I sawa this film years ago and remember a haunting melody. Debussy was mentioned in another post. Does anyone know if he wrote the theme I remember or was there another composer credited? As I remember it was played when jennie appeared.
shareI believe the film's score was based on themes from Debussy's LA MER - it certainly made a Debussy fan out of me - I never hear the music without thinking of the film.
shareActually, the opening scene of the clouds is from a Debussy piece called "Clouds" from his three Nocturnes. The music heard when Jennie appears is the piano piece, "The Maid with the Flaxen Hair."
shareA number of pieces by Claude Debussy were adapted for Portrait Of Jennie, including First Arabesque, Second Arabesque, Clouds, Sirens, and The Girl With The Flaxen Hair. However, Jenny sings a song with the lyrics: "Where I come from, nobody knows/Where I am going, everything goes/The wind blows/The sea flows/Nobody knows. This is frequently played when she's present on screen. It is not by Debussy and was likely written by Dmitri Tiomkin, who arranged the score.
When the portrait is shown at the end, and frequently when Jenny appears, The Girls With The Flaxen Hair is played.
I saw Bernard Herrmann's name on the credits I think. Does anyone know his part in the film? I think he quit/was fired but I am curious if he had any part in the final cut tunes.
The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.
According to a biography of Herrmann,he wrote the piece that is sung by Jennie,but the rest of it was Debussy adapted by Tiomkin.
sharehello, sorry that your reply is out of sync with the date of the enquiry, but regards the score of this flim, there are various themes of Debussy which then over woven, has you can Aarabesque whih is my favorite debussy score, there is also teh nect favorite Clair de lune, which never fails to bring tears to my eyes, and at the end one can hear parts of Prelude/ afternoon with an fawn. very interesting use of music. I have now found the original score and made a torrent with thsi on, very rare to find but moving, has brings all the life of teh flim to my mind.
sharebernhard herrmann only composed the frist song when we see jennie, the rest of the compostion was done by Demetri Tiomken interwoven with debussey, superb us of score
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