James Bernard

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

James Bernard studied at the Royal College of Music in London and worked as an assistant to Benjamin Britten. Starting with The Quatermass Xperiment (1955), written for strings and percussion only, he became the house composer of Hammer Films. He wrote the music for The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Dracula (1958) and much later Hammer horror. His Dracula theme is built on three heavy notes, which follow the rhythm of the name Dra-cu-la. Bernard worked with hard brass stabs, dissonant chords and racing strings. That loud, direct style became the sound of British horror film of the 1950s and 1960s.

Listening

• 
  The Curse of Frankenstein · James Bernard, 1957
• 
  Dracula · James Bernard, 1958
• 
  The Devil Rides Out · James Bernard, 1968
• 
  Main Title From The Curse of Frankenstein · James Bernard, 1957

Discography

Studio albums

• 1963Virtue in Danger (soundtrack)
• 1974The Legend Of The 7 Golden Vampires (soundtrack)
• 1997Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horrors (soundtrack)
• 2000Taste The Blood Of Dracula (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
• 2000The Devil Rides Out
• 2020The Plague Of The Zombies (soundtrack)

Other work

• 1955The Quatermass Xperiment
• 1957The Curse of Frankenstein
• 1958Dracula
• 1959The Hound of the Baskervilles

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• Film Music Map^NL Map
• The Dream Factory: Film Reel 3^NL Reader

Mentioned in other articles

• Hammer horror and British genre film GenreJames Bernard became the regular voice of Hammer.

See also

• Hammer horror and British genre film