Erich Wolfgang Korngold

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Erich Wolfgang Korngold in the 1940s

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (May 29, 1897 – November 29, 1957) was an Academy Award-winning 20th century film and romantic music composer.

Contents

Biography

Born in an assimilated Jewish home in Brünn (Brno), Austria-Hungary (now in the Czech Republic), Erich was the son of the music critic Julius Korngold. He studied music under Alexander von Zemlinsky and Robert Fuchs. Gustav Mahler, upon meeting the young Erich, called him a "musical genius." Richard Strauss also spoke very highly of the youth. During his early years Korngold also made live-recording player piano music rolls for the Aeolian Duo-Art system, all of which survive today and can be heard.

Korngold had success in Europe with his opera Die tote Stadt (1920), among other works, before moving in 1934 to the United States. There he composed a number of film scores that have been recognized ever since as classics of their kind, beginning with an adaptation of Felix Mendelssohn's incidental music for A Midsummer's Night's Dream (1935), the Max Reinhardt version of the Shakespeare comedy released by Warner Brothers. This was followed by his first original film score, for Captain Blood (1935) with Errol Flynn. For the rest of his life he continued to write concert music in a rich, chromatic late Romantic style, with the Violin Concerto among his notable later works.

In 1938, Korngold was conducting opera in Austria when he was asked by Warner Brothers to come back to Hollywood and compose a score for their new (and very expensive) film The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), starring Errol Flynn. He agreed and returned by ship. Shortly after he arrived in California, the Anschluss took place and the condition of Jews in Austria became very perilous. Korngold later would say the film score of The Adventures of Robin Hood saved his life. (See the Robin Hood Collectors Edition on DVD for details.) He won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for the film. Among other things, it features some quotation of the third movement theme in Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Korngold was later nominated for The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) and The Sea Hawk (1940).

In 1943, Korngold became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Korngold stopped writing original film scores after 1946. His final score at Warner Bros. was Deception starring Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, and Claude Rains. However, he was asked by Republic Pictures to adapt the music of Richard Wagner for a film biography of the composer, released in Trucolor, as Magic Fire (1955), directed by William Dieterle from a script by Ewald Andre Dupont. Korngold also wrote some original music for the film and had an unbilled cameo as the conductor Hans Richter. Korngold died in Hollywood on November 29, 1957.

Legacy

Despite his achievements and considerable popularity with the musical public, Korngold for years attracted almost no positive critical attention, but considerable critical disdain. Then, in 1972, RCA Victor released an LP titled The Sea Hawk, featuring excerpts from Korngold's film scores performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Charles Gerhardt and supervised by the composer's son George. (This album and other classic film scores by Hollywood composers were later issued by RCA on CD in Dolby Surround Sound.) This was followed by recordings of Korngold's operas and concert works, which led to performances of his symphony and concertos, as well as other compositions.

In 1973, Warner Brothers released special LPs featuring excerpts from the original soundtracks of films scored by Korngold, which had actually been conducted by Warner's music director Leo Forbstein, as a well as a rare recording of Korngold playing the main theme from Kings Row on the piano. In addition, a KFWB radio broadcast from 1938 with Korngold conducting the studio orchestra in excerpts from The Adventures of Robin Hood, narrated by actor Basil Rathbone, was released on LP.

There have also been a number of new digital recordings of Korngold's film scores, as well as some of his concert works, especially his violin concerto and his symphony. RCA Victor was the first to record a complete Korngold opera (in stereo), Die Tote Stadt, conducted by Erich Leinsdorf in Germany. His complete orchestral works have been recorded by the German conductor Werner Andreas Albert. Korngold's complete piano works are currently being recorded by the American conductor-pianist Alexander Frey.

Further recognition came in the 1990s; two full-scale biographies of him appeared almost simultaneously. One is Jessica Duchen, Erich Wolfgang Korngold (Phaidon Press, 20th Century Composers series, 1996). The other is Brendan G. Carroll, Erich Korngold: The Last Prodigy (Amadeus Press, 1997). Carroll is President of the International Korngold Society.

Trivia

While watching the Bugs Bunny cartoon Rhapsody Rabbit, Korngold fell out of his chair laughing at the gags portrayed in the cartoon.

Works

Orchestral and vocal works

Songs

Spiritual Music

Piano music and Chamber works

Operas

Arrangements for operettas

Film Scores

Rerecorded film scores

Reference and further reading

External links

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Erich Wolfgang Korngold