Narrative and Tonal Structure in Herrmann’s Score for Vertigo

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between tonal and narrative structures in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 film Vertigo. I argue that this relationship is reciprocal and that Bernard Herrmann’s score for the film affects the perception of the plot despite the generally accepted conventions of understanding film music as subordinate to overall cinematic structure. Using methodologies ranging from Schenkerian theory to analytical approaches to popular music, I suggest that the tonal structure unfolds in two broad episodes that segment the film and help us interpret it from the protagonist’s psychological perspective through the alignment of strong cadential points with important kernel events in the plot.