Storm Clouds Cantata

This cantata was written for the assassination scene in the Alfred Hitchcock 1934 film, The Man Who Knew Too Much, in the Royal Albert Hall.

In the film version of 1934, the London Symphony Orchestra was directed by H. Wynn Reeves.

The work is scored for SATB chorus plus a mezzo-soprano soloist, with an orchestra consisting of 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, 4 percussion (snare drum, bass drum, cymbals), organ, 2 harps, and strings.

A piano arrangement of the latter half of the work was published in 2014 in the collection Music From the Hitchcock Films.

[1] A recording of the complete 1954 version [i.e. with Herrmann's embellishments] is included on the CD Elmer Bernstein conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra: Bernard Herrmann Film Scores - from Citizen Kane to Taxi Driver (1992).