I N T R O D U C T I O N

When we watch a movie, few of us are consciously aware of the important role that music is playing. In fact, if the composer and the music director have done their jobs, the music blends in with the other elements of the film. But if the film score were missing, we would notice that right away.

How many moviegoers have even heard of Hans Zimmer or Max Steiner, much less know something about their work? But what would Gone With the Wind (1939) be without Max Steiner's wonderful musical score and “Tara's Theme”? What would The Lion King (1994) or Gladiator (2000) have been without the Oscar-winning musical direction of Hans Zimmer? In recent years more attention has been paid to the great-but-little-known film music composers whose work we all have heard. Many, if not most, of these underappreciated musicians came from Austria or Germany. Vienna, in particular, was home to the likes of Gold, Korngold, Loewe (of Lerner and Loewe), Romberg, Steiner and other composers who have individually and collectively made a vital contribution to Hollywood's entertainment output. Almost all of the composers listed here also have “serious” non-film musical compositions—including operas, symphonies, concertos, and other music forms — to their credit. But that is another story.

Although some arrived earlier in Hollywood (Riesenfeld) and some later (Zimmer), most of the composers listed here were driven into California exile by the Third Reich. One has to wonder what the musical score for Gone With the Wind might have sounded like without the talents of Max Steiner. What would Hollywood film music from the 1930s to the 1950s have been like if the Nazis hadn't forced so many Jewish composers out of Austria and Germany? One thing is certain: Hollywood's production would have had a very different tone.

C o m p o s e r s

Austrian and German Film Composers

Ernest Gold (Ernst Goldner, 1921-1999)

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Even as a young man in Austria, Ernest Goldner knew that he wanted to be a film music composer. He was only 17 and not finished with his studies at the Academy of Music when his family left Austria for the usual reason (Nazi persecution) in 1938. After moving to Hollywood from New York in 1945, Gold immediately found work and never looked back. At first he worked on many forgettable B-pictures, but later he was the music director for bigger films, such as Witness for the Prosecution (1957) and The Pride and the Passion (1957). His first big film-score success came with The Defiant Ones (1958) and On the Beach (1959, Golden Globe; Acad. Award nomination) for director Stanley Kramer. His popular “Theme from 'Exodus'” written for fellow Austrian Otto Preminger's Exodus (1960) earned him an Academy Award and two Grammys. He did more projects for Kramer, including Inherit the Wind (1960), Judgement at Nuremberg (1961) and It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963). Although he later chose to do fewer and fewer films, Gold continued to compose non-film music and scores for TV series (“Wagon Train”) and television movies (The Mel Fisher Story). (More of Gold's films below.)

   WEB LINK > Ernest Gold - IMDb

Frederick Hollander (Friedrich Holländer, 1896-1976)
German film music composer. One of his first projects was The Blue Angel (Ger., 1930) with Marlene Dietrich, who was fond of his songs throughout her long singing career. (A 1990s Mercedes TV commercial featured Hollander's “Falling in Love” with Dietrich's voice at the end.) Hollander's other film work includes: Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938), Berlin Express (1948), Foreign Affair (1948, with Dietrich) and Sabrina (1954).

	Korngold's grave in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957)
Austrian film music composer who worked with fellow Austrian Max Steiner at Warner Bros. Korngold got his middle name from Mozart, and like Mozart he was something of a child prodigy (Wunderkind). He wrote his first ballet at age 11, his first opera (“Die tote Stadt”) before he was 20. In 1934 he arrived in California to help with the music for Max Reinhardt's Hollywood Bowl and film production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Korngold earned Oscars for Anthony Adverse (1936) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). His other film scores include: Captain Blood (1935), Juarez (1939), The Sea Hawk (1940), Kings Row (1942) and Escape Me Never (1947). Korngold suffered a heart attack in 1947, which forced him to largely withdraw from film scoring. He lived alternately in Austria and California prior to his death in his Hollywood home in 1957. Korngold's son, George Wolfgang (1928-1987), was music editor for several Hollywood productions.

   WEB LINK > Erich Wolfgang Korngold - IMDb

Frederick Loewe (1901-1988)
Austrian composer and member of the famous Lerner and Loewe team (after 1942). Loewe was the son of the Viennese operatic tenor Edmund Loewe. He came to the US in 1924. His collaboration with Alan Jay Lerner produced Tony and Oscar-winning musicals such as “Gigi” (1958) and “My Fair Lady” (1964). Other Lerner and Loewe musical films include: Brigadoon (1954), Camelot (1967), Paint Your Wagon (1969) and The Little Prince (1974).

André Previn (Andre Ludwig Prewin, 1929- )
Previn was born in Berlin. As a film music composer he won Academy Awards for Gigi (1958), Porgy and Bess (1959) and Irma la Douce (1963, with director Billy Wilder). Previn came to the United States at the age of ten and started working for MGM when he was still a teen-ager. He worked on several films with the Austrian director Billy Wilder, including One Two Three (1961) and The Fortune Cookie (1966). Previn is also a conductor (London Symphony), pianist and arranger. His other films include: Bad Day at Black Rock (1954), Designing Woman (1957), Elmer Gantry (1960), Kiss Me Stupid (1964) and Rollerball (1975). He also wrote songs for Valley of the Dolls (1967) and Paint Your Wagon (1969).

   WEB LINK > André Previn - IMDb

Hugo Riesenfeld (1879-1939)
Riesenfeld was a relatively unknown Austrian film composer who came to America in 1907 from his native Vienna. Riesenfeld became a concert master and orchestra leader in New York City. After 1915 he was with the Century Opera as conductor and concert master. From 1917 to 1927 he was in charge of three Broadway Paramount cinemas and became involved in preparing musical accompaniment for silent film presentations. From 1928 to 1930 he was the music director for United Artist Studios. Riesenfeld composed film scores for more than 70 movies, including several DeMille classic silents (which usually had live music). His films include: The Ten Commandments (1923, silent), Sunrise (1927, silent), Abraham Lincoln (1930), White Zombie (1932), Peck's Bad Boy (1934), and Tarzan's Revenge (1938).

Sigmund Romberg (1887-1951)
Romberg was born in Austria-Hungary and studied engineering and music in Vienna. In 1909, at the age of 22, he came to America for a visit and decided to stay. A letter of recommendation from Franz Lehar landed Romberg a job with the theater-owner J.J. Schubert, where he began a 40-year musical career. His work includes light operettas and numerous film scores. One of his better-known works was "The Student Prince" (1924) which was filmed by MGM in 1954. That same year, José Ferrer portrayed Romberg in the biographical film, Deep in My Heart.

CONTINUED > More Film Music Composers

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