Bernard Herrmann’s Radio Music for the Columbia Workshop
Bob Kosovsky’s Ph.D. dissertation at the City University of New York, Bernard Herrmann’s Radio Music for the Columbia Workshop, is now available for purchase.
Author’s abstract:
The radio music of Bernard Herrmann (1911-1975) is an area of his output that has escaped serious scrutiny and study. This dissertation examines the composer’s development as discerned through his compositions intended to accompany radio dramas, bringing attention not only to his craft but also to the very neglected field of radio music. The Columbia Workshop (beginning in 1936) was the first regular series for which he consistently composed new music. As its music director, Herrmann was able to formulate, develop, and refine his compositional responses to narrative situations. His music for the Columbia Workshop therefore forms a logical unit for study. A brief survey of the state of music on radio reveals that composers made adjustments in orchestration and musical style due to the needs of broadcasting. These alterations lead to the creation of an idiomatic use of music on the radio. The origins and significance of the Columbia Workshop are discussed, focusing on the experimental and adventurous nature of the program. Begun by producer/director Irving Reis (who had begun work as an engineer), the Workshop sought to explore and find innovative ways of using the radio and putting these innovations to work for dramatic narrative. Herrmann’s familiarity with theatre and his compositions for ballet sequences in Broadway plays prepared him for composing music for the radio. His first works for the medium, a genre he called “Melodrams,” consisted of poetry recitations to musical scores. This provided a foundation for his introduction to the Columbia Workshop, which began with dramatizations of poetry. His initial efforts for the Workshop revealed certain issues that would remain significant throughout his career on radio as well as in his later work for film and television. These issues involved borrowing and reuse of previously composed music, the influence of narrative sound effects on music, the problem of underscoring dialogue, the creation of a musical continuum parallel to the dramatic narrative, and the creation of structural organization. Various excerpts of incidental music from plays composed during the period 1937-39 are discussed, concluding with an examination of Herrmann’s collaborations with author Norman Corwin, in particular the latter’s play Untitled. The history of Herrmann’s development as a composer is but one part of a larger history of radio music that has yet to be written. This dissertation may serve as the foundation for such a history.
Available at:
http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/search“>http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/search [search for Pub Number (PN): AAT 9986347]. The 300-page dissertation can be ordered as a PDF-file download or as bound softcover or hardcover copies. 24-page preview available online.