Who composed the score for Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film Psycho?

Bernard Herrmann composed the score for Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film Psycho.

Herrmann’s music is especially associated with the famous shower sequence, where sharp, repeated string sounds intensify the scene’s violence and panic. Hitchcock originally considered using no music for the shower scene, but Herrmann wrote the now-famous passage anyway. Hitchcock accepted it and reportedly increased Herrmann’s fee after hearing the result.

The score was recorded for strings alone, rather than a full symphony orchestra. That limited sound palette gave the music a tense, cutting quality and helped distinguish Psycho from conventional orchestral film scores. The soundtrack became one of the most recognizable in horror cinema.

Herrmann and Hitchcock had already collaborated on Vertigo and The Man Who Knew Too Much. Their partnership later broke down during the production of Torn Curtain, which Hitchcock released in 1966 with a different composer. Herrmann’s Psycho work, however, remains his signature contribution to suspense film music.