Erich Wolfgang Korngold

1897 Brünn - 1957 Beverly Hills
Erich Wolfgang Korngold, composer, conductor, born May 29, 1897 in Brno, son of lawyer and well-known music critic Julius Korngold. The family moved to Vienna in 1901 and Erich Wolfgang Korngold studied music with Robert Fuchs, Hermann Grädener and Alexander Zemlinsky. He was a very successful composer from his (very young) start: 1920 first performance of the ballet "Schneemann" in the Vienna Hofoper, first performance of his piano trio by Bruno Walter. His works for orchestra were conducted a.o. by Arthur Nikisch, Willem Mengelberg, Fritz Busch, Bruno Walter and Richard Strauss. In 1921 he became head of the Stadttheater orchestra in Hamburg where his opera "Die tote Stadt" was first performed (together with Köln). 1926 Vienna Arts Award; 1929-30 teaching position for a seminar on opera style and opera literature at the 'Fachhochschule' of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. First visit to the USA in 1934 to work as conducter and as composer of music for films, invited by Max Reinhardt to participate in his film 'A Midsummernight's Dream'; final emigration to the USA in 1938. Composed many scores for Warner Brothers films. Between 1942 and 1944 he conducted Offenbach and Oskar Straus' operettas at the New York Opera. US-citizenship 1943. His return to Europe as a composer was so disappointing that he returned to the USA in 1951, where he passed away November 29, 1957 Selection of works: Music for films: Captain Blood (1935), The Prince and the Pauper (1937), Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Kings Row (1942), and Of Human Bondage (1945). Operas: Der Ring des Polykrates (1916), Die tote Stadt (1920), Das Wunder der Heliane (1927), Die Kathrin (1939). 1919 Incidental music for Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing', Piano Concerto for the Left Hand (dedicated to Paul Wittgenstein, 1923), 3 string quartets, Violin concerto (1945), Symphony in F-sharp major (1950-51). Update Primavera Driessen Gruber June 29, 2015