¡Fandango!

The fandango style is a style of music that can relate to the consumer society of the 1950’s because it was used to appeal to a theatrical audience. According to the Grove Music Online, a fandango is “a couple-dance in triple meter and lively tempo, accompanied by a guitar and castanets or palmas (hand-clapping). It is considered the most widespread of Spain's traditional dances. . . Its meter, associated with that of the bolero and seguidilla, was originally notated in 6/8, but later in 3/8 or 3/4.”[8] Herrmann’s fandango is composed of rapid string passages, flourishing woodwinds and castanets. This style is also influenced by and related to a hemiola which is composed of two units of triple meter as if they were notated as three units of duple meter.[9] This form of music was used in West Side Story in the song “America” (clip) by Leonard Bernstein.

"America" scene from West Side Story

Although the film adaptation was not released until a year after North by Northwest, the “West Side Story” Broadway production was actually the only show which played at the Winter Garden Theater in 1957 —the theater Roger Thornhill was supposed to go to the night he was kidnapped by Vandamm’s associates.[10] Herrmann’s fandango not only is associated with the theater because of its Broadway connection, but also because of its musical title in the score. Herrmann titled the theme as an “overture” which is defined as an instrumental number that serves to introduce a theatrical work, emphasizing its theatrical connection.