Erich Wolfgang Korngold

composer

Born: 1897, Brno, Austria-Hungary (now Czech Republic)
Died: 1957, Los Angeles

"Never have I differentiated between my music for the films and that for the operas and concert pieces. Just as I do for the operatic stage, I try to give the motion pictures dramatically melodious music, sonic development, and variation of the themes."

A true prodigy, Erich Wolfgang Korngold was 13 when his pantomime Der Schneemann (orchestrated by Zemlinsky) premiered at the Vienna Court Opera. After achieving great European success with the operas Die tote Stadt (1920) and Das Wunder der Heliane (1927), Korngold came to Hollywood to work with director Max Reinhardt on the film of A Midsummer Night's Dream (1934). He pioneered the symphonic film score, collecting Academy Awards for Anthony Adverse (1936) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). After World War II he applied his richly detailed orchestral writing and flair for urgently romantic melodies to concert music, composing a symphony and solo concertos for violin and cello.