Psycho, film score by American composer Bernard Herrmann for the 1960 film of the same name, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Although Herrmann wrote many acclaimed film scores over his long career, none is as recognizable as the score he wrote for Hitchcock’s thriller; the shrieking string theme that accompanies the famous murder scene is one of the best-known pieces of music ever composed for film. Budget constraints had forced Herrmann to limit his orchestra to a small string ensemble, but the sparer textures of strings complemented the film’s black-and-white cinematography. To match Hitchcock’s sometimes surreal images, Herrmann drew upon avant-garde music by using edgy harmonies and dissonances. The instruments in the string ensemble were played with mutes and without vibrato, producing a harsh cold sound. Like the film itself, Herrmann’s score was widely imitated; its anxious, repetitive themes punctuated by shocking cues at moments of violence became the prototype for music in the emerging “slasher” genre of horror films.