Korngold Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (May 29, 1897 – November 29, 1957) was an Austrian-born composer and conductor. A child prodigy, he became one of the most important and influential composers in the history of Hollywood. He was a noted pianist and composer of classical music, along with music for Hollywood films, and the first composer of international stature to write Hollywood scores.

When he was 11, his ballet Der Schneemann (The Snowman), became a sensation in Vienna, followed by his Piano Sonata which he wrote at age 13, played throughout Europe by Artur Schnabel. His one-act operas Violanta and Der Ring des Polykrates were premiered in Munich in 1916, conducted by Bruno Walter. At 23, his opera Die tote Stadt (The Dead City) premiered in Hamburg and Cologne. In 1921 he conducted the Hamburg Opera. During the 1920s he re-orchestrated, re-arranged and nearly re-composed, for the theater, operettas by Johann Strauss II. By 1931 he was a professor of music at Vienna State Academy.

At the request of director Max Reinhardt, and due to the rise of the Nazi regime, Korngold moved to the U.S. in 1934 to write music scores for films. His first was Reinhardt's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), which was well received by critics. He subsequently wrote scores for such films as Captain Blood (1935), which helped boost the career of its starring newcomer, Errol Flynn. His score for Anthony Adverse (1936) won an Oscar, and was followed two years later with another Oscar for The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938).

Overall, he wrote the score for 16 Hollywood films, receiving two more nominations. Along with Max Steiner and Alfred Newman, he is one of the founders of film music. Although his late classical Romantic compositions were no longer as popular when he died in 1957, his music underwent a resurgence of interest in the 1970s with the release of classical recordings and film score compilations.

Selected list of works

• Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor with concluding passacaglia, (composed 1908; first performed 1908–09)
• Piano Trio in D major, Op. 1 (composed and first performed 1910)
• Piano Sonata No. 2 in E major, Op. 2, in four movements (composed 1910; first performed 1911)
• Schauspiel-Ouvertüre (Overture to a Play), Op. 4 (Composed and first performed 1911)
• Sinfonietta, Op. 5 (Composed 1912, orchestrated and first performed 1913)
• Violin Sonata in G major, Op. 6 (composed 1912; first performed 1916)
• Der Ring des Polykrates, Op. 7 (opera) (1916)
• Violanta, Op. 8 (opera) (1916)
• String Sextet in D major, Op. 10 (first performed 1917)
• Much Ado About Nothing, Op. 11 (Incidental music to the play by Shakespeare) (Composed 1918–1919, first performed 1920)
• Die tote Stadt, Op. 12 (opera) (1920)
• Sursum Corda, Op. 13 (symphonic overture) (Composed 1919, first performed 1920)
• Quintet for two violins, viola, cello and piano in E major, Op. 15 (composed 1920–21; first performed 1923)
• String Quartet No. 1 in A major, Op. 16 (composed 1923; first performed 1924)
• Piano Concerto in C♯ for the left hand alone, Op. 17, (Composed 1923, first performed 1924)
• Das Wunder der Heliane, Op. 20 (opera) (1927)
• Suite for 2 violins, cello and piano left hand, Op. 23, composed 1930; first performed 1930
• Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major, Op. 25 (composed 1931; first performed 1932)
• String Quartet No. 2 in E♭ major, Op. 26 (composed 1933; first performed 1934)
• Die Kathrin, Op. 28 (opera) (1939)
• Tomorrow, Op. 33, tone poem for mezzo-soprano, women's choir and orchestra, for the movie The Constant Nymph. (First performed in concert 1944)
• String Quartet No. 3 in D major, Op. 34 (composed 1945; first performed 1946)
• Violin Concerto (Korngold), Op. 35 (Composed 1945, first performed 1947)
• Die stumme Serenade, Op. 36 (musical comedy) (1954)
• Cello Concerto in C major, Op. 37 (Composed 1950, expanded from a work written for the 1946 film Deception)
• Symphonic Serenade in B♭ major for string orchestra, Op. 39 (Composed 1947–48, first performed 1950)
• Symphony in F♯ major, Op. 40 (Composed 1947–52, first performed 1954)
• Theme and Variations, Op. 42 (composed and first performed 1953)