Bernard Hermann conducts Ambersons score on Youtube

[Le Chiffre]

FROM WELLESNET FACEBOOK-

On Youtube there is a nice video of Ambersons images, accompanied by a recording of Bernard Hermann conducting the beautiful "Antimacassar" from his original score for Ambersons. Sadly, this music never made it into the final cut of the film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4IYSMi19nE

[Roger Ryan]

This music cue, a variation on the cue originally intended to support Eugene's recitation of his letter to Isabel (removed from the film as well), was composed for the film's end credit sequence. It would have begun as Eugene's car left Fanny's boarding house driving off into a smokey cityscape and we heard Welles' voice tell us "Ladies and gentlemen, that's the end of the story...THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS was based on Booth Tarkington's novel..." The conclusion of the cue would have been heard under the line "...I wrote the script and directed...my name is Orson Welles...this is a Mercury Production."

Having the film end with such a somber, low-key cue would have been unprecedented at a time when virtually every film (including KANE) featured a more rousing, upbeat cue designed to signal that "the movie is coming to an end, folks". Welles and Herrmann were way ahead of their time in their attempt to end AMBERSONS in this manner. American films would not embrace this approach until the late 60s and, even now, it's not very common. There's little surprise that Herrmann's original end credit cue was discarded by the studio; fortunately, the cue survives on paper and on recordings like this one conducted by Herrmann himself.

[Glenn Anders]

Marvelous, Mike and Roger, so very poignant. In several ways, simple stills and Bernard Herrmann's score convey to me the tragedy of . . . AMBERSONS more than the film does.

Thank you.

Alex

[Le Chiffre]

I've always found it quite interesting that it was Bernard Hermann, not Welles, who demanded that his name be taken off the credits of the studio's cut of AMBERSONS. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the two occurrences of "Antimacassar" (Eugene's Letter and the End credits) were the only parts of Hermann's score that were directly targeted by RKO for replacement with another composer's work. Roy Webb had rewritten some of Max Stiener's music for ALICE ADAMS, RKO's other Tarkington film, so he was an obvious go-to guy, but like Callow says, the music he wrote for Ambersons was the kind of stuff he turned out by the yard.

[Roger Ryan]

...Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the two occurrences of "Antimacassar" (Eugene's Letter and the End credits) were the only parts of Hermann's score that were directly targeted by RKO for replacement with another composer's work...

Those were the two major cues, although Herrmann's cue for Eugene reading the newspaper account of George's accident was monkeyed with by cross-fading from Herrmann's music to a new piece composed by Webb. I think Herrmann was most offended by the thought that people would think he was responsible for the music that Webb composed. But we should also consider that much of his music was cut outright during re-editing, including a couple of instances where the scenes were left in but the cues were dropped. Even the opening waltz variations were re-sequenced and edited from what Herrmann had intended. Taken all together, Herrmann's original score ran about 52 minutes; of that, less than 30 minutes survived in the final edit. Given that the two previous film projects Herrmann had composed music for (KANE and ALL THAT MONEY CAN BUY - for which he won an Oscar for best score) allowed him to retain a considerable measure of creative control, the extensive reworking of AMBERSONS' score must have felt like a slap in the face.

[Le Chiffre]

Yes, and I wonder how much Hermann blamed Welles for the debacle. They only made one more film together (JANE EYRE), which was another big loss for Welles, like the loss of Houseman.

The cutting of the two porch nocturnes was probably about 10 minutes of music right there, and Robert Wise even said the 1st porch scene was “a darn good scene” by itself, but most of the people involved seemed to feel it slowed the picture too much. There are also a couple scenes where, as you say, the music cues were dropped, but it’s possible the studio made the right decision in dropping them, such as the after-dinner scene of George and Fanny on the stairs.

“Antimacassar” is probably the biggest loss, in terms of the music. It’s wistful and yearning quality reminds me of a later Hermann piece “The Road and Finale” from Truffaut’s FAHRENHEIT 451, a piece that’s also well worth hearing apart from the movie. In fact, like many pieces Hermann wrote for lesser films, I think it’s better heard by itself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rah6QNYV2fw

[ToddBaesen]

Herrmann didn't blame Welles for AMBERSONS, because he knew Welles was in South America and by the time he saw the film, he knew Welles had lost control of the project.

Welles and Herrmann went on to work together on several radio shows after the AMBERSONS fiasco, and Herrmann never felt anything less than happy to be working with Welles. In fact, given Herrmann's falling out with both Hitchcock and Truffaut, Welles may have been the only director Herrmann worked with who he never said a bad word about... at least in print! He certainly had many bad words for Robert Wise, after Wise never used him again after THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL.

The only real problem between Welles and Herrmann was when Welles asked Herrmann to write the score for MACBETH. Herrmann was eager to do it, but when Welles left for Italy, Herrmann declined, fearing a repeat of the AMBERSONS situation. Like Welles, Herrmann wanted total control over his music, and if Welles wasn't there to protect him, there was no way Herrmann was going to go to work at Republic Studios.

Here's an internal memo between RKO lawyers that shows Herrmann's feelings after he saw the revised (88 minute) cut of AMBERSONS in New York:

GORDON YOUNGMAN TO ROSS HASTINGS:
June 22, 1942

Bernard Herrmann demands that we refrain from giving him any screen credit for score. Perfectly willing to have us use his music but wants all mention of him eliminated. Mention is made in a Welles reference (RKO publicity) to Herrmann as composer of score. Please discuss this with Koerner and Depinet and advise because Herrmann insists cut be made before trade showing.

[Le Chiffre]

I knew about the falling out with Hichcock, but not with Truffaut and Wise. I'd like to hear Hermann on Wise, especially. The score for DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL is one of his best.

[Glenn Anders]

Many of the men and women we are discussing here are not so cut and dried as we would sometimes like them to be. As artists, they were volatile, and time and myth, bits of this and that, have accreted to the legends we work with. Here are a couple of interviews from the Bernard Herrmann Society which contradict some of what has been stated; contradicts, for instance, at least one idea which I had maintained for years. The first comes from Robert Wise:

http://www.bernardherrmann.org/articles/smith-wise/

The second interview is with Paul Stewart, Welles assistant director on many of his projects:

http://www.bernardherrmann.org/articles/smith-stewart/

How do these reminisces change our view of the cosy relationships we tend to imagine within the Mercury Theater, or say, unrelenting bitterness between Bernard Hermann and Robert Wise?

Glenn Anders

[Roger Ryan]

Reading these interviews is like watching CITIZEN KANE and trying to have an understanding of what Herrmann was all about! Actually, nothing that Stewart or Wise say about Herrmann sounds unexpected. There's no question that he was quick-tempered and very protective of what his idea for the music would be. I suspect he was amiable to changing things at the last minute when working on KANE (as commented upon by Wise) because he was used to Welles reworking the radio plays up until air time. Basically, what KANE tells us is true: the general perception of who a person was may be the same among a group of observers, but the nuances of what motivates that person simply reflects the prejudices of each commentator.

[Glenn Anders]

Good point, Roger. I would not disagree. Mv view is simply that our prejudices toward or against a certain member of the Mercury team sometimes becomes hardened into the stone of TRUTH, whereas 'nuances of what motivate[d] that person simply reflects the prejudices of each commentator.'

Glenn

[Roger Ryan]

Since this is the most recent thread discussing Bernard Herrmann's score for AMBERSONS, I thought I would add an odd bit of information I was made aware of yesterday via a posting on the Criterion Forum...

Back in 1997 Rhino records released a soundtrack compilation entitled CLASSIC FILM THEMES FROM HOLLYWOOD'S MASTERS which contain the expected entries from KING KONG, GONE WITH THE WIND, THE WIZARD OF OZ, etc. Herrmann is represented by three of his cues: CITIZEN KANE ("Main Title"), THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS ("Main Title") and NORTH BY NORTHWEST ("Wild Ride"). The remarkable thing is that the AMBERSONS cue is apparently not Herrmann's and does not appear in the film nor on the official (and virtually complete) CD soundtrack of Herrmann's score for the film.

So what is this mystery track? A representative for the Bernard Herrmann Society suggests the 2:39 cut is actually additional music composed by RKO in-house composer Roy Webb meant to accompany the film's opening montage sequence. Given that most of the re-edited scenes in AMBERSONS eliminated the Herrmann cues outright or utilized new cues written by Webb, I suspect that it was thought the truncated/scrambled opening sequence would have to be re-scored as well. A thirty-second sample of the track I was able to find on-line sounds like Webb attempting to imitate the style of Herrmann's long "Themes & Variations" cue used to open the film (after the "main title", by the way, which has no score).

Why wasn't it used? Perhaps after screening the film with the new music, someone (George Schaefer, Robert Wise?) made the decision that the cue was no match for the sublime music Herrmann had composed and the attempt was made to reconfigure the original Herrmann cue to fit the re-edited footage. Nowhere else in the film is Herrmann's music manipulated as much as in the first three minutes. As distasteful as this may have been to Herrmann (and to discriminating viewers), the doctoring may have saved the film from having even more Webb-composed music slathered over it!

You can find the Bernard Herrmann Society's analysis of this mystery track here:
http://folk.uib.no/smkgg/midi/soundtrac ... ambersons/

The thirty-second sample can be heard here:
http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/window/ ... 71,00.html

[Le Chiffre]

Fascinating, thanks Roger. I think they made the right choice not using it.