Most people, if they know the late American composer Bernard Herrmann’s music at all, know him for his soundtrack work, especially with Alfred Hitchcock. He scored all eight of the master filmmaker’s movies from 1955 to 1964, including “Vertigo,” “Psycho,” and “The Birds.” Herrmann also provided what director Martin Scorsese insisted in a 1992 interview was the perfect emotional tone for his magnificent character study, “Taxi Driver.” But that wasn’t all he wrote.

As we prepare our hearts for what Memorial Day represents, I figured a musical Higher Culture aside might be helpful. Consider the words my friend, photographer and film history author Robert Jones, included when sending me a copy of Herrmann’s short piece, “For the Fallen,” a stirring tribute to those who made the ultimate sacrifice:

It’s Memorial Day weekend, a time for remembrance of those who had gone forth and are now gone.

Indeed. From 1943, here’s Herrmann’s elegiac tribute to them.