By JASON COMERFORD

French composer Georges Auric first gained recognition in the 1920s as a “member” of Le Six, an informal consortium of classical musicians whose work was seen as a reaction against Wagnerian romanticism (composers joining him under this umbrella included Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud and Francis Poulenc). Auric, a child prodigy already known for his ballets, parlayed a working relationship with Jean Cocteau into a long and fruitful career in film music, moving between French, British and American productions over the course of nearly five decades. 1961’s The Innocents gave Auric the chance to return to the realm of the supernatural, having previously explored the genre in the 1945 classic Dead of Night.

Jack Clayton’s film is one of the finest examples of psychological terror to grace the screen, and Auric’s indelible title music is an important element of its impact. A full 45 seconds of black leader screen precede the 20th Century Fox logo and the film’s main titles, with “O Willow Waly”, written by Auric with lyrics by Paul Dehn and sung hauntingly by Isla Cameron, perfectly setting an ambiguous, dreamlike mood; before the film even properly begins, Auric has you in his sway.

We lay, my love and I beneath the weeping willow,
But now alone I lie and weep beside the tree,
Singing "O Willow Waly" by the tree that weeps with me,
Singing "O Willow Waly" till my lover returns to me.
We lay my love and I beneath the weeping willow,
But now alone I lie. 
O willow I die.
O willow I die...

To date, the original film recordings from The Innocents have not been released (the tapes may be lost), but rerecorded selections from the score can be found on a Chandos CD called The Film Music of Georges Auric, performed by the BBC Philharmonic under the baton of Rumon Gamba.