Weird Music History
Lost in Space (1965-1968)
Music links us to both the past and the future. Although the theme
music for the opening and closing credits for the television series Lost
in Space was written by John Williams, who was amusingly listed in
the credits as “Johnny Williams,” much of the music heard in the first
season was not composed by Williams, but by an already established
composer, Bernard Hermann.
Rather than use new music, the studio sought to repurpose a score that
producers felt had the right sound. For the pilot and much of Season 1,
they simply reused Bernard Herrmann’s eerie score from the classic
sci-fi film The Day the Earth Stood Still from 1951.
Besides John Williams, whose work on subsequent Lost in Space seasons helped launch his composing career, other notable composers for Lost in Space included Alexander Courage (composer of Star Trek fame), who contributed six scores to the series.
Source: Wikipedia
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
The music score for this fantastical space adventure was composed
by Bernard Herrmann, and was his first Hollywood score after
returning from a hiatus in New York. Possibly due to the quirky yet
creative plot, Hermann decided on unusual instrumentation for the
score: electric violin, electric cello, and electric bass, two theremins,
two Hammond organs, a large electric organ, three vibraphones, two
glockenspiels, marimba, tam-tam, 2 bass drums, 3 sets of timpani,
two pianos, celesta, two harps, 1 horn, three trumpets, three
trombones, and four tubas. Herrmann’s innovations included
writing for unison organ, tuba, piano, and bass drum; staggered
tritone movement, and theremin glissandos, as well as half-step
dissonances and experimentation with overdubbing and
tape-reversal techniques. The innovative score made a statement
and created a new Hollywood sound that positioned Hermann
immediately on the map as one of industry’s most sought-after
composers.
Source: Wikipedia