the tempo for the conductor and instrumentalists remained constant,
allowing for manageable synchronisation with the picture.
102
Conversely, at the alternate start of bar seven, a consistent tempo and clear metrical
melodic directional shift to the first beat of mm.7, 8, 9,- and 10. (Figure 2
~ J/ IAlternate Start I
:05
~ Rva mi~ Woodwind Sound· ..
fl
* .
'ut Thick)
~
* . . * ~
* ~ . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ t ~ t ~ t ~ ~ .
O<g{ t,;
fl
ILegato I
t,; .
mf
.
Ped
~
Ve, :
Cb(8vh)
"'!· ::t· ..Z· 'if· ,
Figure 2: Main Title Theme, mm. 7-10. Key centre conveyed at "Alternate Start".
Rhythmic regularity and melodic contour at approach to bt. l of every bar defines
metrical grouping
In synchronising the originally scored version of this cue with the film it becomes
evident that Mancini had planned for his first six measures to coincide with the City of
London crest displayed at the outset of the title sequence. Sixteen seconds later - the
point in the score at which the organ settles into implication of a steady pulse and :reveals
a key centre - the film's title appears. The principal melody as stated by the strings in
m.11 commences on the shift from the leading cast card to that of the supporting actors,
although this segment also follows the symmetrical four-measure phrase of the
rhythmically predictable organ passage, calling into question the possibility that this
In considering the reasons behind the abandonment of the initial six measures of
this cue, difficulties inherent in dubbing the full orchestra onto a master track in
conjunction with the already-completed organ take may be suggested; however, use of
103
the click track at the organ session would have eliminated these difficulties, and as well,
it is highly unlikely the co~poser would have engineered such a problematic scenario. 11
Another possibility for the composer's edit arises upon the discovery that the first
version of the cue does not reach its completion until well into the Lord Mayor's speech
- an unacceptable option since his words make for an ironic counterpoint to the sight of
the naked body floating to shore and are therefore paramount within the soundtrack
title sequence, when the viewer's attention is meant to shift from location and era to plot,
A reasonable conclusion which accounts for the two starting points of the theme is
that Hitchcock edited two versions of the Main Title Sequence. A camera dissolve at
1:54 of the two minute, thirty-five-second scene as the view shifts from the Thames river
to the Parliament Buildings on its north bank- and thus the viewer's mindset from that
adjustment in his final version, and could easily have been the point of augmentation
which would have resulted in a visual sequence 17 seconds longer. His decision
regarding the version to be used was made before the recording sessions, and Mancini
11. On the recording of the isolated organ part for this theme, Mancini is heard giving
Pearson a five-beat count-in, at a tempo of 72BPM. (The
. .
sixth beat was not audibilized
in order to provide space for the engineers to leave a silent gap before the
commencement of the piece.) Pearson's left and right hands remain in tempo, despite the
substantial time lapse evident in the bass notes produced by the foot-pedals.
104
Ultimately, the linear visual design of the film's title segment - as opposed to an
assemblage of editing cuts - allowed the composer more structural freedom. The single
editing adjustment does not influence a shift in musical content, unlike the preceding
sequence of cast and crew cards and the travelling aerial shot which provides their
backdrop. As it exists in its recorded format, Mancini's Frenzy theme shares features
The principal melody played by the violins and violas commences between the
quick fade of the "Universal" logo and the introduction of the "Alfred Hitchcock
similarly contoured but less rhythmically active counter melody in the organ, voiced in
parallel 1Oths two octaves above. The bass line - always ameticulously crafted element
within any Mancini arrangement1 ~abandons its area-executed quarter-note pulse in
2
favour of dotted half-notes only with the texturally thickening addition in m.14 of
rhythmically identical first-inversion C minor triads written for the clarinets, bassoons,
and french horns. In order to maintain even distribution of each triadic element, one of
each available reed and horn is excluded from these voicings, and movement within the
bass and wind parts is limited to a pitch range not exceeding a Major 3rd. (Figure 3)
12. "The bass line is as much a part of the piece as is the melody line. In fact, the bass
line tells us more about the writer's real harmonic ability than anything else he puts
down on paper." Mancini, Sounds and Scores, 164.
105
~ti !Alternate Start I
:OS :IQ :IS
-.::1::_
-···------
-,j. -,j. _'?-.:.._ _..._____,,.
.... #- :"
-~
.... ____ .
,..,
- _, - -
:Jh
- ... f!:.. ~ f!:..e f!:.. /I- f!:.. /I-
:41~
~ - t= ~ - bt= € ~ f!:.. t= _ ~:46
At m.18, organist Pearson plays the right and left-hand parts an octave lower than
directed in the sketch, suggesting Mancini neglected at this point to cancel the "8va"
instruction given in in. 7, especially since the remainder of the organ part is performed as
· scored, at pitch. The section concludes with the addition of a ninth bar, sustaining the
first inversion C minor triad distributed throughout the full orchestra for three more
. beats. T~is brief augmentation allows for the commencement of the second A of the
largerform at m.20 to correspond with the appearance of a third cast card. (Figure. 3)
In order to further delineate the second A of the larger form, the composer raised
the key by one full tone to E minor, reduced the organ activity to accompanying thirds
106
limited to the right hand, and assigned the principal melody to his full flute, clarinet, and
At m.20, the basses and celli resume the activity assigned them in the first A
fifths and sixths within the line, and extending the rhythmic grid of quarter notes for an
additional two measures. As well, the violins and violas are shifted from the principal
melody to a new counter melody similar in its rhythm and intervallic distribution to the
organ statement which began the cue, but beginning with the more rare descending
Figure 4. Main Title Theme, mm. 20-28. Principal melody assigned to woodwinds.
"*" denotes performance mistake. Organ activity reduced to counter line, upper
strings introduce new countermelody, bass line developed from first A section.
107
The 16 bar section beginning at m.29 and designated 'B' in the survey analysis
corresponds, via Hitchcock's moving aerial shot toward Tower Bridge, to the
entrenchment of audience point-of-vie.w into a frame constructed from the right and left
banks of the Thames River, and a lower border of the water itself. As had been heard and
seen in the B section of the 1962 Experiment in Terror title theme, among others, 13 and
as would occur with future compositions such as the "On to Kansas" cue from George
Roy Hill's Silver Streak in 197 6, this visual input triggered Mancini's compositional
motion reflex.
In the Mancini canon, automated movement - especially when carried out against a
backdrop of sweeping vistas such as the night-time San Francisco skyline of Experiment
tensions, increase the sensation of propulsion already stimulated by the visual. By the
early 1970's, directors astute enough to recognise this 'trademark' in the composer's
style saw such moments as opportunities for sonic Mancini cameos, often removing all
other sound from the audio mix, as Blake Edwards did for the "Yellow Rolls Royce" cue
For the Frenzy Main Title B section, the increase in musical momentum begins
with the first appearance in this arrangement of the timpani, two measures before the
commencement of the organ solo. Corresponding to a crescendo in the celli and basses
13. "Cloppers and Choppers" from Arabesque, much of the Two for the Road score, etc.
108
are five beats of sixteenth notes on an F increasing from an initial piano dynamic to a
forte rolled E at M.29. This rhytlunic phrase also served to impart tempo to the lower
string and woodwind players who, with the pre-recorded organist, were sustaining
through both measures; as well, .it rhytlunically foreshadowed the consecutive sixteenth
notes at m.29 of the organ's upper line, making for a smoother aural transition to this
more prominent melodic activity. At this point in the timpani part, five beats of a rolled
E followed by a sixth beat subdivided into 16th notes leads to the downbeat of a duplicate
two measure pattern which becomes the underpinning percussive structure for the
section. Given the disorienting time lag apparent in the isolated organ recording due to
the physics involved in eliciting sound from the instrument's largest pipes, the sixteenth
Above this, the contrabasses, celli, and organ pedals also establish a repeating two-
measure phrase of their bottommost E. In a purely musical sense, this note serves as
pedal to the shifting harmonic prism assembled above in the woodwind qnd organ parts;
in conjunction with the visual elements of the film sequence, it also suggests the low
rumble of a motor - that of the aircraft carrying the viewer over the cityscape, or the
black-smoke-effusing tug boat set to eventually cross the visual field. Regardless of
passage in order to fulfil its ultimate purpose; it is the dominant degree upon which the
109
The first two measures of B are based on an E7b9 pentachord. In an interesting
scoring touch, Mancini expressed the third degree of this structure as an Ab in a single-
stave, four-note wind voicing shared, at pitch, by the clarinets, bassoons, and frenc~
horns, despite writing its enharmonic equivalent in the organ part. 14 Notable as we:ll
. within the combined woodwind and french horn parts is the starting point on the second
beat of every first measure of their two-measure phrases. The staggered entry points of
the timpani, basses, and winds assigned the accompanying role to the organ solo also
The primarily 16th -note-oriented organ solo utilizes all pitches necessary to the
suggestion of each measure's harmonic identity, including chordal extensions. The 3rd,
and minor 6th, 7th and 9th degrees of the first measure's E 7b9 are implemented in the
right hand step-wise melodic line of 16th notes, supported by left hand quarter notes
supplying the 3rd, 5th and 7th degrees, respectively. Inclusion of the root is not
necessary due to its strong representation within the lower v9ices of the orchestra.
(Figure 5)
f\ ti 1:11 i~q~:e .. __
_:e(:, ~~q~ ~ ;:·- f; ~ ~ ~ € q~~·~
Org.{ •; - ======-- I
fl~ I
-------- - ~ = =
4 Cl. f\ "'fr·
4 !Jsn.
4F.Hn. t.1 I=======-
Melodic note choices in the principal organ line of measure 30 imply the A minor
structure to follow in measure 3 1, where the composer fully realises his harmonic
destination on the first beat of the bar, then returns to a brief exploration of non-triadic
material only when the tonic, mediant, and dominant pitches of the measure's harmonic
base are stated and maintained by the wind section. This superimposition of passing
Although the organ's perpetual stream of sixteenth notes passed from right to left
I
until m.41. In this way, register, as well as rhythmic contrast is established, especially
111
since the lower line is periodically pitched as much as a perfect eleventh below the
upper.
At measure 3 3, the system of tension and release implemented against the E pedal
is most evident. Al though the upper organ line remains linked to root, third and fifth of
an D#dim 7 chord, the lower line, pitched at this point within two octaves of the pedal
note, begins and ends with a D# - spelled enharmonically in the score as an Eb - which
in the following measure is incorporated into the right hand material. A resolution and
release of tension is achieved with an arrival at E minor in m.3 5, but not without
implications in both lines of a superimposed A minor triad within its pitch group. (Figure
6)
At measure 3 7, the midway point of the section, Mancini thickened the orchestral
t~xture with the addition and balanced distribution of root, 3rd, 5th, and minor 7th of an
F#7 voicing throughout the violin and viola sections. As the camera brings Tower Bridge
and the water's surface closer to the viewer and imparts the-illusion of increasing speed,
The F#7 resolves to a B minor triad in m.39 and as with mm.31-32, and 35-36, a
minor 6th degree is incorporated into the organ line, as well as both lowered and natural
9th degrees. A return to the D#dim7 sonority of mm.33 and 34 is achieved in the
following two-bar couplet, with Mancini adding to the tension created by the presence of
112
the "Eb" against the E pedal by increasing the use of this note in the parallel tenth organ
Vin. ""
:~tt.,:.--------,
Via.,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§
I~ I~
Org.
{..~.
fl,./-=---._
,
I - .,... - . *-
·= =
Vln. fl,,_, I I
~)
e·
,.....,
~:
*. ..... b~:
I I
VI·· 1~~~~~~~m~~~~~m~~~~~m~~~~~~~~~~~~§
~ I
Cb. (~~~) _;.,._ __•-----------------------------------+-+------------------------------- __ --· __ ----------------- ------------- --!------------------------- --------- ---t-------- __ _ __
-*· ~·-- _:r· ~:__ -?-.
Ti mp.
:i: -- :i: :i: -- :r :r
38 19 411 41 42
leading to the restatement of the section A melody is a characteristic linkage phrase used
113
by Mancini in similar structural situations, in both primary and secondary melodic
material. 15 Its implementation at this point in the main title cue's violin melody,
supported by ascending quarter notes in the bass and cello parts, serves an additional
function - due to the string section's dominance at this point of the orchestration,
Mancini could momentarily pull away from the click track tempo which the organ
recording adher'ed to and elicit a mild ritard from the orchestra, emphasizing the
appearance of the "Directed by Alfred Hitchcock" card. This brief and subtle alteration
in tempo also served to bring about a more dramatic a tempo restatement of his initial
melody. The organ's final two beats of m.44 are inaudible in the recording, as are the
-
1:47 1:52
(R.H. only-easy)
I
.-~---
-- - - - - --H
"'"'
1--
~:_,-
Via. -•HI-+-----"'- --- --- ------ ______ ...,,___________ -------- - ----- --------- --------------------------------
15. Use of the device is prevalent within thematic compositions and arrangements. See
"Theme for the Losers" from Visions of Eight, "Dream of a Lifetime" from the Themes
from 'The Godfather' recording, etc.
114
The final A section and coda of the main title theme is notable for its symmetry
with the cue's first A section, its progressively thinner orchestration, and, on his sketch,
the composer's only use of chord symbols within the piece. The principal melody
commencing at m.45 is carried by the violins until its point of rest at m.52 on the 5th
restatement of the first measure of the theme is used as a countermelody by the violas
and celli at m.46, from there providing support to the mid-range strings with new,
middle-ground material.
1:35 1:40 1:45 1:50
1:52 1:57 2:02 ~:07
11
(R.H. o n l y - e a s T I - - - - -
---- - ..-....,,
,.......------,,
.. .. I I
Org. f .
l! I
Figure 8. Main Title Theme mm. 45-51. Restatement of 'A' section melody.
The organ's bass pedals and the timpani are not heard from again after m.45, and at
m.46, the bass line abandons the intimation of a quarter note pulse three measures earlier
than in the previous A sections, instead producing a series of tonally adjacent dotted half
notes to the end. The four-note voicings of the winds are replaced initially by vertical
thirds, shared with the organ, until m.4 7 where triadic structures are assigned to the
bassoons and horns, the top note doubled within each group. (Figure 8)
115
The holograph reveals the use of chord symbols at mm.45-52, offering a possible
tonal and structural ambiguity of most of the score, his objectives in constructing the end
of this main title cue included achieving the symmetry brought about by a concluding
statement made by the pipe organ, and resolving to the D minor tonality which began the
piece, adjusted in such a way as to provide a moment of idyllic reflection on the setting
were to be met within the 24.5 seconds dictated by this part of the title segment. His
· tracking of the harmonic sequence used to restate the main theme beginning at m.45 and
concluding at m.52 clarified the starting point of the progression that would ultimately
result in the fitting tierce de Picardie that serves as the cue's final sonority.
As the camera implies a further descent to the river's edge and the listening crowd
gathered there, he used a trademark device - the descending step-wise bass line - to both
complement the frame and anchor his progression from the G minor triad of m. 52 to the
52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62
I Gm ·/· Dm I ·/· I Gm I Dm I Cm I ·/· II D I ·/· II
Bb A F Eb
french horns which had dominated the wind instrument combination were silenced, and
the woodwinds were reduced to three clarinets and three bassoons producing sustained
116
Figure 9. Main Title Theme, mm.52-61. Descending bass line resolves to tonic
major of recorded version's opening sonority. Elimination offrench horns and
reduction in density of woodwind and string voicings contributes to formal
symmetry ofpiece.
Although the rhythmically subdued nature of the orchestral parts do not make it
readily apparent, the slight discrepancy in tempo between the organ track and the
conducted orchestra is most noticeable at this point, since the two parallel-contoured
organ lines are the only source of rhythmic generation implied for the remainder of the
piece. By measure 56, Mancini had adjusted to the variance and was able to coordinate
the string and woodwind entrances with the new tempo. At mm.60-61, the molto ritard
is dictated by the organ, in a manner appropriate to the timing requirements of the scene,
The nine-measure organ statement that ends the cue is similar in timbre to the
opening stateµ-ient, as Mancini called in his score for the "High woodwind sound as
before". As well, the ascending linear thirds which begin the melody, the major and
117
minor tenths which predominate the intervallic separation between the left and right-
hand parts, and the occasional 16th-note figures which offset each other in opposing lines·
are features shared between the two formal sections. The closing measures, however,
constitute an entirely different melody than that which began the piece, due in part to the
lack of intervallic 3rds in favour of wider not~ spacings, and the implementation of
repeating, identical pitches alternating with those that constitute a moving melodic line.
(Figure 10)
1:55 2:00
2:12 2:17
2: '~
molto rit. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ :~
2 3
We hear speech
~J~J
l~
r.,
11: : [ L Fid I
60 ' 61,
====-
Figure 10. Main Title Theme, mm.52-61. Concluding organ statement shares elements of
opening statement ofpiece but differs significantly in melodic features.
In addition to following the pictorial and textual elements of the opening title
in relation to main title themes is applied. The solo organ introduction written in the
· tonic minor and placed in the ethereal upper-woodwind register of the instrument
corresponds to the appearance of the floating corpse, and the impetus for the story. The
118
two, minor-modality A sections - each governed by an orderly harmonic progression
which retains its closeness to the tonic through root movement - follows the decidedly
unglamorous, disenchanted characters through their mundane London lives. The more
rape-murder sequence, while the return to a modulated 'A', at this point inclusive of all
fm;ade, Blaney' s attempts to escape his London-based pursuers, and the l~gal process
which results in his unjust conviction. The coda, maintaining the minor modality of the
piece and re-establishing the high sonority organ voice used in the introduction, embarks
on a winding melodic descent suggesting the downfall of Robert Rusk in the film's final
moments. Mancini's concluding cadence follows the design of 13 of the 16 end credit
sequences considered in this study, its resolution to major signifying the narrative
Given Mancini's use of the organ which by 1971 had been of paramount
importance to the artistic and cultural environment of the city of London_ since its
installation at Royal Albert Hall one hundred years earlier, it may be concluded he felt
European baroque period-influenced composition, would locate the film in London and
celebrate its particular role within the socio-historical system of coding understood by
journalist John Mansell in 2002 confirms this was a compositional goal - despite
119
Hitchcock's estimation of Mancini having failed - and also reveals more about the
(Hitchcock) told me that he wanted a sort of grand open-air piece to open the
movie, something that would be written for a documentary about London.
Well, I managed to get this right but he did not use the end title music that I
wrote. 16
consisting of a full string, brass, woodwind and percussion section, as opposed to the
timpani rolls and crashing cymbals - can be traced to his 1966 main title composition
entitled "The_ Trap", eventually used by the BBC for its annual broadcast of the London
Marathon. Unlike the Mancini approach to Frenzy, Goodwin set his own title theme in a
major key, with a common time signature generating 96 beats per minute. (Figure 11)
Stg.
Tpt.
Fr. Hrn
Tun.
Cym.
Timpani
16. Mansell, 5.
120
Figure 11. "Frenzy" Main Title theme, Ron Goodwin. Introduction and coda suggest
celebration of London location through use of understood musical features: maestoso
tempo, ascending major third harmonic progression, prominence of brass section,
punctuation ofpercussion.
A notable feature found within the initial four measures of both Mancini's and
appearing at the eighth-note level in Mancini's case, and in quarter notes with that of his
colleague. (Figure 10). The decision made by both composers to favour this interval at
the outset of their main title themes becomes more remarkable given Goodwin's denial
of hearing any of the Mancini score during the time of his engagement by Hitchcock. 17
Figure 10. Use of diatonic thirds by both composers within mm.1-4 of theme.
Structurally, Goodwin's theme consists of a cyclical repetition of a binary form,
logo. The first A section, with its eight-measure melody, accompanies the full realisation
of the "Frenzy" title card, followed by a rhythmically and melodically similar, eight-
measure B section which does not correspond with any significant shift in the graphic
title sequence, beginning midway through the third cast card. The composer credit
follows, prominently isolated from the general crew listing, but approximately half the
17. Mansell, 5.
121
size of that of screenwriter Anthony Shaffer and Hitchcock himself, emphasized through
the employment of the full brass section and a fortissimo cymbal crash establishing the
18
beginning of another A. The extended aerial journey noted by Mancini with the organ
solo inspires a B section restatement by Goodwin scored for strings and harp alone. The
"Directed by Alfred Hitchcock" credit is displayed during the final A section, scored for
The directive in Mancini's timing sheet at 2: 15 is "We hear speech", at which point
which is electronically reduced from the sound mix as the official's speech is gradually
emphasized. The Mancini recording reveals the use of a sustained final sonority of
approximately 17 seconds in length, providing the sound mixing technicians with more
than sufficient time to subtly change the focal point of the soundtrack from music to
dialogue. It is reasonable to assume Goodwin would have employed the same tactic,
regardless of the only six seconds of the resolved Ab major heard in the film's final mix.
major key, a brighter tempo than the Mancini work, and an orchestration that emphasizes
accented brass notes, crash cymbals and snare drum rolls sufficiently exploited a widely
18. Within Hitchcock credit sequences, status was linked to the size of one's name in
relation to the size of the production's title graphic.
122
19
understood system of sonic coding, suggesting a London to be celebrated. Although
Frenzy does not take place in the England of Rebecca, Suspicion, The Paradine Case or
even The Man Who Knew Too Much, Goodwin's theme fulfilled Hitchcock's wishes to
Within Mancini's film composition, the Frenzy score stands alone due to its
apparent disunity. The prominent voice of the pipe organ from the main title theme never
technical logistics and expenditure involved in continued use of the instrument would
have been substantial, thereby negating the possibility of this distinctive musical sound
acting as unifier. Shortly after the project's completion, Mancini '!.:lluded to his decisions
regarding pitch organisation and thematic construction, but not orchestration, during a
I just did a picture for Hitchcock called Frenzy, and it's a first for me
because no two notes, literally, repeat themselves. Every scene is different,
nothing is unified. I have a main theme and never use it again. But it
worked. Hitchcock sat there like a Buddha through the whole recording
session and just shook his head a few tim.es. 20
The music timing notes for the first underscore cue following the main title theme,
M-102, are dated "11118/71 ". While an examination of "My Tie is Your Tie" agrees
19. In playing Goodwin's title theme to Frenzy for several colleagues, images of the
BBC's broadcast of "Last Night of the Proms" were repeatedly evoked.
20. Siders, Harvey. "The Jazz Composers in Hollywood: A symposium with Benny
Carter, Quincy Jones, Henry Mancini, Lalo Schifrin and Pat Williams." Downbeat 39,
no. 4 (1972), 34.
123
initially with Mancini's self-appraisal regarding score (dis )unity, his denial of pitch
repetition is accurate only within individual phrases. 21 As well, this cue serves to
illustrate the typically subtle manner in which he created music to foreshadow, maintain,
or react to events and corresponding moods on the screen, rather than in an overt style
As M-102 was to commence at the editing cut from the dockside crowd to the full
shot of the first of the Neck-Tie Strangler's victims, Mancini's first tactic in reinforcing
the coinciding change of mood was through timbre. Beginning with this cue, the
ensemble introduced in the Frenzy theme was modified for the remainder of the film's
score, seeing the removal of the violin section, the reduction of the viola and cello
sections to eight members each, and the addition of the piano and two harps listed on the
"My Tie is Your Tie", performed at a tempo of approximately 63 beats per minute,
begins with muted cellos and subtoned bass clarinets and bassoons placed in their lowest
registers, with the muted basses doubling the lowest part an octave below. 24 Pitch
21. The title is inspired by the Hitchcockian theme of "the double", which in this case
involves alleged perpetrator and victim, who is wearing a tie similar to the one being
donned by Blaney in the scene which dictates the end of the cue.
22. Mancini's use of the technique was habitually reserved for moments of intentionally
unsubtle comic effect. His score for The Great Race offers a selection of characteristic
Mickey-Mousing samples.
23. The score's ~hree diegetic cues involved smaller ensembles culled from the orchestra,
augmented on one occasion by two flugelhornists and a guitarist.
24. The subtone effect applied to a reed instrument inhibits the production of upper
partials of the harmonic series within the note, resulting in a subdued, dampened sound.
A similar effect is produced on a bowed string instrument by placing a mute over the
124
combinations arising from the activity of two concurrent but independent melodic lines
range from the compression of minor seconds to the major 5th which concludes in a
gradually sharing in the grisly discovery, intercut with shots of the corpse and sporadic,
as-yet unfunny dialogue describing it, the quarter note/half note rhythmic activity
generated at a tempo of 68 BPM contributes to the solemnity of the scene. (Figure 12)
::""'Elil~-----1--r--+----t-+-----,,-+-+---+--t-.,,---t-.,....-+--1---1--+---t---+--·a=
Bs. Clari+'-
ssn. v.c. E'9~t::::====a=~E=:£E=:F!:=~£3~~~~5E~...e~i~::=::t=t==
D.B.(8vb) -& v"----7 ------------------·- .--'~'
Figure 12. M-102 "My Tie is Your Tie", mm.1-5. Timbre, pitch combinations and
sustained rhythmic approach accompany discovery offirst victim.
of the wind section from melodic line to a repeating three-event, four-voice pattern, and
the introduction of one element of the score's binding material which, in his interview
sustain. As Hitchcock's montage at this point of the scene consists of shorter editing cuts
and a more rapid assemblage, dividing audience attention between the restless crowd,
the flustered Lord Mayor and his handlers, the bustling police officers and the floating
strings behind the instrument's bridge. In Sounds and Scores, Mancini describes the
resulting sound as being "haunting and somewhat hollow." (Mancini, 32)
125
through the alternation of an E6 at a quarter note level by the two harps. As opposed to
the implementation of this technique in the suspense films which preceded the Frenzy
assignment, however - Wait Until Dark and The Night Visitor - the composer left both
The bass flutes and french horns joined the bassoons and bass clarinets in voicings
of adjacent perfect and augmented fourths, ascending in parallel formation by half and
whole tone, respectively, with the length of each three-event phrase varying upon each
repetition. In m.8, the muted violas were assigned a monophonic ascending line which,
when placed against the wind instrument pattern, provided more of the unpredictable
mix of pitches used at the commencement of the cue. Upon completion of this phrase,
the density of the orchestration was maintained by adding the pitch B2 to the continuing
harp activity. The entire section was underpinned by an El in the celli and double
Harp1{S.~:~=:;:::::::::::::;=::::::::=s=~==i=~=::;=:=~=:=:;:==i=~t===:!==3=E::::::::::J~=::::EE~=E3
-e -e -e e -e -e e e -fT e -fT -e -!f 4
Figure 13. "My Tie is Your Tie", mm. 6-12. Wind section pattern, alternating harp
activity, viola line and sustained lower 'E' thickens lower-register sound,
126
contributes additional pitch combinations and increases sensation of movement to
complement increasing on-screen activity.
A discernible slowing of tempo is felt during m.13, and Mancini's change in time
signatures - 314 in m.14 and 2/4 in mm.15 and 16 - points to the connection established
between the cue's pace and the scene's dialogue and sequence of events. The end of the
only a contrastingly bright major 3rd, 6th' ih and augmented 4th, but the cue's highest
pitch, coincides with the darkly humorous, " ... or was it a bit of her liver?" spoken by a
Jack the Ripper admirer in the crowd of onlookers. An additional conducted tempo
adjustment and poco crescendo in m.15 guides the music to a significant point at m.16
and the timing of :50213 seconds, emboldened in the holograph and circled on the cue
sheet. Here, the mood is darkened via the contrabasses bowing their lowest C, doubled in
octaves with the piano, relegating the top note of the sustained wind voicing to a minor
3rd. At this point, Mancini wrote "girl in water" on his score, describing Hitchcock's first
The timed arrival of m.17 at :53 seconds is also emphasized in the holograph and
cue sheet, as this coincides with an editing cut to a new scene and the first appearance of
Richard Blaney. Mancini also delineated the bar with the note "Cut. Blaney in his
room." and returned at this point to common time. Removal of the violas, french horns
and bass clarinets resulted in a markedly thinner orchestral texture, while the bass flutes
and bassoons returned to a rhythmically sedate, atonal pair of independent melodic lines
127
which combined through the remaining four measures to produce intervals ranging from
a minor second to a final perfect fifth (Figure 13 ). The weight and foreboding
atmosphere of the preceding scene was in this way suspended in order to support the first
appearance of the film's main character in a neutral location; however, Blaney is also
viewed, knotting a potential murder weapon, via his reflection in a mirror - the
Hitchcockian indication of duplicity and menace. Mancini's lack of key centre and
predictable rhytlunic pulse, as well as the unresolved final sonority of a perfect 5th
underpinned by the pianissimo 'C' a minor 9th below leaves the viewer/listener
following the progression of the narrative while becoming immersed further in its
unsettling tone. As was the composer's practice, upon completion of the cue he circled
its number on the master cue sheet and wrote the date- Nov. 20, 1971 - at the bottom of
his sketch.
Tu!
·45·5 :50:66 'Girl in :SJ:O Blaney ::_:,:57:.:._o_ _ _ _·_10_1-----:---'!:05 .!.;~f~;~s
Bs. Fil. i;lb .c?;~~t?f.;:::::. ~ water' in his room'. 1---- I 1,J lr.-. room'
Bs.Clar.
Bsn. ~~§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
g 1
Fr. flm jloco cresc...... ... .. •
pnwcresc:.......
Figure 13. "My Tie is Your Tie", mm. 14-20. Transition from opening scene to
introduction of Richard Blaney.
128
As released, the film is void of any music during this scene. Although it is not
known if Goodwin composed an alternative "My Tie is Your Tie" cue, his work resumes
at approximately seven minutes into the narrative - the point at which Mancini's cue
accompanied by the brass section's sforzando, bass drum-enhanced E7/D chord. 25 The
gesture resolves to a triadic fanfare-like melody of four bars played by the upper
aerial tracking shot of the bustling Covent Garden market, this motif was restated in Bb
major by the trumpets. Goodwin then reintroduced his "Main Title" theme, transposing
slightly modified fragments of its principal melody through the descending minor 3rd key
centres of D, B, and G# major. The piece ends, resolved to F major, with the first
appearance of the Robert Rusk character. Given Mancini's fondness and aptitude for
scoring landscape/vista scenes, Hitchcock's decision to leave his first composer silent
14:44 of the film, the second Goodwin composition heard in a sequence left unscored by
Mancini introduces his primary underscore theme. 26 The remainder of the English
composer's score relies on this piece for much of its content, generating two versions in
25. Goodwin was less averse to Mickey-Mousing in non-comedic situations than his
American colleague.
26. Given that Goodwin's cue titles are unknown, this is referred to as ''The Suspense
Theme". Further denotations specify "Version A", "Version B", or "Waltz".
129
compound time, a "waltz" setting and various four-note melodic cells based on the first
four pitches of its memorable, cyclical melody. Immediately evident within the first
version of the piece heard in the film is an active, measurable rhythmic pulse, set to a
tempo more rapid than any found in the Mancini underscore, four-measure melodic
Bii II
Mancini's assignment resumed with M-301, a diegetic piece entitled "Posh for
women's social club, the scorist wrote a complete composition for piano, violin and
cello which may be classified as rondo form with an interlude. Each formal section is
eight measures long, with the exception of a nine-measure construct preceding the
The composer recorded three minutes, ten seconds of music, ending the take just
length, his sketch note "We need 2:48" indicates he was confident in the finality of the
picture's editing to this point. Another note to his orchestrator Hughes - "Gary: This is
the score. Please pass it on to the copyist." - attests to the finality of his composition and
Despite the distinction between nondiegetic and diegetic music within Frenzy - as
opposed to the intentional seepage of source music into the narrative fabric of
Hitchcock's The Paradine Case, Suspicion, Stage Fright and, most clearly, Rear
Window - there are performance characteristics and moments of synchronicity with the
picture in the first diegetic cue composed by Mancini and Goodwin that suggest it was
recorded while viewing the scene, linking it to the narrative in a way that post-
production dubbing of a pre-recorded cue during this era could not. Significantly,
131
Goodwin's piece shares characteristics with the Mancini work, raising questions as to his
In fulfilling its function as background music ·woven into the narrative, the
Goodwin cue resists more than a cursory analysis due to its low volume, at times being
27
completely obscured by the actors' voices. It is possible to identify a key of C# major,
a 3/4 time signature, a repeating binary form constructed from eight-measure phrases,
A click track was not used in the recording of either trio. Whether through
BPM for the Mancini and 110 BPM with Goodwin's piece- is clearly discemable. One
of these moments is stylistically marked in the former score, as the Pui animato of m.3 3
is preceded by a brief, conducted pause; Blaney has just completed reciting a litany of
his business failures, and as the camera cuts to the close-up reaction shot of his ex-wife
Brenda and the beginning of her encouraging "Life can be very unfair ... " speech, the
27. The cue begins harmonically on vi minor in relation to the home key.
132
Fine
I"':\.
Vln.
Pui animato
,.,.
-~
r---.
,.,. -(9-"
_,.
:;; :;;
•- •- •- •- -i--.... ...- -i-- - - -....
.........
I
-t
..... -t
.....
-t
31 32 - 33
1
34 I 35
1 I I
36 I
I I
Figure 15. "Posh for Two", mm.31-36. Change of tonality and momentum within
source cue accompanies camera cut to Brenda Blaney and her encouraging speech.
The same sequence of events corresponds with Goodwin restating his A section in
the solo piano during Blaney' s tirade, but in this case, the composer waited until
corresponds to the final editing cut within the scene. An unwritten but performed ritard
on the resolution to the tonic major key ofmm.31-32 comes at the visual transition point
of Brenda and Richard passing through the archway to the club's cloakroom. They have
changed locations, and more significantly, Blaney's tension has been temporarily
diffused.
Goodwin would be heard from twice more before the scene corresponding to
Mancini's next cue. At 24: 10, Blaney's request to join Brenda in her flat is accompanied
by a restatement of the "Suspense Theme", as the narrative thus far irrevocably links him
to the Neck Tie Strangler. A manipulation of the theme's opening melodic cell, voiced in
133
a vertical structure favouring tri-tones, commences 81 seconds later as he discovers the
money she has left in his pocket, followed by a solo clarinet phrase containing two tri-
tones segueing to the change of scene in Brenda's office, which ends in a tri-tone-·based
Conducted
If± Vibraphone
JJ IJ J J tJ JJ J 0 p:~
3 4 sjz
Stri ngs-Pizz.
Figure 16. Goodwin's variation of Suspense Theme cell accompanies discovery of
money, clarinet figure incorporating two tri-tones provides segue to next scene, string
accent of m. 4 heralds appearance of "Mr. Robinson".
M-302/400, "My Kind of Woman" 28 is the Mancini cue following "Posh for
Two", but as opposed to the diegetic piece, this composition functions as pure
underscore to the dialogue between Rusk and Brenda, contributing to the steadily
increasing tension of the scene,. and culminating at the commencement of the assault.
provides insight into the duties of an orchestrator and the way in which last minute
28. This phrase from the script is as quoted on Mancini's timing sheet, and is invoked by
Rusk as a precursor - and signal for the audience - to his attack on both Brenda and
Babs. On both occasions, Barry Foster's reading is, "You're my type of woman."
134
As opposed to the role assigned the two harps in "My Tie is Your Tie", Harp II was
kept tacit for the note-to-note response to the phrase constructed for Harp I that opens
the piece. The "echo" was instead given to the piano, with the sustain pedal engaged
the device as used in M-302/400 was based on six autonomous pitches, the order of
which was modified upon each repetition. Mancini's claim within the Downbeat film
composers' forum of avoiding repeated notes can be better understood within the context
of this cue.
The notation of the harp/piano parts on the sketch 1s rhythmically incorrect. In 6/4
time, Mancini wrote six consecutive quarter notes in the piano part, and, visually offset
in the harp line, the same six notes with a quarter rest above or below each pitch. (Figure
16) The recording reveals that the composer intended an eighth-note rhythmic
displacement, with the harp playing the downbeat-oriented line. Erased notation reveals
an independent sustained line for Harp II beginning in m.2. (Figure 16) This part instead
135
After
"I Like You."
:oo :07 :14 :21
Harp II
I I
Piano
I
(i) J>p Ped Throughout ..... CJ)
M-302/400 as Recorded
After
"I Like You."
:oo :14
Piano
Harp I
pp
Figure 16. "My Kind of Woman" mm.1-4. Recording reveals corrections made to
rhythmic notation of six-pitch cells from sketch to full score, as well as elimination of
harp II part and exchange ofprimary and 'echo' lines between piano and harp.
predator/prey relationship. Mancini's cue begins at the slow upward shift of Brenda's
gaze toward Rusk, leaning over her. The camera's angle has situated them on different
horizontal planes, the solo harp is echoed - shadowed - by the heavier piano sound, and
Every cell begins on E4, and the combination of the first two pitches within every
coupling of cells is identical; Rusk speaks, and elicits a verbal or physical reaction from
bar, and the general linear contour formed by pitches three, four, five and six of each cell
is opposite to that of its coupling within the four-bar phrase; Brenda's responses are
meant to oppose Rusk. (Figure 17.) The ninth cell, which concludes at m.18, has no
pairing; once Rusk's attack begins its physical phase, Brenda's replies are no longer of
B.Cl.
1 2 3 4
B.Cl. ---4-"-?=~r--+---+fi--'l+•+--r
l'-'-1--tr-
11
ff--+-- ·· ---+-f""1a~ffi----+--r-'1H-r----'-'+#r~-2$1---;)
+- ·-~
5 6 7 8
~-
::--'
B.Cl. 2=
9
t r r ft:·
------i--+-~~---~1~(~Ll~~r~ttr~Ff~.-o--~
rfi 10 11 12
~
B. CL ~}=·rn
13
r f liar·· 14 15 16
~
B.Cl. !J=
17
rffi F F jl@•·
18 19 20
Figure 17. "My Kind of Woman", mm.1-20. Atonal, internally varied, contrastingly
contoured cellular pairings mimic conversation between attacker and victim in non-
invasive timbral region.
Mancini's first pencilled check mark in this cue's timing notes appears at :51.66-
seconds, item number 3 5, "as Rusk pushes down the telephone bar." At a tempo of
50BPM, the composer responded at this point with a pianissimo, sustained, ascending,
137
four-adjacent-note woodwind motif midway through m.8, assigning it to four bass flutes
29
and two bassoons pitched in their lower registers. (Figure 18)
As with the three-event, ascending woodwind cell of "My Tie is Your Tie", the
length of this complete figure varies upon each of its five repetitions, and there is no
duplication in the ordering of the half and dotted half notes which make up its rhythmic
composition. Since it also shares three of its four register-equivalent pitches with the
harp/piano motif, a random series of intervals no wider than a perfect fifth arise through
the following eight measures. (Figure 18.) Foster's sadistically playful malevolence,
Mancini in such a way as to leave no doubt in the viewer's mind that the situation will
escalate.
At 1: 11 :66 of the scene, Rusk discovers Brenda's half-eaten "English" apple and
30
begins to consume it himself. In the score's corresponding m.11, Mancini introduced
his second woodwind motif, beginning a major 2nd lower than the initial pitch of the bass
flute/bassoon cell, and assigned it to the four bass clarinets and two remaining bassoons.
Descending in adjacent pitches from C3, the half note/dotted half note distribution
within this line also varied upon each exposition; but unlike the identical pitch sets of the
29. The directive "Stagger breath" was attached to the flute line, as it would be to the
bass clarinet part written for all four members of the section in m.11. The long notes;
topped by phrase markings extending over four measures, would be difficult to maintain
at such a tempo and dynamic. The bassoonists were not afforded the same consideration,
since they were split into two groups, and stagger breathing between two players may
not have been as subtle.
30. A fascinating discussion of Hitchcock's use of food in this film can be found in
Donald Spoto's The Art ofAlfred Hitchcock: F~fty Years of His Motion Pictures, 434-45.
138
piano and bass flute phrases, this motif was expanded by one full tone upon each
:49 1:10
,; 4 Bs. Flt. :56
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13 14 15' 16 17
Figure 18. "My Kind of Woman" mm.8-17. Use of two repeating cells in expanding,
low-register woodwind section shades and provides impetus for increasing sense of
danger in scene.
The repeated C3 in the bass clarinet/bassoon line of mm.16-1 7 is the first indication
new material upon the score's arrival at m.18. His note "up against wall" indicates that
this point within the scene merited significant musical comment. The introduction at
m.18 of muted double bass.es and cellos on, respectively, a D 1 and D2, exploits the
139
social/cultural linkage of impending doom with low bowed bass notes. (Figure 19).
Corresponding to 1:59 in the sequence, m.18 also sees the cessation of the harp/piano
line and the replacement of the bass clarinets and bassoons with pianissimo french horns,
partnered with the bass flutes and assigned a new collection of pitches. After being
has resumed, and Mancini chose to weight his underscore with a more present
The meanderingly ascending bass/cello and bass flute/french horn line provides
sonic padding through which a separate, ascending viola part sounds - unmuted, so as to
31
achieve timbral prominence within the orchestral spectrum. The wind and bass lines
are independent of each other in that they are always spaced a minimum of a minor ninth
apart, and although rhythmically consisting of three to six-beat metrical values, the
distribution of dotted half and dotted whole notes alternates from bar-to-bar in
opposition within the pairing of the two lines. (Figure 19.) Both parts progress through
the ensuing six measures to arrive, a tri-tone higher from where they began, at m.24. The
gradually ascending nature of all three lines not only supports and intensifies the
increasingly suspenseful tone of the scene, but adds to the disturbing quality of the
combinations, and the resonance of the register in which they are placed. All three parts
31. In an example of the cohesion of the larger structure and purposefulness of the
composer's note choices, at some point in every measure of this seven bar segment, the
viola and bass/cello parts combine to generate both a vertical major and minor th. The
two exceptions, mm.20 and 22, are the only bars which produce a major 9th.
140
culminate in a familiar structure incorporating both a major ih and minor 3rd at m.24,
Hp.
Let Ring
~
Pno. ,
, I I
Vla.
Ve.
Mutes
- I I
Db.
(8vb) v•
'
18
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Lt::=
Db.
(8vb) ~1 V' q-6'-• 22'"" 23" 24 ======--
Figure 19. "My Kind of Woman" mm.18-24. Increasing on-screen suspense inspires
musical shading incorporating ascending lines, unpredictable pitch combinations and
rhythmic motion, and low-register placement of sustaining instruments.
that constitutes the final 20 seconds of this scene could only have been achieved
colour introduced by the bass clarinets and bassoons initially voiced in a four note
sonority of vertical perfect and augmented fourths shades but does not overwhelm
141
Rusk's whisper. (Figure 20A.) The sparseness and clarity of the instrumental sound,
incorporating the harshness of the bass clarinet's upper register, comes with the
extreme close-up of his face. 32 The four structures which follow expand vertically,
largely through the gradual ascent of the top two voices, to arrive on beat five of
m.26 at a sonority spanning over two octaves. (Figure 20A.) A pencilled checkmark
at 3:02 of the timing notes is duplicated at the corresponding point of the score,
m.27. The pitch collection beginning on the fifth beat of m.26, intended to be held
until the downbeat of m.28 where it would be sonically reinforced by the piano with
notes:
3:02 126. He lets out a yell as he falls back against the wall.
3:03-2/3 127. Brenda starts to get up from the chair.
3:04-1/3 128. He reaches out to grab her.
3:04-2/3 129. Cut to Brenda's legs as:
3:05 130. He grabs one leg.
3:05-1/3 131. Cut to longer shot as she starts to fall.
3:06 132. She hits the floor.
MUSIC ENDS
That Mancini recorded a modified version of this section of the score suggests that
changes in orchestration and cue length were made during the rehearsal/recording
session. He conducted the segment in such a way as to consider the ticked 3 :02 timing
mark as the downbeat of measure 27, regardless of metrical pulse. Here, he thickened the
32. The first bass clarinet can be heard struggling to maintain the assigned notes, pitched
in the notoriously spiteful upper register of the instrument.
142
texture of the original orchestration by adding the french horns to the wind group, and
brought about his trademark rapid crescendo and abrupt fine after approximately two
beats of m.27. (Figure 20B.) His music ended a fraction of a second before Brenda's fall
and the sound it produced, in keeping with the common film music technique of
Pno.
25 26 27 28-;;
mf
II
Hn.
27 --==== f
Figure 20. Version 'A', mm.25-28 as scored. Version 'B' mm.25-27 as recorded.
Upon completion of this sequence, Mancini circled its reference number on his
master cue sheet and wrote the date "Nov. 21, 1971" at the bottom of his short score.
In the case of both composers, and as with other graphically disturbing scenes
143
rape/murder sequence which is the centrepiece of the larger Rusk triptych unscored,
opting instead to use the noise of the drama as his soundscape - Rusk's breathing,
Brenda's whimpers, the tearing of her dress, his climactic, "Lovely ... Lovely" combined
with Brenda's whispered recitation of Psalm 91, her scream as she realises his
murderous intent, and the gurgled sounds of her strangling. Both Mancini and Goodwin
were called into action upon the conclusion of this scene, in the cue which the former
The structure of his composition follows the tripartite design of the third section of
the Rusk sequence, demarcated by the composer through shifts in the colour and density
of his orchestration. The first segment's extreme close-up of the dead Brenda pounces on
the viewer with a gong-reinforced, lowest register six-note piano sonority shaped into an
accented sustain. Consisting of two, three-pitch retrograde clusters, the structure iricludes
every interval traditionally employed within film music's darker moments, incorporating
two simultaneous half-tones, four tri-tones, and two minor ninth degrees. (Figure 21.)
The viola and cello ascending quintuplet which follows shares the starting pitch of, and
is constructed from all but one of the six pitches found in the repeating harp/piano cell of
"My Kind of Woman". The figure ends in m.2 on a Bb4 which briefly anticipates a four-
note cluster introduced by the winds, adding another minor 211d and augmented 4th to the
sound. The use of the straight mute in the french horns masked the instrument's lower
33. The title Mancini assigned to M-401 emerges from the practice of naming additional
cues used within an on-going scene, "Son of (insert preceding title)".
144
frequencies, negating its rich, sonorous tone, and resulting in a narrow, potentially
34
piercing quality similar to that of a harmon-muted trumpet.
Upon repetition of the quintuplet and its resolution to Ab in m.4, the wind and
piano sonorities faded and the gradual, chromatic ascent of the bass line coincided with
R.HT
Piano ) ;: .:; h
LH111::e:~;e:
~lfl s•o -- - let ring- -- - - - --i
I
D.B. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1/2-e- li-d- q-z:I- ?-e-
~~e ~·~a'f-----~~~~~--r.'---~~~·.--~~~---~~~--i-',--~~~~'t-;--~~~---1
Gong ' 11 m} ~-----'2 -· - ':J '4 '5
let ring- - - - - -- - - - - -- - - - -- - -- - - I -
The cut to a long two-shot of Rusk and the dead Brenda shifts viewer attention from
sequence. 35 Mancini introduced the first in a series of monophonic lines which defy key
centre or metrical measurement, but are constructed with a consideration toward contour
and symmetry. Mm. 6-11 consist of two phrases of similar length and breadth, the first
34. By exploiting the pitch and dynamic range of the french horn as well as the option to
mute, the composer was able to eliminate the need for additional brass instruments in his
-orchestration, with the exception of the diegetic cue "Tijuana on Thames".
3 5. A two-shot encompasses two characters in one frame.
145
note grouping ascending before arcing its way to a descending major 3rd intervallilc
conclusion, answered by a second phrase descending at its outset and concluding with an
violas, celli and double basses spaced in two perfect 5ths a half-tone apart, the composer
wrote his first conversational line for a solo, un-muted french horn. In Sounds and
Scores, he described the character of this instrument in the context of an isolated role as
having "a naturally cool sound", 36 and used it to great effect in the opening and
concluding statements of his Days of Wine and Roses score. In shading the second
eating Brenda's apple, rifles through her briefcase, and pockets the money found there,
oblivious to the sprawled corpse symbolically watching him__.:_ Mancini invoked the
responsorial harp and piano phrases of the previous cue, but through textural and timbral
adjustment, conveyed both the permanence of her absence from the dialogue, and Rusk's
36. Mancini, 1973, 105. One of his rare, non-programmatic compositions is a feature for
solo french horn entitled "Lonesome", recorded on the Uniquely Mancini album of 1961.
146
:41(\ SOLO ·45 ·53 :57 1:01 1:05
Hn.
v
"'.'. ___ '-... .. .... .... ~· ...
~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§~~~~~~~r~L~,----~~~~~~~
Via. I~
P no vibrato
Div.
Figure 22. "Son of My Kind of Woman", mm.6-11. French horn solo consisting of two
linearly opposed phrases invokes conversation ofprevious scene, while instrument's
·sound evokes loneliness, mourning in Mancini system of timbral encoding.
plot device - Rusk using his tie pin as a toothpick. 37 At m.11, a subtle change of sonority
and orchestral colour is brought about with the removal of the basses and an upward
harmonic shift of a minor 3rd in the sustained, supporting viola and cello sonorities.
Here as well, a new solo line is taken up by a bassoon, beginning on the french horn's
concluding C4, and using every pitch but three - F#/Gb, G#/Ab, and A q. A repetitive
bass clarinet counter melody, limited to the same notes, is active during resting points in
the bassoon line and, in m.16, incorporates pitches which make for a smoother transition
to the cue's third segment and its transposition of a major 5th above the string
38
background of mm.6-10. (Figure 23)
3 7. Hitchcock (or Foster) resurrected this grotesque personal habit from the London-
based The Paradine Case and Charles Lawton's repulsive Judge Horsfield, who kept a
small metal prod in his vest pocket for this very purpose.
38. The three, sixteenth-to-dotted-eighth-note rhythmic figures written for the solo bass
clarinet were performed with a triplet eighth-note interpretation'.
147
Ve.
~- ~
(8vb) 11 _:::-.._3, .~, -~ ,_______;J. ..______.!J- 17
The cue's third and final segment begins at m.17 with a new viola/~ello assemblage
incorporating one of the three pitches excluded from mm.11-16, the F#. The
reappearance of the two harps in the multiple-pitch echo roles introduced in "My Kind
of Woman" occurs in the following bar, with a half-tone separation bringing about the
missing Aq and Ab. (Figure 24.) Mancini's check mark at timing 1:19, point number 28
in his notes - "CUT to ext. of the Blaney agency." - was not answered at the
corresponding point of his score, halfway through m.15. Instead, he waited to adapt his
music until script point number 30 - "He (Rusk) walks past camera." - allowing the
image of the retreating villain to bring about the resting point of his bassoon and clarinet
melodies, and the beginning of a three-measure, descending contoured harp duo. (Figure
24)
· The next point emphasized in the timing notes is #33, measured at 1:38 213 , "Pan
148
timing 1:41, in addition to the note "Blaney" was added to the score at m.21, where, for
the first time in the cue, Mancini implied continual motion at a metrical pulse of 50BPM
by resuming the alternating single-pitch harp device used in "My Tie is Your Tie".
Pitched on an E as before, the two parts were measured in such a way as to sonically
convey an eighth-note grid, although actual notation involved eighth, quarter and dotted
quarter notes in a repeating, two measure pattern. 39 Above this figure the composer
constructed a series of two-part vertical sonorities for the bassoons and bass flutes
Rlanev
.( .
B.FI.
1:29
'
1:33 1:37 1:410__,,_
..
1:45_'°'\
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-
1:49
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f\
Hp.I
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r
-
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-- -
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~
~~
tJ -!- !. ~-
~
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t) p ,
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rlf·
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Ve.
Db.
(8vb) '11:1 19 20 21 22 23 24
Figure 24. "Son of My Kind of Woman" mm.18-24. Descending echoing harp line marks
exit of Rusk. Monophonic harp pattern, woodwind figures accompany entrance of
Blaney.
The material was modified at m.29 for the appearance of Monica, walking toward
the camera. The harp figure was transposed by a perfect fourth to A3, maintaining its
39. An aural transcription of the harp parts would result in two offset rows of eighth-
notes rhythmically identical to the harp parts of "My Kind of Woman". Perhaps Mancini
felt that, due to the same pitch being played, varying the duration of the alternating notes
would generate a more fluid performance.
149
rhythmic pattern, and the two-voice woodwind figures were expanded to four-voice
sonorities, extending into the treble clef, with the two upper pitches of each grouping
played by alto flute, doubled by Bb clarinet. The four measures which follow constitute
terminology, may be referred to as major th chords voiced from the th degree, utilising
the unsettling minor 9th interval that outlines the larger structure. The first sub-phrase
ends in an ascent, while its response concludes with a descending gesture. (Figure 25)
Monica
2:17 2:21 2:25 2:29
2:13
Figure 25. "Son of My Kind of Woman" mm.29-34. Woodwind voicings expanded and
shifted to higher register, harp line raised perfect 4th' noting entrance of Monica.
enhancement of, or neutral commentary on, the visual image rather than the conveyance
of character attitude or point of view. The motion of the harp parts subtly supports the
physical motion of Rusk, Blaney and Monica as they enter or exit the scene. It also
150
conveys the minute-by-minute passage of time, coinciding with the build-up of suspense
Monica's shriek as she discovers Brenda's body. The woodwind parts associated with
Monica are paired with those heard during the Blaney sequence, as the characters are
associating lower pitches with male characters and higher pitches with female
characters, however, the "Monica" winds extend to a minor 6th above those
Although "Son of My Kind of Woman" was only the fifth cue of the 14 Mancini
would write for the film, it was the last to be deemed "finished" via its circled number
on the master sheet, and the last upon which he would record its completion date ,
Goodwin's composition for this segment follows the timing notes given Mancini,
but achieves unity in a traditional way - through principal melodic material - and marks
the same significant moments in a more overt manner. His brass-centric, timpani-
reinforced orchestral tutti synchronised with the extreme close-up of Brenda's face: is
formed from a 2nd inversion D minor triad underpinned by an Ab, making full use of the
tensions arising from the minor 2nd, 9th, and augmented 4th intervals distributed
throughout the applied voicing. (Figure 26.) Established immediately upon the tutti
decrescendo was a metrical setting of 3/4 time and tempo of 90BPM, conveyed through
151
the use of a repeating, three note figure constructed from the D diminished triad also
Figure 26. Ron Goodwin, "Son of My Kind of Woman", first measure. Accented sonority
accompanies viscerally shocking close-up of dead Brenda.
and introduced an obligato of repeating eighth notes forming the minor third of Bb to
Db, played by the harp. This rhythmic figure, shifting through ascending minor 3rd key
centres during the course of the cue, became the composition's adhesive material, used
in isolation during the movements of Blaney and Monica - where Mancini had
employed his two harps - and as accompaniment to the waltz-like setting of the
(Figure 27)
152
Figure 27. Ron Goodwin, "Son of My Kind of Woman". Harp obligato and
"Suspense Theme Waltz" used during Rusk's post-murder denouement.
Goodwin noted the appearances of Blaney and Monica outside the marriage agency
with brief, accented augmented ninth chords performed by the full string section, during
which the activity of the harp obligato was suspended. The same type of musical
exclamation mark accompanied each of the three abrupt editing cuts made during the
final 18.5 seconds of the scene, before coming to rest, after a rapid crescendo and
After approximately ten minutes of unscored film, both composers were assigned
the segment in which Blaney, using the alias "Oscar Wilde", escapes from the Coburg
Hotel and the pursuing police. The timing notes of Cue 501/600, entitled "Exit Oscar
Wilde" by Mancini, remained consistent for both versions, commencing on the close-up
to a newspaper headline reporting the murder of Brenda Blaney, and ending with a long-
shot of Richard and Babs sitting on a park bench. Although Mancini and Goodwin began
their compositions at the assigned starting point - with Goodwin beginning during the
camera's pan in to the newspaper and Mancini waiting until the shot stilled - both
153
writers ended their cues 15 seconds before originally instructed, ostensibly in accordance
As with cue 302/400, the "Exit Oscar Wilde" music was designed to support the
dialogue which dominates the first half of the scene, then enhance the physical action
that concludes it. Mancini established linkages with his previous compositions through
orchestration, using the same combination of low woodwinds, french horns, low strings,
and two harps as "Son of My Kind of Woman", and adding to it a unison combination of
piano and vibraphone. The 46-measure cue shares the same registral domain as previous
material, progressing through a gradual ascent arising from the compression of E3 to A4,
within the scene. As with his previous underscore cues, metrical measurement is
impossible to determine without viewing the score, but ·unlike numbers 302/400 and 401,
Just as "My Tie is Your Tie" began with an accented E 1 whole note played by the
piano, the same device - not included in the sketch but clear in the recording - reinforces
the beginning of the portamento string figure which opens 501/600. Whether in the
vertical structures written for the bassoons, straight-muted horns and strings, or in the
echoing lines of the harps, the pitches E, F#, G and A used in the first four measures of
"Exit Oscar Wilde" are identical to the vertically-aligned E, F#, G and A assigned the
clarinets, bassoons, and muted french horns at their entrance in m.2 to "Son of My Kind
of Woman".
154
The textural thickening and expansion of the piece begins with a four-pitch
horn/bassoon entrance in m.4, as the hotel porter draws his comic foil Gladys' attention
to his own copy of the newspaper. The six sonorities distributed through the ensuing 22
Harp I expresses the individual pitches within each structure via four consecutive eighth
notes, beginning each time at a different point in the bar, while Harp II reinforces the
first and third eighth note in each pattern by duplicating the pitches in concurrent, two-
At m.9, commencing with the porter's newspaper description of the murder suspect,
shared by the piano and vibraphone - with the instruction "Both peddle down
throughout". (sic) Continuing to the end of m.27, the part is noticeable by virtue of its
timbral and registral contrast with the rest of the ensemble. (Figure 28.) Cumulatively,
this material serves to enhance the growing sense of alarm - and intrigue - experienced
by the hotel porter and his partner Gladys, who have come to realise their patron Oscar
Wilde, ensconced with a woman in the venue's "Cupid Room", may be the "Necktie
40. The recording reveals Harp I mistakenly entering at beat 2 of m.5, before readjusting
in time for the written entrance of beat 4.
155
Strangler". The humour which permeates the scene - Hitchcock's brief but welcome
respite for the viewer - in no way influenced the tone of Mancini's cue.
.hn.~•===-- ;;.
Hn. , ,
I I I
===-==- ·~
Hp.
- -
Hp.
l I
\~w~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pno./Vb. /~'v
9u ;;~·
13 11 1.2 14
Figure 28. "Exit Oscar Wilde" mm. 9-14. Subtlety of orchestration shades dialogue-
.filled segment of larger scene. Overall ascent contributes to gradual building of
suspense.
As opposed to the three editing cuts made during the initial 1:32 of the scene, the
five cuts implemented during the ensuing 22 seconds points to the shift of focus from
dialogue to action, and was noted by Mancini with a check mark at 1:34 112 in his timing
notes - "PAUSE as we CUT BACK to porter as he hurries out to the street to wait for
the police". The corresponding mark made in his score at m.28 coincides with an eight
41. The same tactic was used in the Wait Until Dark score at approximately 1: 16 of the
"Bulbous Terror" cue. At a much faster tempo, the lengthy stream of consecutive eighth
notes was performed on an eleven-foot grand piano with the strings muffled.
156
Limited to the range of A3 - C5, the eight-measure line shows no evidence of pitch
hierarchy, patterning, or repetition of any four-note cell. The material was assigned to
the alto flutes, with the instruction "Stagger breath", doubled by the vibraphone, and
distributed in alternate groupings of two or three notes between the two harps. An
occasional mid- or cross-measure tie did not disrupt the momentum of the line, but
afforded the alto flutes an opportu_nity to make their discreet substitutions. The only
additional activity introduced into the section was a monophonic bassoon figure at m.30
which incorporates two instances of two sixteenth notes tied to a seven-beat sustained
foreshadow and provide for a.smooth transition to the four-note voicings designed. for
the bassoons and bass clarinets, to be implemented at m.36 and the visual event of the
157
Although not noted on the timing sheet, Mancini made an additional mark at m.36
12
of his score, corresponding to the 2:0i point of the scene, during which the group of
policemen run into the hotel. The monophonic eighth-note activity was replaced at this
point with two, four-note bassoon/bass clarinet voicings moving in a more sustained and
irregular fashion and comprising, alternatively, two concurrent vertical perfect 5ths,
topped with a half tone, forming a surrounding interval of a minor 1oth, followed by a
perfect 5th, over which was placed a half tone, capped by another perfect 5th, forming
another encasing minor 10th interval. (Figure 30.) Additional material also began in
m.36, with the commencement of a unison french horn line designed to ascend in two
stages over the ensuing 10 measures from its opening G3 to its final A4.
The score underwent a further transition at an unmarked m.41, the arrival of the
police outside Blaney's hotel room. The six measures that follow constitute the most
musically dense section of the cue, supporting the climactically suspenseful seventeen
seconds of the scene's conclusion. Mancini waited until this point to use his full
french horns, alto flutes and harps, while distributing additional rhythms within the other
sections in such a way as to bring about a relentless, per-beat indication of pulse. (Figure
30.) The score's emboldened and circled timing of 2:37 113 served as the target for the
opening of Blaney's door and the editing cut to the room's interior. 42 The decay of the
42. One of the alto flutes loses control of the final note at the cut off and produces a B3.
158
solo vibraphone and piano's A3 which corresponds to the abrupt cessation of the
orchestra conveys the realisation of the police and porter that the room is empty.
cur
2:34 I2:37 1/3 I INTERIOR
EMP1YROOM
I I
r~E!S-61-"'~~~--=====~~ I I i=i I I I Fi I I I I I
-
Vc.~,~m~~-H~m~E~~~~~
' ... -61- ...____.. -61- ........_,,... -zf
~ ... ... +·__.-e- -,/...__.-,/ -e-·.....____,+
-====0
Pno./Vb. 1~~~··~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~:===:11
e"'
1 ::::::::31
mf
Db. ~;=~~~~*~a*~$~~~~~~ag~
41 -.; ·~
-,j -61- -,j ....
... -zf
42 ... --t' -?- 43 ... 44 ... -.;~-.; -6-~~
.'-..._/ ~ _:_~ -::..___./ _:_~ --===
Figure 3 0. "Exit Oscar Wilde" mm. 41-46. Climactic moment of scene scored with
trademark suspense-building devices: tutti orchestra, note-by note ascent, relentless
rhythmic pulse, rapid crescendo and abrupt cessation.
Despite the spotting session notes for this cue continuing for an additional ten
parameters as that of his predecessor, but did not include the internal adjustments made
at the transition points noted by Mancini. Instead, he reshaped his "Suspense Theme"
into an immediately discernable alla breve metrical pulse, scored for full orchestra,
obligato accompaniment from minor thirds to establish the waltz setting of his previous
version of the theme, Goodwin wrote a stream of 16th notes based on the repeated third
and fifth degrees of his opening key centre to set a brisk pace of 176 BPM. His
159
rhythmically modified melody began at the first line of the hotel porter's dialogue, and
Pere. ...+-
Hl4!'-..-----.-.___---,-.____..,....__.._.,......i--..-i.,...._,._.,.......,._.,......,.-....,.....l--*-__,....-#-~i'--:-i . .....,.'/....,_,,_...__.___,_.,~.,_..,.--,-*'I
Figure 31. Ron Goodwin, "Exit Oscar Wilde", mm. 5-12. "Suspense Theme B" used
throughout cue 5011600.
Initially mixed at a low volume on the film's soundtrack, the music underwent
timing :55, immediately after point# 30, "Can't you se~ he's the necktie murderer and
we've got him upstairs at this very minute." Beginning at the 1:34 mark, point #53 -
during which Mancini had made his final rhythmic, timbral and note choice transitions -
Goodwin's music was pushed to a higher volume, maintained until the end of the cue. A
structural modification to the piece's form upon its third repetition was also made at this
version which would begin with the familiar opening melodic gesture, and end - as with
160
Mancini, at the 2:371/3 mark- with a natural fade on the sustained Db7#9 sonority which
significant filmic and narrative devices. Physical action involves the ascent of a curved,
shadow-casting staircase - always a fateful move in any Hitchcock film. One line of
dialogue - "You're my type of woman" - advances the plot through another rape and
murder, without a single frame of violence being shown. Use of an extreme close-up fills
the screen for the fraction of a second required to perform an editing cut, creating the
illusion of a 58-second continuous camera shot, while the soundtrack's initial silence,
chilling effect. Intriguingly, Mancini was asked to compose a cue for the scene, while
M-701, entitled "Big Drag for Babs", forms a link with the Terence Young film
Wait Until Dark and the Mancini cue, "Big Drag for Lisa" written to accompany the
of tempo, orchestration, atonality, pitch combination, contour, and metrical pulse with
the Frenzy cue, but is meant to comment on the reactions of a character within a scene.
For the Hitchcock project, Mancini's 16-measure piece, imparted in common time at a
relentless but funereal pace of 60 BPM, matching the uninterrupted flow of the visual
43. Just as "The Heist", 'The Big Heist", and "The Really Big Heist" originated from
three different film scores, Mancini composed "The Big Drag" for Touch of Evil and
"Big Drag for Uncle Harold" in 1969 for Me, Natalie. Only the Wait Until Dark and
Frenzy titles are related through narrative content.
161
sequence and the inevitability of Babs' fate, speaks to the experience of the only
character truly involved in the scene - the viewer, realising the grim details of another
Seemingly at odds with the camera/viewer's backward descent of the stairway, the
steadily ascending contour of the work is not due so much to pitch placement as to:, in a
Mancini began the cue with a three-beat D 1/D2 played by the contrabasses and
celli. Written for the piano, but not recorded, was a reinforcement of the same note,
intended to last for two measures. Leslie Pearson's piano was not heard until m.3, on an
Al/A2 which would continue, with staggered entry points, for the remainder of the
piece. Once the basses bowed their own A 1 in m.3, the note was sustained in this part
throughout.
As with the previous underscore cues, pitch combinations were formed from the
interplay between these underpinning notes and the simultaneous but independent lines
assigned to the violas - doubled at m.10 by the alto flutes - and celli. Through this
arrangement, Mancini was able to form half-tones, tri-tones, minor 9ths, or combinations
of each of these intervals within every bar of the piece. (Figure 32.) Due to the almost
exclusive setting of this cue in the bass clef, the sonic _tensions generated were
particularly resonant. The composer's final addition to the texture of the piece occurred
at m.9, corresponding to the 32-second mark of the scene - the camera's "exit" from
162
Rusk's building and the commencement of the street's sounds. At this point, a four-note
voicing consisting of adjacent tones and half-tones reminiscent of the structures designed
for "Exit Oscar Wilde" was again written for the bass clarinets, bassoons, and straight-
muted french horns. This assemblage was transposed by an ascending major 3rd in m.13,
and an additional minor 2nd in the following measure, maintaining the same combination
of internal minor and major 2nds as the original sonority. (Figure 32)
Rhythmically, the cue also used the technique, implemented in "Exit Oscar Wilde",
of generating a perpetual quarter note pulse. Despite the metrical vagueness of each of
the three moving lines in isolation, they combine to produce a measured, beat-to-beat
series of events beginning in m.5 and concluding at the commencement of the crescendo
Mm.15 and 16 of the cue illustrate how, through both writing and conducting, the
manipulation of sustained sound and silence can bring emphasis to a filmic event as
much as the punctuation of an isolated musical accent. Points eight and nine of the
last two seconds of the camera's pan takes advantage of a final opportunity to test the
163
viewer's disturbance threshold, while the sudden cut-off at the ensemble's peak volume
:40 44 :48
,,,----........
. . . r---._ .e.· ./'- #~
Pno. ) : . . .
The number 702/800 referred to in the spotting notes above was a source cue meant
1:02 2. END REEL VII ON CUT TO Oxford's soup start REEL VIII
AS WE CUT TO CLOSE SHOT of Oxford
44. "Exterior"
164
The composer selected one piece, the second movement of Mozart's Eine Kliene
Nachtmusik K.V.525, arranged for two violins, viola and cello. The inclusion of the
Romance as the penultimate track on the studio recording indicates the selection was
performed by four members of the orchestra's string section after the work of the larger
ensemble was completed. As archived on the studio recording, this cue lasts for 4:28
before the eight-millimetre tape duplicate of the master can be heard running off its
45
spool.
Ultimately, the efforts of Mancini, the musicians and the recording engineers were
once again in vain. In the film's final edit, Hitchcock chose to keep the radio turned off
An example of score unification emerges with the following piece, number M-801,
"Hot Potatos" (sic). Linked through scenario with "Son of My Kind of Woman" -- both
pieces follow Rusk through the aftermath of an attack - "Hot Potatos" diverts from the
45. Composer Patrick Williams used this piece as a source cue in a 1990 made-for-
television movie entitled Columbo: Murder in Malibu. (Dir. Walter Grauman, Universal
Television). The "NBC Mystery Movie Theme" was composed by Henry Mancini in
1971 for the series that popularised t~e character of Inspector Columbo. Williams:,
perhaps best known for his theme to The Streets of San Francisco, which Mancini
recorded on his RCA Victor Cop Show Themes album of 1976, also wrote the weekly
incidental music for Newhart, ( 1982-1990) the theme of which was composed by
Mancini. The cast of Murder in Malibu was led by Brenda Vacarro, who appeared in an
episode of The Streets of San Francisco, as well as the Mancini-scored 1975 feature film
Once is Not Enough. Vacarro'~ Columbo: Murder in Malibu co-lead was Andrew
Stevens, a regular cast member of the 1983-1988 television series Hotel, another
Mancini theme project. The first director appointed by Ginny Mancini to oversee the Los
Angeles-based Henry Mancini Institute was Patrick Williams, who served from 2001 -
2006.
165
former cue in compositional point-of-view. As opposed to the viewer-linked musical
commentary of M-401, the structural changes of M-801 both correspond to the actions
receptivity to the anxiety arising from the multi-stage task of disposing of Babs' body
points, the denial of the stabilising element of a quantifiable meter. The opening four-
voice sonority of the muted, vibrato-less violas and celli which commences at the sight
of Rusk exiting his building duplicates that of mm.6-10 of M-401, "Son of My Kind of
Woman", save for the top note. Mancini's substitution of an F3 for the G3 of the earlier
cue contributes a minor 9th and augmented 4th to the soundscape, and avoids the
agreeable, four-measure Am9 sonority that would otherwise have been produced in
combination with the underpinning Al of the double bass section. (Figure 34)
Harps I and II deploy a transposed version of the half-tone echo device heard in
"Son of My Kind of Woman" during the camera's final shot of Rusk's departure from
the vicinity of Brenda's office. This provides further support for the solo french horn's
At m.5, as Rusk makes his way across the street to the waiting potato trucks, an
upward shift in pitch is brought about by the expansion of the string sonorities, now
166
adjusted to suggest an Am 11 chord, but destabilised with the Eb, A#, and Ab
incorporated into the piano-doubled harp parts of mm.5-8. Coinciding with this shift is a
solo, bass clarinet line also reminiscent of cue M401, providing both an ascending
counter line to the french horn solo, and transitional bridge to the quartal voicings
:27~
Bs. flt.
Bs. Cl.
Bssn.
:oo
..
:041/2 :13 1/2 :lS Solo
- :221/2
.-;,_.,..., ---- .
r
~-p , -
I
Solo p I -----
(\
~
Fr. Hn.
'-'
vf\ ======-
Hp.I
'-' ...._.
Let ring
I
(\ I,......._ I~
~'
l
Hp. II
ji•....:_,
---
t)
(\
Letl'i11g I,..--.. I I
,
Pno
f) r
======-
v
Via
pp no t ibrato
v.c.
D.B. . ..
'1 pp---2·-----3---4-----s---tr-----?----S:---
Figure 34. "Hot Potatos" mm.1-8. String sonorities, harp echoes, french horn solo and
bass clarinet countermelody combine to forge links with "Son of My Kind of Woman''.
ascending wind and string phrases providing the connecting material between the four-
The end of the french horn solo and chromatic arrival by the woodwinds at a
sustained GMaj7 in m.9 signals Rusk's unobserved arrival with the corpse-bearing
167
handcart at the potato truck which will carry it away. An ascending, perfect fourth-·based
cello soli provides the linkage to the next resting point of m.11, and the same chord
sustained for eight beats by the viola and cello sections. This note assemblage is
struggle to lift the dead weight from the handcart. The ensuing eight-beat, ascending
bassoon solo concludes at m.13, with a chromatic ascent to an AMaj7 chord sustained
through the full woodwind section and reinforced by the contrastingly bright vibraphone.
At this point Rusk is able to bear the full weight of his dead victim and drop the body
Via. ,
pp
Soli .....-------'.. '9,'/ 1.1-l
Ve.
~ y I=- pp
Bass Soli
Db. ,
' 9 10 11 12 13
Figure 35. "Hot Potatos" mm.9-14. Arrival at "resting" sonorities ofmm.9, 11 and
13 via melodic lines coincides with development of narrative sequence.
harps, marks the passage of time as Rusk attempts to return to his apartment,
168
m.16, the villain's successful stowing of the handcart, in m.19 - joined by a countering,
more rhythmically active bassoon solo - the disposal of his burlap apron, 46 and, during a
rare repetition of the same phrase in mm.21-22, the disposal of his hat. Mm.23-26 see a
resurgence of dissonance, with the repeated E4 of the bassoon solo sounding against the
sustained Bb3 of the violas and. bass flutes, underpinned by the B 1 of the double basses,
as Rusk's progress home is momentarily halted by the sound of nearby laughter. The
gradual silence of all other parts but the double basses, celli, and violas, arriving at a
objectives. (Figure 36.) Mancini's single pencilled note - "He enters his room" - is the
only marking made within the two pages of spotting notes and the score.
l'-
=--
Hp. I -
~I II '-""'"""I I I ~I I I I I
Figure 36. "Hot Potatos" mm.19-28. Harp II imparts passage of time, bassoon solo,
bass flute countermelody and string sonorities combine to create varying degrees of
sonic tension,· resolution of octaves in.final two measures mark Rusk's success.
46. It is at this point that Goodwin's music resumes, after a lull of some 23 minutes, with
a more complete version of the waltz setting of his "Suspense Theme".
169
The Goodwin waltz continued through the transition of the "Hot Potatos" scene to the
following sequence in which Rusk searches for his tiepin, scored as a separate cue by
This piece is notable both for the eight measure truncation made to its original form,
resulting in a composition 10 seconds shorter than that planned at the spotting session,
and for the implementation of several characteristic Mancini devices. The recording is
notable for exposing modifications made to the cue after its completion, including those
The first six measures of M-802 stand as an important example of orchestration and
"flashback", how Rusk lost his tiepin. Although much of the sequence of visual events
elected to write in common time and place a musical event on each beat. His tempo
frame which emphasized seven points of the montage while avoiding an obvious -- and
written for horns one and two, was duplicated one half-step lower by horns three and
four on each measure's corresponding third beat. The timbral presence of the straight-
muted french horns was such that all Bb clarinets, bassoons, and alternatively, celli and
170
violas were necessary to providing a balanced response, at unison, on beats two and
four. 47 The result was a rhythmically augmented form of the chromatic and unison
pairing device previously heard in the harps, establishing an additional link within the
The chromatic, ascending viola and cello phrases of beats two and four began on
D3 and concluded with progressively higher pitches in order to match the french horn
line. This brought about a varied series of rhythmic note groupings, emphasising the
music's arrival on each beat due to the unpredictability of each connecting gesture,
enhancing the synchronicity between visual and sonic event. (Figure 37)
J =96
FLASH-
BACKS _ _ _ _ _:021/2
SHOT ,.,,,..~---- ..
BbC'I.
Bssn.
-------~~
St.Mute
Fr. Hn
sf?. sfz sfz
Via
.Q;_,..-------1
v.c.
s.fz
~
"CHRISTALL-
6!) 1}.hg~ffrr G!i]
:os
~~ 2-2 ;.~:#::=::;,.~II ,.~
BbCI.
Bssn.
!±~
- •.•.. b~ .. -----·
-+-+
Hn.
~l___ - --~---->.
13
Via.
...
sfz
-
Ve.
IO IZ
47. The piano part, initially included in this blend, is not heard on the studio recording.
171
The characteristic rapid, concluding crescendo of m.5 was designed to end abruptly
at the 11-second mark, circled in the timing notes and score, corresponding to the end of
the flash-back sequence and the camera's cut to Rusk in close-up. The change in time
signature for mm.5-6 indicates a click track was in place, and held with the composer's
deeming the point of cessation as the downbeat of the next measure, as opposed to the
48
final beat of the preceding.
toward the door as he says "Christ all bloody mighty!" - significant enough to use as
the demarcation point of his score, employing both the caesura and fermata of m.6 to
highlight Rusk's sudden stillness and exclamation by simply stopping the music. This
opening also allowed him to prepare his ensemble for the adjustments made to time
signature and tempo at m. 7 - the score's highlighted 14 second mark - and proceed with
a new click track constructed to anchor the second part of the cue. (Figure 38)
As the remainder of th~ scene involves action rather than dialogue, the composer
designed the remainder of his cue around the motion-conveying qualities of a propulsive
bass line; however, in keeping with the irregular, unpredictable nature of the score, he
vocabulary to repetitive 16th and 8th notes, and his pitch choices to the major 6th
the potentially oppressive sound of six double basses bowing their E/C strings in unison
included the dynamic marking of mezzo piano, combined with the word "Easy", 49 as
well as the suppression of the cello part until m.15, evidenced by the recording. (Fig. 38)
.::--'. :23
Db. ~~~i§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
. 13 .._,,· 14 .>15 . ~; > ._y
Figure 38. "Babs Grabs" mm 7-15. Original cello part kept tacit until m.15.
Each new musical event or modification made within the second section of this cue
appearance of the violas at m.12 comes with the editing cut to the exterior of Rusk's
building as he exits to retrace the path he took during the "Hot Potatos" scene. At timing
:25 213 , the note, "He stops a moment as he looks around to see if anyone is about"
influences m.15, at which point the celli appear and the violas abandon linear material in
38)
distributed between the strings and piano, supporting the visual condensation of the
frame from general locale to Rusk and the truck containing Babs' corpse. As the scene
brings Rusk into closer proximity with his victim, Mancini begins a rhythmically
sustained, gradually ascending, unison melody line for bass flutes, two bass clarinets and
bassoons· at m.26. Since the string and piano pitches combine to indicate a harmonic
structure of Am9, the composer's "melody" not only incorporates the corresponding 4t\
5th and ih degrees, but the major 6th so favoured in his tonal, minor-key themes. 50 An
imitative line assigned to the french horns and remaining bass clarinets and bassoons
begins at m.33, favouring the 9th, 3rd and 4th degrees. 51 (Figure 39)
Rhythmically, the commencement of both lines on the downbeat, and the use of
note groupings c9mmonly endemic to a 6/8 time signature, mildly intimates the piece's
, ~
I I
·53
I I
---
:59
I\ (St.Mute)
2BbCI. ,:
2 Bssn.
__
Fr. Hn
P110.
. . -.. .
,;
~
~
p
~-··
l
, ~ ;:-
y y y y y y y
Pno. · •
~: ~- ~· ~- ~- ~-
,.......,
Via. -
-·r -·y
-~
y y r lo.o..I lo.o..I r r
Ve. ~
..· ~
. .
L.._ L..,_ L+ I+ '[..,_
-rfJ Ly + L..,C L..,C
'-._,/
Db . .. ~ ~ " .. ~
. ::'
31 32 83 34 3!i 36 37
Ultimately, Mancini eliminated all of the woodwind and french horn parts from this
cue. While it is tempting to surmise his motivation in doing so sprung from a desire to
avoid use of "trademark" devices, it is probable his editing arose from more practical
concerns. Hitchcock's dedsion to end the music approximately ten seconds earlier than
originally directed in the timing sheets resulted in the composer removing mm.4 l ·-48
from his score, including the end of the wind part at m.45 and the three following
measures which served as a transition from the full-orchestra to the string-piano tutti
which concludes the piece. (Figure 40.) Perhaps Mancini felt that underscoring Rusk's
frantic search through the rear of the truck with antiphonal accenting alone would
suffice, and allow for a cessation of music which did not need to be precluded by a
175
sequence of arranging and orchestration evenis in order to maintain a subservience to the
visual.
Pno.
Pno.
l.'.
,· ~·
\ y
~· ~· \ ~· s~------------~--\ ·'> \ -~
\Ila. ~~~~~i·~~-~~·s~-~*~I-m-·m~~~¥~~~§1
r r r -.i "-I "-I
. \ \ -.i
\
...
L 0
Ve.
_,..,. ......
L* _ L*
~ \ "ff\
Db.
43 44 45 \
46 47
~ - \ -
48
Figure 40. "Babs Grabs" mm. 43-50. Edited measures include those which serve as
transition point between full orchestra and piano/string ending.
Ron Goodwin again relied on his "Suspense Theme" to accompany much of this
scene. The waltz version continuing from the "Hot Potatos" sequence fades to an
unresolved ending as Rusk discovers his tiepin is missing, and a new cue was composed
Like his colleague, the English composer chose to score this scene in common time,
but through tempo - 90BPM - and rhythmic manipulation, every cut of the visual
assemblage was highlighted with the events of a brass section "pyramid", identifiable as
a D7# 9,# 11 , followed by a series of accented vertical structures containing the same notes.
(Figure 41)
176
A serpentine violin line using a two-semi-tone, four-note vertical cell extracted
from the "Suspense Theme" melody provided a transition from the cue's strident
opening measures to the temporary suspension of music at a point identical to that of the
Mancini score - Rusk's close-up and "Christ all bloody mighty!" line. (Figure 41.) The
character's rapid staircase descent inspires a return of the articulated brass activity,
Theme B", not used since the "Exit Oscar Wilde" scene. The theme is heard as the
camera locates Rusk on the street, and accompanies his activity for the remainder of the
scene - including the additional ten seconds of footage left unscored by Mancini.
~~~-================!
Brnss
Pere.
Figure 41. Ron Goodwin music for "Babs Grabs" scene, mm.1- 7. Brass pyramid, four-
note cells derived from_ "Suspense Theme" melody, identical moment of cessation at
dialogue, brass/percussion accents trace visual sequence.
177
The final diegetic piece Mancini wrote for the film, M-901, "Tijuana on Thames"
52
is meant to emanate from a jukebox at an all-night cafe. Acknowledging the trend in
instrumental popular music of the time, the title evokes the music produced by Herb
The spotting notes provided by the music editor for this sequence were as follows:
REEL IX M-901
Mancini wrote "We need 1:32 112" on his score, and supplied the sound mixers with a
· in his source writing, including the use of his musicians' improvising skills - in this
case Leslie Pearson - to extend the length of a cue not warranting the allotment of
composition time afforded the much more detailed, and noticeable, underscore.
~
Key Meter Form Primary Melodic Contour Features
Dm/F 2/2 A/B/B /C1 A~ CL~ B~ Bl-&- c<s >cL ~ Flug. x 2. Bs, Dr, Guit ·
010
divergence from the written line. In this case, Mancini evidently approved of the player's
addition of chromatic and triadic approach notes, and the rhythmic embellishment of a
rather pedestrian, staid sample of writing - which in itself may be indicative of the time
The volume at which Ron Goodwin's corresponding cue was synchronised to the
film makes structural analysis difficult, however, a summary of his composition for M-
901 reveals similar characteristics to the Mancini piece, once again giving rise to the
resulting in an al/a breve time conception appropriate to the performance of the straight-
Goodwin's chosen key of D major places the horns mid-register, rendering the stacatto
articulation of much of the melody comfortable. The remainder of the ensemble consists
of an era and genre-appropriate rhythm section consisting of a drum kit, electric bass,
subsequent creation of a pair of nondiegetic cues for two consecutive scenes, linked by
plot development and mechanical reel change. In its final edit, the film advances through
this sequence void of any music that Goodwin may have written.
179
Consistent with the courtroom scenes of The Paradine Case, The Wrong Man, and I
earlier films, he condensed this aspect of the plot by avoiding an exploration of the
court's legal procedures and simply progressed to the pronouncement of verdict and
sentence, imparted to the film's audience through an open door. As with the The
Paradine Case and The Wrong Man, scoring was reserved for the following
imprisonment scene, and as instructed, Mancini waited for the diegetic sound of
General stylistic characteristics and those consistent with preceding moments in the
underscore are found in M-1001, "The Inspector Thinks". The entire cue is unified via
outset with an arco bass El/E2, doubled by the piano, two harps, and rolling timpani.
The celli' s opening gesture consists of a sextuplet beginning on E2 and seeming to imply
a tonal centre of E minor, until the composer's agenda to use a complete, 12 member
A traceable melodic statement emerges within the first four measures of this part,
Imitation occurs in the viola part of m.5, with a minor 6th transposition of the
celli' s opening statement. By m. 7 and the timing of 24 seconds, the two string parts have
180
combined to form a rhythmically and structurally similar pairing of lines, void of the
intervallic tensions of previous cues, and primarily generating major and minor 6ths. At
this point, Blaney's tenor voice is heard off-camera, his words are significant to
introduction of the straight-muted french horns at m.9, on a potentially significant A '1 set
amidst the surrounding tutti Edim7 comes with his more audible, murderous threats.
(Figure 43)
181
~ =60
"Rusk did it!"
:oo Blaney-in cell :04 :08 :12 :16 :20 :24
2 Harps}E,~'·=~~s====t:=t=E=Es===:i:=t=E===i=EE===EEE==a=t:===t:E:=:====i
"t;j
,
D.B.
Timp.<tr
Pere.
-:::::::::::::::======:::::::~-!-. -0-
II
_______ 1_2_:r~·
II
Figure 43. "The Inspector Thinks", complete score.
182
Mancini's final instructions for M-1001 and first for the following cue were:
REEL XI - M-1101
0:00 1. MUSIC STARTS AT B.O.R. as CUT to Market St.
(NOTE: Please Hank come in on a similar chord for
mechanical change-over) Lots of early morning traffic. 53
The sonority of two adjacent tri-tones underpinned by the timpani, piano, and
double bass' E which ends "The Inspector Thinks" seems to have little hope of
achieving a convincing transition to the A2/3 octaves which begin M-1101, entitled,
place mostly in a moving car, surrounded by ambient traffic noise, the composer opted
for a sonically light approach to this scene, in contrast to the full orchestra presence of
M-1001.
A clue to Mancini's thought process regarding the musical segue and mechanical
reel change lies in eraser marks found next to the french horn pitches of mm.9-11 of
"The Inspector Thinks". The written A3 assigned the horns in these measures was
surrounding wind and string sonorities. In changing the pitch to A 11 and allowing it to be
expressed by the most prominent voice within the timbral soundscape of the concluding
four measures - reinforced through duplication in the bassoon, bass clarinet and viola -
the opening pitch of "Rusk on Candid Camera" was foreshadowed. Regardless of sonic
alteration through orchestration, the note, and the composition which it begins, does not
emerge in a way which disrupts the listening parameter established in the previous cue.
Inspector Thinks", its tempo of 60BPM, the perceptible ritard leading to m.11, the two
seconds allotted m.12 and Mancini's lack of a corresponding time signature of 2/4, it
becomes evident the composer resisted both his music editor's suggestion to begin M-
1101 with a "similar chord" and a literal interpretation of his own score in navigating the
mechanical change between reels 10 and 11. As the unison/octave woodwinds and harps
began "Rusk on Candid Camera" on beat two, Mancini considered the abrupt cut off-
following a rapid crescendo - at the M-1001 timing of 46 seconds and the corresponding
editing cut to the following scene, as the downbeat of M-1101. As this composition
maintains the tempo established in the previous cue, the technical and musical demands
already established in the score, the most notable of these being the use of the two harps
184
Rusk. Despite nine of twelve pitches being used within the short cue, the only
manufactured moment of dissonance comes with the final measure, at Monica's point-
of-view camera cut to the photograph of the film's villain. The implementation of the
vibraphone's B3 within the woodwind/harp sonority of the Fmaj7 recalls similar scene-
opening and closing moments within other Mancini scores of this era. (Figure 44) 55
CUT to PHOTO
:07 :10 1/2
of RUSK
:oo :14
,,,...~-
L
0~
..--,....-.
" I
4 Bs. Flt.
I I r
===- :====->-
~·------~.__l..--ol-
•••
4 Bsn.
~
~
I = -; )+ I -
===--
The penultimate piece in the score is M-1201, "Off to Rusk's Place", which
follows Blaney through his escape from a prison hospital to his long-anticipated
112
confrontation with Rusk. At 4: 10 , this was the longest cue in Mancini's assigmnent,
involving five pages of timing notes and 112 descriptive points. The composition is
few eraser marks, modifications, or deviations from the recording, M-1201 emerged
from the studio session with parts either eliminated or reassigned in their entirety, and
with unwritten register shifts within linear phrases. Most notably, the design of the score
timings generated by two different tempos in one, 14 measure section, and allowing for
three separate ending points through the implementation of hastily marked optional
repeats, despite there being only one "Music Ends" direction given in the notes. A clue
the stresses involved in Mancini's profession - may be found in the date of the cue's
music timing notes - 11 /22/71 - which the composer had also written on the final page
of his "Son of My Kind of Woman" sketch. Clearly, Mancini was creating the Frenzy
score in stages,. writing one cue while awaiting final instructions for the next.
"Off to Rusk's Place" shares another linkage with "Son of My Kind of Woman"
through its multi part structure, in accordance with the design of the visual sequence. The
first section, written in 6/4 time at the tempo of 60BPM, follows Hitchcock's 24 213 -
second slow camera pan of the night-time hospital ward. Evidenced by the recording, the
open A of the ascending perfect 4th which begins the accompanying muted, area bass
solo is doubled by the piano's unwritten Al/A.2. 56 Despite the composer's bar-length
phrase markings throughout the solo, the characteristic delay in sound production of the
56. This two-note figure recalls the opening gesture of the unrecorded introduction to
Mancini's Main Titie Theme.
186
bowed bass - made more apparent given that mm.3-4 were performed one octave below
where notated, in the instrument's sluggish lower register - in combination with the
largo tempo and variant rhythmic groupings, makes the discernment of a quantifiable
metrical measurement impossible. Consistent with the ongoing denial of key centre
which characterises this score, Mancini used nine pitches within the unaccompanied,
~=60
Hospital
utNight
:oo :06 :12
p 4
Figure 45. "Off To Rusk's Place'', mm.1-5. Denial of discernable key centre and
rhythmic pulse characterise opening section. Inclusion ofpiano octave, 8vb
transposition ofpartial bass melody constitute changes made for recording. Second
bass melody commences at m. 5.
The completion of the camera's pan as it locates Blaney begets a second bass line
placed a diminished 5th above the solo instrument's G#2. The one-measure repeating
motif formed by the portamento slide between the resulting diminished and perfect 5ths
emerges as one of the score's few moments of repetition, providing the rhythmic
impetus for the next 11 measures. At m.11, the pitches of the top linear grouping were
reversed and modified with the implementation of one flat, bringing about the contrary
continued at m. 7 with the introduction of a four measure muted cello solo which inimics
187
the ascending contour and sustained rhythm of the bass solo. Within its own set of eight
pitches, the re-use of the Db, Ab, A and Bb found in the melodic statement Of the
A second cello part was added at m.1 t', adding a pattern of portamento-adjoined
parallel 4ths to the repeating bass motif. At the same time, a solo muted viola began a six
-measure, ten-pitch response to the bass and cello solos, inspired by the inter-narrative
appearance of comic inmate "George", sneaking from his bed and' confirming the
While the combination of pitches used throughout this section convey instability
and suspense through unforeseen moments of sonic tension, the level of noticeable
dissonance achieved in earlier cues is avoided. Within mm.5-16, vertical semi-tones are
mellowed by the presence of attendant 4ths and 3rds, and tri-tones sustain only to a
maximum of two beats, before being resolved in consequent perfect 5ths or minor 6ths.
Mancini's strategy was to impart unease, in keeping with the viewer's desire to see
Blaney successful in his escape, but at a level reduced from that required to accompany
188
:54 1:00
Solo Viola-Mute
===-pp
I I
v.c. , ,,_
I I I I I I I I I I I I I I '===-pp
!,J ;. J, ..-·-·- .. J ! J ~ J.--·--·-... J. ! J '",1,....---.J l I :;J . . -.. ·-). L J ~J- . -·--.. 1
D.B. l~·-~~*~im~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~-~~·~~
I
' 12'I I I 'I I I 'I I I 'I I I 'I I 13 14 15 16
activity. Point number 40 at timing 1:35 - "C.B. to George as he hurries to the door. (We
see a guard beyond it)" 57 - warranted a check mark in Mancini's notes, which was
texture, and a melodic concentration of no more than two monophonic lines. Two sets of
timings allowed for the completion of each measure in increments of either 4 112 seconds,
pitch set of eight notes limited to the inter-octave parameter of D3 to C4. As with the
57. "C.B." refers to the camera's "Cut Back" to George from its attention on Blaney.
189
earlier cue, pitch arrangement was void of patterning or hierarchy, and rhythmic
distribution and duration was confined to measurements of one or two beats. The line
was assigned to the muted violas executing a diatonic trill above each note, to the two
harps in their eighth-note "echo" formation, and to the four bass flutes. Phrase markings
implemented in the flute part which stretch between two-beat note values allowed the
A further instance of inter-score binding originating in this case with mm. 8-16 of
"My Kind of Woman" is a repeating, five-pitch, six-event descending cell assigned once
more to the bassoons through mm.21-30. Encompassing the range of a perfect 5th, from
inconsistency through four and two-note, repetitive phrasal demarcation. (Figure 47)
The first of two unscored repeats discovered in the recording occur in this section,
affecting mm.29-30. At the same time, a concluding measure 31, written in 2/4 time and
3
serving as a 1l/ -second transition to the fourth segment of the piece was eliminated from
the score's recording. The composer's check mark at spotting note number 72, "CUT to
C.S·. of intern as he slowly looks O.S."58 corresponds to the original, 2:32 timing
achieved at the beginning of this measure. Opting for a stronger moment within the
narrative's progression, he scribbled through this notation, and circled point number 80
213
at 2:40 - "CUT TO hallway of hospital as Blaney walks quickly toward CAM."59
Instead of writing additional music, Mancini simply repeated the last two measures of a
58. "C.S." and "O.S." are acronyms for, respectively, "Close Up" and "Off Stage".
59. "Camera"
190
segment based on the concept of repetition. The composer's in-score notation of the
scripted "Sleeping Pills" served as a conducting cue anticipating the pivotal timing of
2:40 213 seconds and the editing cut to Blaney's departure. (Figure 47)
2:00 2:04
1:56
1:581/2 2:o:i 2:07 1/2
·----- ~'
--
I I
I I
--·(;!" ,
. _..---....._
r I
2:32 2:36
2:08 2:12 2:16 2:20 2:24 2:28 "SLEEPING 2 :32
2:12
Bs.FI.
'-~·-·
2:16 1/2 2:21
----~-- ..----------·
<?:25 1/<!
~.
2:30 2:34 1/2 PILLS" 2:39
---
I I I
I'
Bsn.
Hp. I
'
, .. ..;-----_ .-----..
I
I I I
;~
-
Hp. II
Figure 47. "Off to Rusk's Place", mm.21-31. Bass flutes, harps, violas share melodic
activity with six-event repeating cell assigned bassoon and celli, delineated by
parentheses. Slower optional tempo of 70BPM generates (unused) bottom timing line,
unscored but recorded repeat at mm.29-30 generates topmost line, eliminates need for
m.31.
191
The longest, and final segment of Mancini's four-section composition accompanies
Blaney' s physical motion, conveys his anxiety, and by association, reinforces the anxiety
of the film's audience in watching his escape. As with the three previous sections, the
composer's maintenance of tonal ambiguity superseded his quest for dissonance; the
four-note sonorities of the lower woodwinds and combined violas and celli identify with
While maintaining the same tempo, the segment is set in an aurally indiscernible
melodic phrases assigned alternatively to the two harps. Sporadic solo passages of three
to six bars were given the vibraphone, taking advantage of the slow vibrato rate available
in its sound spectrum. As recorded, all harp activity was eliminated and the written
vibraphone solo was replaced with the phrases originally assigned Harp II. (Figure 48)
diatonically in order to maintain the same sonority. (Figure 48.) A tutti formation of the
192
Em sonority which ultimately ends the piece follows a 27-measure exchange of
woodwind and string section ownership of the quartal structures of Em2/4 and Fm2/4.
case a beating heart - was placed in the bass and timpani parts at m.36. 60 Departing from
a regular tutti eighth note pairing, the composer used the design of his antiphonal accent
device to modify the construct of his "heart beat" signifier, shading the E 1 of the double
bass' quarter note at pitch with the timpani' s coupling of eighth notes. The figure
commences at Blaney's "Goodnight" to the last attendant he must pass before reaching
the hospital's exit, and as written, appears in 21 of the ensuing 29 measures. The
sequential patterning, results in the subtle use of a musical device otherwise imbued with
material at significant filmic editing points - in this case the relocation of the camera's
view from the interior to the exterior of the hospital - Mancini constructed a melodic
line at m.3 7 reminiscent, by virtue of its rhythmic content, of the bassoon solo in "Son of
My Kind of Woman". Assigned to the straight-muted french horns absent from the cue's
earlier sections, the four-phrase line which concludes at the end of the piece incorporates
60. Cooper, 64. Franz Waxman assigned his timpani to the role of beating heart both in
his Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde (1941) scores. A more
recent example can be found in Ennio Moricone's use of the electric bass in dePalma's
Mission to Mars of 2000.
193
the sixteenth/dotted-eighth-note and triplet eighth-note figures of the latter cue but limits
pitch choices to B3, C4 and D4. (Figure 48) Despite the script's limited assignation of
emotional range to the character of Blaney, Mancini chose at this point to insert a link to
the earlier scene between the splayed corpse of Brenda and her killer, invoking the ever-
194
Hn.
Solo - Let Ring
~- I ~- L
Hp.I~~~~~~~~~~fi~~~~~~li~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
II Solo
Hn.
Figure 48. "Off to Rusk's Place", mm.32-41, as scored. Sustained sonorities alternate
placement in woodwind and string sections. Two harps eliminated from recording,
vibraphone reassigned harp II line. French horn melody establishes linkage with
"Son of My Kind of Woman" cue. Double bass. and timpani invoke heart beat signifier.
195
The studio recording of M-1201 reveals the installation of an additional repeat
a composition 23.5 seconds longer than originally penned, but ending at the point
Without the implementation of the extra minutes provided by the repeat within the cue's
fourth and final segment, the cessation of Mancini's music corresponds to the
protagonist's transition from the dangerous grounds of the prison hospital to the safer
3 :44-2/3 103. He throws the iron into the car and gets in.
3:47-2/3 104. He slams the door shut.
As evidenced by the film, the timings given Ron Goodwin match those of his
colleague until the final seconds of the scene; however, where Mancini loosely followed
on-screen action with musical gesture and tempered codifiers of suspense, Goodwin
opted to Mickey-Mouse the initial 1:23 of the sequence, imbuing it with a contrasting
sustained diminished triad topped with a major seventh, while the three-note, descending
solo clarinet motif heard during the film's earlier segue to the Blaney Marriage Bureau is
used in a series of transpositions at each actor's reaction. The furtive walk of "George"
196
is mimicked by triplet eighth notes ascending through a series of tri-tones via pizzicato
strings, while the unconscious guard collapses to the floor accompanied by a slurred,
Clar. '"
u
~ ~ ~·
fl ==-
~--, r-_!1-;==- 3 ===--
c::>:- ~=- .~==-
p.,..,
Vib.
u *...:!"~
Lougshot of
w•.....Y...Y, __J ~ ~I
hospital ward. Camera begins mvmnt. -+ --,;.. ---;. --';> -+ ---:'>- ---:'>- Camera halts.
fl I I L-,1. I ~-0'- --~......-...
Vin.Via
... /
''r----------
__J
George sneaking toward guard. Blanev looks George looks G~ard falling out of chair.
Pizz................................. ~ ',),' at Gc'orge. !~~~---JEF .J ---====-------0 =-
~rco ...~
Figure 49. Ron Goodwin, "Off to Rusk's", first segment. Mood of scene is lightened
through pairing of musical isomorphisms with sequence of on-screen events.
Iterations of the "Suspense Theme" four-note cell shade the ensuing activity of
hospital staff and Blaney's escape progress, the motif appearing monophonically in the
197
flute and vibraphone parts, or, in a four-note tri-tone-based vertical structure linked to
the voicings used in his earlier Exit Oscar Wilde composition. (Figure 48.) The timing
isolated, solo clarinet descent through a diminished 5th, perfect 4th, and augmented 4th
at m.39 occurs approximately two seconds before Mancini's reconsidered spotting note
.., p--
·-- ----- Clai Solo r--.--
-··---·· ···--···--· -· ...'!.,;--. ··-·-····- ·--+···
/ l>"?(---~·y-
fl
e:--------a;1--------tiii1r-------~
. !---
- . ·-,- --
39 411 41
44 45
1s
.~. --- H- .:m-HH - ~------- -'HHH ----- --~-- H
46 47 . 48 . 49
~~
c,.. ••
.!//
HH --~ H-
51
---- -
Figure 50. Ron Goodwin, "Off to Rusk's", mm.23-50. Four note cell from "Suspense
Theme" reordered and used both monophonically and in vertical sonorities. String
activity commences at timing note #40. Clarinet solo of m. 48 coincides with cancelled
Mancini timing notation.
61. "C.B. to George as he hurries to the door. (We see a guard beyond it.)"
198
213
The relocating camera cut at the 2:40 point of the segment which Mancini circled
in his notes is marked by Goodwin with the establishing rhythmic vamp to his "Suspense
Theme A". The piece, again in A minor as with the "B" version used for "Exit Oscar
Wilde", follows Blaney out of the hospital, to his escape vehicle, and through his
retrieval of the tire iron from the car's trunk. A tutti cadence ends the theme, but not the
cue, in anticipation of the hospital's alarm bell - a noise which dominates the soundtrack
and yet was not referred to in Mancini's music timing notes, or marked in his score,
suggesting its implementation came during the film's final dubbing stage. Significantly,
Goodwin's cadential pause matches the point at which Mancini's music would have
ended without the extension provided by the repeated measures of his third segment.
(Figure 47)
Instead of installing repeat signs to extend his cue beyond this moment, Goodwin
extension, his "Off to Rusk's Place" ends eleven seconds earlier than the Mancini
213
recording by way of a mechanical fade at 3:59 , synchronised with note number 108 -
"And touches them together and the car starts." - which refers to Blaney's manipulation
of his escape vehicle's ignition wiring. The resulting engine noise dominates the film's
199
In further contrast to the Mancini assignment, Goodwin wrote a 1:40-second cue for
the following sequence. Beginning with Oxford's exit from his apartment, a series of
both sustained and sforzando diminished triads and chords were implemented,
accompanying the detective in his car and shading his case-solving explanation to his
apartment, with another iteration of the four-note "Suspense Theme" cell placed in the
vibraphone part before being distributed among the clarinets and bassoons in a vertical
synchronisation with editing cuts showing Blaney exiting his car, opening the building's
door, and noting the staircase last seen in the "Big Drag for Babs" scene. Goodwin
ended his piece with a sustained, tutti diminished 5th, anchored by a timpani roll and, in
an appropric::ite installation of the "heart beat" signifier, punctuated with the repetitive
The conflicting instructions given both composers extended to the music required
for the film's closing credits sequence, accompanying the rolling list of ten names
projected over the stationary shot of Rusk's steamer trunk. As recalled by Go_odwin in
I had composed a section that began when Barry Foster is arrested and it
sort of worked its way back into the "London Theme" that opened the film.
I thought that this rounded the film off neatly. Hitch didn't like this and used
a section of music that I had composed for another section of the movie. He
thought it worked but I felt it was a little bit of an anti-climax. 62 ·
62. Mansell, 5.
200
Evidenced by the film, and in keeping with the practice of restating thematic
material during the characteristically brief "End Credits" sequences of his previous
pictures, the director instructed his sound engineers to reuse fifteen measures of the
"Suspense Theme A" portion of Goodwin's earlier "Off to Rusk's Place" composition,
beginning at m.55. In fulfilling the timing requirements of the :40 113 -second sequence,
technicians mechanically edited the piece originally written for Blaney' s escape by
eliminating mm.63-65, as well as the lengthy pause which precedes the cue's final
cadence, and electronically phasing the recording onto the soundtrack. 63 (Figure 51)
63. Digital technology in widespread use today has eliminated the need for such labour-
intensive and precarious tape-splicing operations.
201
~ '" 85
Figure 51. Ron Goodwin, "End Credits". Mm.55-73 of Goodwin's "Off to Rusk's
Place" mechanically phased in, modified to adhere to timing of sequence. .
202
The written directive given Mancini for the conclusion of his Frenzy score
consisted of a brief listing on his master cue sheet, and no corresponding detailed timing
notes:
In considering the material available to him - albeit by his own hand - the composer's
resistance to the traditional practice of scoring the end of a film with a restatement of its
main title theme or familiar sections of underscore is understandable. The Frenzy theme,
though ominous and, through the use of understood codifiers, imbued with menace, also
invokes the dignity and grandeur associated with an historic city - inappropriate music
contemporary characters brought together through serial rape and murder. Similarly, the
underscore cues, specifically designed to enhance the grim premise of the film, would
make for an incongruous pairing with a conclusion based on wrongs righted and order
restored.
Credits/End Rusk", notable within the score in its more ev.ident implementation of
several characteristic traits - an initially ascending principal melodic line in which flutes
203
bass line. Conversely, the cue resists pure categorisation as "trademark Mancini"
primarily due to the lack of repetition and symmetry within its 14 measure principal
melodic line, and, as with the "Main Title Theme" which began the score, its adherence
Within the context of the Frenzy score, M 1202 shares linkages with the nondiegetic
the low-to-mid-range wind and string sections, in addition to the harp. As well, the
underpinning quality of the bass line primarily rooted on E 1 connects the cue to "My Tie
is Your Tie", "Big Drag for Babs", "Hot Potatos" and "The Inspector Thinks". While
Mancini's emphasis of beat number two in nearly every measure - through the
commencement of his principal, counter and bass melodies, his phrase markings and
points of harmonic shift- contributes, in conjunction with the slow_tempo, to the denial
initial eight measures of the 13-measure cue depend on the triadic support of E and F#
minor, reinforced by the arpeggiating harp figures. and anchored by the repeating, two-
measure E-G-A horizontal line of the double basses and celli. The countermelody stated
by the french horns, bass clarinets and violas contribute, within their vertical structures,
minor ?111 degrees, while the principal melody of the alto flutes and bassoons
204
incorporates 9ths, 11 ths, and in m.8, a minor 6th. A shift on beat two of m.9 to C9/E
205
Horn in F
p
I HRP. • I'- • I'-
Harp 1
D.Cl.
llsn.
:
~ ... --- --- .....-
,_, .._..-~
~s:
Hn.
Hp.
.. : rt ..
- . f: ,._ ,._ : . .,._ 'f!: ~ ... -
~
...-·- rl:J: ~ {<'- ·::~ .. ~..- ... ~:J: .,,..· ----~,,
Via.
Ve.
Db.
~:.. ,___..·
•(\ .
':44 'JO ·33 ..l~ ·401/3
E.O.P.
Al. Fl.
., I
"'-·"' + -.:t.:_."!"'
~- ... - ~v-----L.~ . -----..L_;;:.__ .•
B.CI.
Dsn.
.,._.
... ~
!........ - ~q·
--- ..
Hn.
IL -
Hp.
Figure 52. "End Credits/End Rusk", complete score. "E. OP. is "End of Picture".
206
Conclusion
That's the story of "Frenzy" from my point of view; all very bizarre;
but honestly, it was so bizarre that it stayed with me.
Recording engineer John Richards 1
John Richards left Cine Tele Sounds Studios in 1987 to continue his career in Los
Angeles. The events of December, 1971, did nothing to alter his association with
Mancini, and several film and recording projects over the ensuing two decades found
surmise the director's disappointment began with Mancini's first composition of the
larger Frenzy score. As opposed to the Waxman and Tiomkin title themes, as well as
the allegro, rhythmically active opening statements of The Trouble with Harry and
3. In his interview with John Mansell, Goodwin confirmed this conversation, but
quoted Mancini as saying, "Well, you win some, you lose some. Good luck with your
score." (Mansell, Ron Goodwin: Notes, Quotes, and Film Music.)
208
piece's concluding major cadence. Within this context, the only evaluation the
composer ever claimed to have received, indirectly, from Hitchcock regarding the
Further insight into the conceptual disparity between the director and Mancini
regarding the main title music - and by extension, the remainder of the score -
Considering the only other scores recorded in London for Hitchcock following his
1939 emigration to the United States were Stage Fright and Vertigo - efforts he· was
Frenzy music with Williams, who, in the public forum of a recorded interview some 30
years later, ·intentionally avoided identifying his old friend and colleague. 5
way; the employment of traditional film music codifiers used by composers who
preceded Mancini by at least a generation. He would have noted the absence of a "beat
and a rhythm" he felt was appropriate to the "young, vigorous and demanding"
John Addison's main title theme and primary source of underscore cues for Torn
Curtain reveals musical features which the director may have been equating with such
a characterisation, and which share links with other Mancini scores of this period.
augmented by an alto saxophone and a low register electric guitar, the sound of which
had already featured prominently in the Monty Norman/John Barry James Bond Theme
and Mancini's Experiment in Terror and Chart;1.de themes. As with Goodwin's Frenzy
suspense theme, Addison's tonal melody was accessible to a wide audience and easily
retained, due to the repetitive nature of its melodic and rhythmic components. (Figure
1)
Figure 1. John Addison, first A section, "Torn Curtain" main title theme.
210
Hitchcock's pursuit of a popular song led to the pairing of Addison with the team
of Livingston and Evans, resulting in the unsuccessful "Love Theme from Torn
Curtain (The Green Years)". Original Torn Curtain composer Bernard Herrmann
attributed his own removal from this project in part to the director's quest for
commercially viable music, and in his 1975 interview with Royal S. Brown, associated
agenda:
consideration of Goodwin's work as, contrary to the Mancini score, it is in fact the
English composer's Frenzy effort which displays stylistic links to Herrmann. 7 The
four-note cell derived from his "Suspense Theme" consists of two half-tones a major
Chapter One, Figure 8, the Ambrose Chapel cell from The Man Who Knew Too ~Much.
The sustained, tutti,fortissimo Dm/Ab sonority used for the full-screen close-up of the
Psycho. The full brass and percussion sections' series of accented +9/+ 11 chords
by Northwest.
While the Herrmann quotation which inspired the question, "What is Mancini?"
from it, the original, "Where's Mancini?" - however rhetorical and misattributed -
finds its answer in the fourteen pieces which comprise the Frenzy score. Granted, there
harmonic cycle incorporating a vm7 /I in this work. There is no melody line pivoting,
into a 34-measure form with an extended B section. An autoharp, Japanese sho, Indian
harmonium, bass accordion, Arp synthesizer, Novachord, Jangle box, detuned piano,
heard in the work. However, despite ten of these compositions being atonal, arrhythmic
underscore cues, there are numerous instances of the "trademark" vocabulary endemic
to Mancini's compositional style emerging from each piece within this score.
The first melodic motion made in every cue but two, "Posh for Two" and "Rusk
212
installation of unrelated additional linear phrases also occurs in "My Tie is Your Tie",
"My Kind of Woman", "Big Drag for Babs" and "Off to Rusk's". Both systems allow
Descending counter lines are found in the main title theme, "Posh for Two":· and
"Tijuana on Thames". The former cue also includes a series of descending parallel
diminished chords midway through its harmonic progression, while the latter relies in
part on an improvised solo for its required length. The second section of "Babs Grabs"
ends with a series of isolated cross-orchestral antiphonal accents, and both "Exit Oscar
Wilde" and "Rusk on Candid Camera" conclude with the decaying reverberation of a
the occurrence of the ascending counter line, the introductory low-register piano
or double bass anchoring pitch, the rapid scalar note grouping, the distribution of
extreme crescendo and cut-off employed at the end of a piece is shown in Table 3 to
213
Table 3
Mancini Compositional Characteristics in Frenzy Score
1st Melodic Gesture ( +)
Counter Melody (CM) CM Introduced
Through Imitation
Main Title Theme Main Title Theme Main Title Theme
My Tie is Your Tie My Tie is Your Tie My Tie is Your Tie
My Kind of Woman Posh for Two Exit Oscar Wilde
Son of My Kind of. .. My Kind of Woman Big Drag for Babs
Exit Oscar Wilde Son of My Kind of. .. Babs Grabs
Big Drag for Babs Exit Oscar Wilde The Inspector Thinks
Hot Potatos Big Drag for Babs Off to Rusk's
Babs Grabs Hot Potatos
Tijuana on Thames Babs Grabs
The Inspector Thinks The Inspector Thinks
Off to Rusk's Off to Rusk's
End Credits End Credits
214
Primary melodic material, however brief, rhythmically transformed, and
harmonically supported, served as the connective tissue in all other film scores
considered for this study. From his wheelchair in the control booth of CTS Studio,
Hitchcock would have also noted the absence of that which Mancini freely denied
implementing - "themes". Evidenced not only by his statement at the Downbeat film
composers' symposium in 1972, but his description of the Frenzy incident in his ll 989
autobiography, he maintained his belief in the approach he took to the film. His
decision to avoid melodic repetition may have been due to the comparatively small
amount of music required for the picture; basing a score on two or three melodies only
to have it dubbed onto a mere 22 per cent of the film's soundtrack perhaps inspired him
The mea culpa of Mancini's symposium statement referred to pitches, and the
pipe organ of his main title theme; it did not refer to that which he would later reveal to
The note exchange motif assigned the two harps in the Frenzy score appears in six
of the ten underscore cues, associated with Robert Rusk, yet the pitch component of
this device changes upon each installation, indicating the primacy of sound over
melodic content.
of the work left an ensemble designed to comfortably inhabit the lower reaches of an
orchestral score for the duration of the composition. With the exception of isolated
french horn or alto flute solos, the low woodwinds, horns, piano and harps,
contrabasses, celli, violas and timpani are never written above A4, producing, in all but
the three diagetic cues, the unifying sonic effect characterised by Hitchcock as
"lugubrious". 9
A historical consideration of Mancini's cue titles offers the first indication of the
nature of this visually reactive composer's perception of the film he would view with
from Touch of Evil in 1958 to 1977 and Silver Streak includes a number of pieces
included with the more simply named, "Gina", "Holly", "Joanna", "Nancy", "Yasmin",
"Natalie", and "Timothy". When requiring additional music for a character, Mancini
reached beyond the barrier of cinematic illusion and incorporated into his film scores
cues for the actors themselves, producing the droll "Orson Around", in addition to
9. Mancini had already used this technique in the Night Visitor score which preceded
Frenzy. His assemblage of 12 woodwinds, electric organ, piano/detuned piano,
harpsichord/detuned harpsichord and auxiliary percussion was initially shaped into a
melodically disunited - if not melodically void - score. Ultimately, producer Mel
Ferrer chose to eliminate or repeat sections of the studio recording during the final
dubbing session for the production. Evidently, Mancini felt Hitchcock would be more
receptive to his approach. (Caps, Henry Mancini ... , 132-135)
216
"Something for Susan/Sophia/Sellers/Jill/Audrey". No such titles were created for the
Frenzy score. 10
Though his experience in the horror, suspense, and mystery genres was extensive,
and many of the cues listed above originated in the American settings of Experiment in
Terror, Wait Until Dark and Fear, the lack of character-linked music in the Hitchcock
assignment suggests a disconnect on the part of the composer with the victims, their
attacker, the unusually - for Hitchcock - heroic detective, or any of the supporting
personalities. With the exception of the tenuous linkage formed with Rusk and Brenda,
shaded by "My Kind Of Woman", or throughout the "Hot Potatos" scene, in which the
composer both participated in, and responded to, the venerable narrative tradition of
manipulating an audience into "rooting for the villain," Mancini's music for the film is
reflective not only of a viewer's perception of, and reaction to its content, but of a
viewer who is unwilling to recognise the ironic nature of the humour within it; a
feature that Goodwin accepted, perhaps through a cultural familiarity with the "black
Similarly, the ten occasions on which the director changed his instructions
regarding the placement of music in the film may be attributed to a realisation that
had always exploited the abilities of his composers to manipulate the emotional
· 10. This inspires a consideration - albeit speculative - of Goodwin's actual title for the
waltz version of his "Suspense Theme" heard during Rusk's solitary moments.
217
emotional state of a character within the film to the audience, such as the rage of
Richard Blaney after squandering his wagering money, or the contentment of Robert
Rusk following the disposal of Babs' body - emotional reactions only Goodwin was
instructed to transmit.
this film, "The world has become darker than ever in Frenzy." 11 By the time of this
been compromised; his last three productions had been critical and commercial
failures, he had experienced the loss of both his long-time film editor George Tomasini
in 1964 and cinematographer Robert Burks in 1968, he was clearly in poor health, and
his wife and professional partner Alma Reville had suffered a heart attack while
locations and sets were being prepared for Frenzy, forcing her to return to the United
States.12
The director's disappointment upon hearing Mancini's music for this film, which
did not pay homage to London in a "grand, open-air" manner, did not support the
13
"comedie noir" aspect of the script, foreshadowed an exclusively unsettling
experience for the film's audience, and reinforced, on a profound level, the suffering
and violence inflicted upon the film's· characters, came at a time in his life and career
end, as he had done with Herrmann, simply did not warrant the effort required.
music Mancini composed for this film. The unrelentingly dark nature of the score came
about as a result of both his intimacy with the narrative and the nuances of its telling,
As a musical dramatist who cast his orchestral sounds in roles appropriate to their
doomed, one-dimensional characters going about their stark and dissatisfied lives could
only find voice in the deeper registers of the orchestra, at a ponderous pace matching
In addition to the effect the film had on Mancini's creative approach, and the
alienation felt, however mild, within this Anglo-centric production, there were two
personal situations which could conceivably have influenced his perception of the film,
In Did They Mention the Music?, Mancini was forthright about the effect his
career had on his three children, a son, born in 1950, and twin daughters, born in 1952.
By the time of the Frenzy assignment, the difficulties in the Mancini household were
ongoing, and throughout the course of his book the composer would continue to
acknowledge his own culpability in the situation, and inability to cope with it.
The system of cue completion dates Mancini habitually documented at the end of
each segment was abandoned at Frenzy's M-401, "Son of My Kind of Woman". Since
1963, the date, "November 22", has resonated with people the world over as the day on
which John F. Kennedy was murdered. Mancini was not only a veteran, like Kem1edy,
of the Second World War, but an active Democrat, and aware of Kennedy naming
15
Moon River as one of his favourite songs. Moreover, the composer had enjoyed a
friendship with President Kennedy's younger brother Robert, frequently joining him
and his family on ski vacations. He had participated in fund-raising events throughout
Kennedy's campaign for the Democratic nomination in 1968, and after the senator's
assassination, was among those invited by Ethel Kennedy to ride the New York City to
Some three years later, writing the Frenzy score alone in a hotel room in the
traditionally dank London of November, slightly distant from the other participants in
the production, his own family a source of concern, his mood could very well have
prevented him from recognising anything other than the macabre in this film, tinged
arguably the most disturbing scene in the entire Hitchcock canon on the eighth
anniversary of President Kennedy's death, and would not record another date in the
remainder of the work. Within this context, combined with the visually-connected
nature of his creative output, and his understanding of dramatic character construction,
his statement summarising his work for Hitchcock rings particularly true:
"If I were doing the score again, I really don't know what I would do differently." 16
Emerging from the brief biographies of Mancini, his colleagues, Edwards, and
Hitchcock included in this work is the quality of resilience shared by each man.
Although the generically-named "strong ego" has often been blamed for the cause of
numerous conflicts within the music and film industries - consider the
adversity has ensured the development and survival of many an art form.
A con~ideration of Mancini's production of only one film score during the year
following Frenzy - as opposed to his usual aven~ge output of three 17 - suggests the
experience may have eroded his confidence and compromised his reputation with other
effect his career for the next two decades. The making of Darling Lili was fraught with
so many tensions between director Edwards and his financing studio, into which
Mancini was inadvertently drawn, that the two would part company, and the director,
Mancini, able to fill his calendar with scoring assignments, undertook five projects
preceding Frenzy which did not involve Edwards and expanded his network of
potential employers, among them director Bud Yorkin, who engaged Mancini in 1972
Also in 1969, he recorded the "Theme from Romeo and Juliet" by Nino Rota,
which usurped The Beatles' "Get Back" on the Billboard Magazine tracking charts.
This expanded his public profile and led to an increase in concert appearances,
averaging 50 national and international performances a year by 1972. The market for
his recordings also grew, and through his contract with RCA records negotiated in
1958, he composed, arranged and recorded the full-length albums, "Sometimes a Great
Notion", "Mancini Plays the Theme from Love Story", and "Mancini Concert" during
the months preceding the Frenzy project. This effort, combined with three, one:--hour
television specials entitled "Monsanto Presents Mancini" and broadcast the same year,
generated a demand for additional albums for 1972 - "Brass on Ivory", with trumpet
soloist Doc Severinson, and "Mancini Salutes Sousa", arranged for the composer's 55-
222
The success of the Monsanto television specials motivated producer Jerry
Perenchio to contract Mancini to compose, arrange the music for, and headline a 28-
episode weekly television show, The Mancini Generation. Although the series was
only broadcast during the 1972 season, the work required in undertaking all of these
activities negated the possibility of scoring any film projects until 1973.
While composing the Frenzy music, Mancini - like any artist - could not have
anticipated the residual effect this "score complete without themes" would have on his
career, and that of others who have been privileged to perform and study his work. His
brief, written account of the Frenzy experience concluded with an anecdote which not
only provides further testament to his resilience, but offers a glimpse of the positive,
pragmatic attitude which no doubt served him well both in sustaining a career in a
prof~ssion fraught with enormous stresses, and in preserving his creativity. For any
Big Band: an ensemble modelled on the traditional dance band format of the 1940's,
consisting of Five Saxophones with flute/clarinet/double reed-auxiliary
potential,
Four Trumpets with flugelhorn option, Four Trombones, Rhythm Section.
224
l/")
N
N
Background For Murder Touch Of Evil 1958 4/4 C7 ... DU cA1°sr.1 ./I M' '/' M2./I M3./lcM3./I
Battle in the Bat Cave Nightwing 1979 Em DU M 1' M21' CM2 ./! M 1' CM 1'M-1 1' M5 ./ICJ\1 ,.Ji 50
Blocked Exit Without a Clue 1988 Em ... DU Ml./! CMJ ./! M21' CM2 ./! M31'
Blue Roses (Laura's Theme) The Glass Menagerie 1988 314 c AA 1BA AM'/' CMosr.; 1' CL./! BM 1' CL./!
Breakfast At Tiffany's Breakfast At Tiffany's 1961 4/4 F AABA AM'/'CM'/' BM'/'
Croquette The Prisoner of Zenda 1979 4/4 c ABACA AM'/' CM' 1' CM2 1' BM'/'CM 1' CM 1' CM 1'
Dessert Rendesvous It Came from Outer Space 1953 A ... DU CM1ro5TJ 1' M' 1' M21' M3 ./! CM 1' CL 3 ./!
Dog Eat Dog The Thief Who Came to Dinner 1973 414 Dm DU CM0 5TJ 1' M' 1' M2 1'
\0
N
N
-
" " C,,.--)
r
Battle in the Bat Cave
Blocked Exit
Orchestra+ 2 harps.
Orchestra u
- ~I
Blue Roses (Laura's Theme) String section + harp, celeste, bells, pno., flt., Eng.horn.
How Soon The Richard Boone Show 1963 414 Eb/F Through (32) M1' CM1' CL ./I
It Came from Outer Space It Came from Outer Space 1953 Dm ... DU
M1,,. BL(O.ST)" M2,,. M3,,. Jvt ,,.cM•",,. Ovf 6
,,.
Dml
Main Title Lifeforce 1985 6/8 ABACA ACM ,,.CM2,,.M,,. BM1' CM,,.CM1'
Am
Main Title Mommie Dearest 1981 314 Am ABAC ACM0 sr 1'BL'1M1' BM1'CM'f\ CM1' CM'1
Main Title Nightwing 1979 414 Am ABC ACMrosr.J 1' CM2rus7:J .J,t M1' BM'/\ CL,,.
CM/lf\CM/lf\
00
N
·N
Good Morning, Mr. Ranseroff String section + flute, tuba, banjo, ukelele.
~
How Soon Orchestra + harpsichord.
Main Title Wait Until Dark 1967 4/4 Em Through (16) CM1ros1:;~ CM2~ M~
Mollys Strike Again, The The Molly Maguires 1970 6/8 Em ... DU M1 ~ CM1 ~ M2~ CM2 ~ M3 ~ M~ CM~
M~ CM"ll M"llCML~ M~ CM'~ MV' M'Vi!
The Creature from the 5
CL ~ M'~ C!vf~ M7~ CM ~ M~ CM~7
Monster Gets Mark, The 1954 Gm ... DU
Black Lagoon 1vf lftM10~ CL101' Mn 1' CM11rFucin)
NBC Mystery Movie Theme NBC Mystery Movie 1971 2/2 G ABAC AM~ BM~CM~ CM~M~
The Nutty Professor High Time 1960 4/4 D AABA ACM1 ~ M If\ CM2 lftt BM lftt CM~
Peter Gunn Theme, The Peter Gunn 1959 4/4 F7+9 Through (16) CM05TJ ~ M,.J, BG~
cM1,.J, M~ M21' CM2 ~ Clvf,.J, M'~ CM-1,.J, lvl~
Search for Anne Nightwing 1979 Em ... DU
cM5,.J, Mlftt M61ft
Soldier In the Rain Soldier in the Rain 1963 314 Am ABAB1 ACJvf05TJ ~ M lftt CL~ BM lftt CL tJ,
CM~ M1 ~ CM2 ~ M ~ CM3° ~ CM3h ~ /vf ~
2
J\!l
Terror Strikes Tarantula 1955 G ... DU
CM'a tJ, CM'b If\
Theme From Cm/C
"Ripley's Believe it or Not"
Ripley's Believe it or Not 1982 4/4
E ABA 1 ACM1rosr.; ~ CM2rosT; "ft M ~BM~
Thing Strikes, The It Came from Outer Space 1953 Dm ... DU CM1rosr;l/I M ~ CM2 ~
Too Little Time The Glenn Miller Story 1954 4/4 c ABA 1C AM!ft CM1 tJ, CM2 If\ BM,.J, CMtl/\ CM,.J, CL tJ,
AM~·CM~ CL~ BM~ CM,.J,
Whistling Away the Dark Darling Lili 1970 3/4 Em ABAC
CM~CM~CL~
0
M
N
--
Monster Gets Mark, The Orchestra + harp. c--1
NBC Mystery Movie Theme Orchestra+ bs., dr., guit., Arp Synthesizer.
The Nutty Professor Bs, dr., guit., pno., tpt., mallet, aux. perc, sound fx. ~
Peter Gunn Theme, The Big band+ Fr. Horns. Improvisation
"
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Timpani
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232
Bibliography
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Buhler, James, David Neumeyer, and Rob Deemer. Hearing the Movies: Music and
Sound in Film History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
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234
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Filmography
-----10. 122 minutes. Geoffrey Productions and Orion Pictures Corporation. 1979.
-----The Man Who Loved Women. 110 minutes. Delphi Films and Columbia Pictures
Corporation. 1983.
-----The Return of the Pink Panther.. 113 minutes. Jewel Productions. 1975.
Bernstein, Walter, with Martin Ritt (Producers), Martin Ritt (Director) The Molly
Maguires. 124 minutes. Paramount Pictures. 1970.
240
Cohn, Al, and Carlo Ponti (Producers). De Sica, Vittorio. (Director) Sunflower.
107 minutes. AVCO Embassy Pictures. 1970.
Donen, Stanley, and Denis Holt (Producers), Donen, Stanley (Director) Arabesque.
105 minutes. Universal Pictures, Stanley Donen Films. 1966.
Donen, Stanley, and James Ware (Producers), Donen, Stanley (Director) Charade.
113 minutes. Universal Pictures, Stanley Donen Films. 1963.
------Two for the Road. 111 minutes. Stanley Donen Films. 1967.
Edwards, Blake (Producer, Director) A Shot in the Dark. 102 minutes. The Mirisc.h
Corporation. 1964.
------The Pink Panther Film Collection. Bonus Disc. Metro Goldwyn Mayer Home
Entertainment, 2004.
------with Ken Wales (Producers), Edwards, Blake (Director) Darling Lili. 107
minutes. Geoffrey Productions, 1970.
Ferrer, Mel (Producer), Benedek, Laslo (Director) The Night Visitor. 106 minutes.
Hemisphere Pictures. 1971.
------Young, Terrence (Director) Wait Until Dark. 108 minutes. Warner Bros. Pictures.
1967. .
Globus, Yoran, with Menahem Golan and Michael J. Kajan (Producers) Hooper, Toby
(Director) Lifeforce. 116 minutes. London-Cannon Films. 1985.
Hitchcock, Alfred (Producer, Director) The Birds. 119 minutes. Universal Pictures,
Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions. 1963.
241
------Family Plot. 121 minutes. Universal Pictures. 1976.
Hitchcock, Alfred, and William Hill (Producers) Hitchcock, Alfred (Director) Frenzy.
116 minutes. Universal Pictures. 1972.
242
Jurow, Martin, with Richard Shepherd (Producers), Edwards, Blake (Director)
Breakfast at Tiffany's. 115 minutes. Jurow-Shephard Productions. 1961.
--------with Dick Crocket (Producers), Edwards, Blake (Director) The Pink Panther.
115 minutes. Mirisch G-E Productions. 1964.
Manulis, Martin (Producer), Edwards, Blake (Director The Days of Wine and Roses.
117 minutes. Jalem Productions. 1962.
Milkis, Edward K., with Thomas L. Miller (Producers), Hiller, Arthur (Director)
Silver Streak 114 minutes. Martin Ransohoff, Frank Yablans Presentation. 1976.
Ransohoff, Martin, with Don Guest and James Houston (Producers), Kaufman, Philip
(Director) The White Dawn. 110 minutes. Paramount Pictures. 1974.
Baran, Roma, and Margaret Smilow (Producers), Waletzky, Joshua. (Director) Music
for the Movies: Bernard Herrmann. 58 minutes. Kultur Video. 1992.
Wald, Jerry (Producer) Walsh, Raoul (Director) Objective, Burma! 142 minutes.
Warner Bros. Pictures. 1945.
Discography
Mancini, Henry: Blake Edwards' The Return of the Pink Panther. Original Motion
Picture Soundtrack. RCA Records, 1975. 74321913812.
243
CDA66214.
------Julie Andrews/Henry Mancini: Music from thefUm score 'Darling Lili'. (LP)
RCA 1970. 66500.
------The Pink Panther: Music from the Film Score. Sony BMG Europe 2001
B0000056NN6.
244
------The Godfather and Other Movie Themes.
RCA Victor. 1993. 09026-61478-2.
245
------The Thornbirds: Original Television Soundtrack.
Varese Sarabande. 2004. B0001Z53K6.
------Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (LP) Epic/Warner Bros. 1978.
BOOOWOCXXA.
Electronic Resources
Ghomeshi, Jian. "Q", CBC Radio. Guillermo del Toro Interview, May 2, 2012.
www.filmscorerundowns.net
www .henrymancini'.com
www .rongoodwin.org
Mansell, John. "Ron Goodwin: Notes, Quotes, and Film Music", (2002). Soundtrack:
The Cinema Score and Soundtrack Archives, http://www.runmovies.eu ·
Mastroianni, Tony. "Henry Mancini: Composer's King", (1965). The Cleveland Press.
The Cleveland Memory Project, www.clevelandmemory.org
Interviews
246