Erich Wolfgang Korngold facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Korngold (undated, c. 1912)
Born	(1897-05-29)May 29, 1897 Brünn, Moravia, Cisleithania, Austria-Hungary
Died	November 29, 1957(1957-11-29) (aged 60) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Nationality	Austrian (naturalized American citizen 1943)
Occupation	Composer, conductor, pianist
Years active	1909–1957
Known for	Operas, movie scores, symphonic and chamber music
Spouse(s)	Luise von Sonnenthal (1924–1957; his death)

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (May 29, 1897 – November 29, 1957) was a famous composer and conductor. He was born in Austria but later became an American citizen. From a very young age, he showed amazing musical talent. He became one of the most important composers in the history of Hollywood movies.

Korngold was known for his classical music, including operas and symphonies. He was also the first composer of his level to write music for Hollywood films. When he was only 11, his ballet Der Schneemann (The Snowman) became a huge hit in Vienna. At 13, his Second Piano Sonata was played all over Europe. His operas Violanta and Der Ring des Polykrates were first performed when he was 19. By age 23, his opera Die tote Stadt (The Dead City) was a big success.

In 1934, Korngold moved to Hollywood to write music for films. This happened because director Max Reinhardt asked him, and also because the Nazi regime was rising in Europe. His first film score was for A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935). He then wrote music for many other films, like Captain Blood (1935), which helped make Errol Flynn a star. Korngold won two Oscars for his music in Anthony Adverse (1936) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938).

He wrote music for 16 Hollywood films in total. He is considered one of the founders of film music, along with Max Steiner and Alfred Newman. After he died in 1957, interest in his music grew again in the 1970s. His Violin Concerto in D, Op. 35, which uses themes from his film scores, is now a standard piece played by orchestras.

Early Years as a Musical Genius

Erich Wolfgang Korngold was born into a Jewish family in Brünn, Austria-Hungary (now Brno, Czech Republic). His father, Julius Korngold, was a famous music critic. Erich was the second son; his older brother, Hans Robert, also became a musician.

Erich was a true child prodigy. By age five, he could play piano duets with his father. He could also play any tune he heard on the piano, adding full and complex chords. When he was seven, he was already writing his own music.

In 1909, Korngold played his cantata Gold for the famous composer Gustav Mahler. Mahler called him a "musical genius." Both Mahler and Richard Strauss said that Erich was so far ahead, he didn't need to go to a regular music school.

At 11, he composed his ballet Der Schneemann (The Snowman). It was performed at the Vienna Court Opera in 1910 and was a huge success. Even Emperor Franz Josef watched a special performance. He kept composing successfully throughout his teenage years. At 12, he wrote a piano trio. His Piano Sonata No. 2 was played by Artur Schnabel across Europe.

When he was 14, Korngold wrote his first orchestral piece, the Schauspiel-Ouvertüre. His Sinfonietta came out the next year. His first two operas, Der Ring des Polykrates and Violanta, were written in 1914. In 1916, he wrote songs, chamber music, and music for plays, including Much Ado About Nothing.

Composing in Europe

In his 20s, Korngold was very active in theater across Europe. After his opera Die tote Stadt became popular, he became very interested in the music of Johann Strauss II. He found many lost scores by Strauss and brought them back to life. He added new orchestrations and staged them in new ways.

These works, like A Night in Venice, caught the attention of Max Reinhardt. Korngold was at the peak of his fame as a composer of operas and concert music. Other famous composers like Richard Strauss and Giacomo Puccini praised his work. Many top conductors and singers performed his pieces.

He worked with Reinhardt on many shows, including a collection of Strauss pieces called Waltzes From Vienna. This show later became the basis for a 1934 British film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It was also made into an American film called The Great Waltz in 1938.

In 1923, Korngold finished a Piano Concerto for the Left Hand for pianist Paul Wittgenstein. Four years later, he completed his fourth opera, Das Wunder der Heliane. He also taught opera and composition at the Vienna Staatsakademie. The president of Austria gave him the special title of professor.

Music for Hollywood Films

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)

After Max Reinhardt successfully staged Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream with music by Felix Mendelssohn, he asked Korngold to come to Hollywood in 1934. Korngold's job was to adapt Mendelssohn's music for Reinhardt's film version. He would also make the score bigger and conduct it.

The film, released in 1935, was a big step for Warner Brothers studio. They put almost all their stars in the movie, and filming took over six months. Warner Brothers also let Korngold spend more time on the music than any film before. He could record parts of the music first, and then actors would perform to its rhythm. This detailed work made a strong impression on the film industry.

Korngold went back to Austria to finish his opera Die Kathrin. He then returned to Hollywood to score the film Give Us This Night. This film introduced singers Gladys Swarthout and Jan Kiepura, who had starred in Korngold's operas in Europe.

Captain Blood (1935)

In 1935, Warner Brothers asked Korngold to write an original score for Captain Blood. At first, he said no, thinking a pirate story wasn't for him. But after watching the filming, with the exciting new star Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, he changed his mind.

He agreed, but then found out he had only three weeks to compose over an hour of symphonic music! Because of the tight deadline, he used some parts from other composers' works, like Franz Liszt. In the end, Korngold insisted he only be credited for "musical adaptations," even though he wrote most of the original music.

Captain Blood was an instant hit and was nominated for an Oscar for its music. This film was Korngold's first full symphonic score. It was a major moment in his career, as he became the first famous composer to sign a contract with a film studio. It also launched the careers of Flynn and de Havilland. Captain Blood also led to more adventure films being made.

Anthony Adverse (1936)

After scoring Anthony Adverse, another Warner Brothers film starring Fredric March and Olivia de Havilland, Korngold's Hollywood career took off. He realized that dramatic music worked very well with certain types of films. This film was set in the 18th century in Italy and France, and Warner Brothers spent a lot of money on it, which Korngold liked.

Korngold won his first Academy Award for the music in Anthony Adverse. The first half hour of this film has continuous music, which was a big step forward in film scoring. Korngold thought of his film scores as "operas without singing."

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

In 1938, Korngold was conducting opera in Austria when Warner Brothers asked him to return to Hollywood. They wanted him to compose music for The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. This film, based on the English legend, is considered one of the best of its kind. It has many romantic and adventurous scenes, all driven by Korngold's exciting music.

Music historian Laurence E. MacDonald said that many things made the film a success, but "most of all, there is Korngold's glorious music." Film historian Rudy Behlmer described Korngold's music style as similar to German symphonic music from the late 1800s. It used rich sounds, strong emotional moments, and a generally romantic feeling. Korngold's unique style was influenced by composers like Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss, Giacomo Puccini, and Gustav Mahler.

Before Korngold started composing, Germany invaded Austria, and the Nazis took over. His home in Vienna was taken by the Nazis. Because all Jewish people in Austria were now in danger, Korngold stayed in America until World War II ended. He later said that composing the music for Robin Hood saved his life.

This film also earned him his second Academy Award. It set the style for symphonic music in action films during Hollywood's Golden Age. Modern epics like the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies use similar symphonic scores. Composer John Williams has said that Korngold inspired him when scoring the Star Wars series.

Juarez (1939)

Korngold was interested in scoring Juarez because it involved historical figures from Mexico and Austria. The film was about the Mexican politician Benito Juarez and also the story of Archduke Maximilian von Habsburg and his wife, Carlotta. Korngold was touched by the true story of how Louis Napoleon tried to control Mexico in 1864, while America was busy with its Civil War. He made Maximilian the emperor.

When the United States demanded that France leave Mexico, Maximilian was left alone and was executed by the Juarez government. The film focused on Maximilian and Carlotta, and Korngold's sad music for them helped tell their story.

Korngold researched Mexican music from that time and found it was actually "unmistakenly Viennese." He composed 3,000 bars of music for the film. Sometimes, he copied the rhythms of Frédéric Chopin and Franz Schubert. The second theme of his Violin Concerto came from his work for this film. Maximilian and Carlotta loved the Mexican song "La Paloma," and Korngold used it well in the score.

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)

Korngold was nominated for another Oscar for his music in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex. The music for this film is like an opera, with rich background music throughout. There's an exciting march theme for Essex (Errol Flynn) and a noble, heroic melody for Elizabeth (Bette Davis). About an hour of the hour-and-a-half film has music, full of dramatic and romantic themes.

The score focuses on the grand Main Title, Essex's triumphant march into London, the Queen's theme, and that theme repeated at the end.

The Sea Hawk (1940)

The Sea Hawk was Korngold's last score for a swashbuckler film, all of which starred Errol Flynn. Many people think it's one of Korngold's best works. The film was two hours and six minutes long, one of the longest he worked on. Almost all of it, except for twenty minutes, has symphonic music. It was also his tenth original score in less than six years.

In the final sword fight, music historian MacDonald says that "Korngold's breathlessly fast-paced music helps to make this one of the most exciting swordfights in cinema history."

The Sea Wolf (1941)

When scoring The Sea Wolf, based on a novel by Jack London, Korngold's film career took a different turn. In this film, the music creates a dark, evil atmosphere. It shows the tense feelings of the crew during a terrible voyage. Edward G. Robinson plays Wolf Larsen, a troubled and cruel captain of a ship.

To support this complex mood, with its foggy scenes, Korngold created a quiet and subtle score. This was very different from his usual exciting swashbuckler music. He often used sharp brass sounds and swirling patterns, along with a love theme played by a harmonica.

Kings Row (1942)

The music for Kings Row (1942) has been compared to films like Gone with the Wind. These stories were based on popular novels. In this score, Korngold moved even further away from his romantic and swashbuckler styles. This was Korngold's most "Gothic" film score. Film historian Tony Thomas called it a "true American classic" and said the music "might well have been the basis for an opera."

The story is set in a Midwestern U.S. town called Kings Row. The characters show many different emotions, like love, hate, sadness, and tenderness. With Korngold's music, the film became very popular. Its co-star, future President Ronald Reagan, thought his performance in this film was the best of his career.

The score has a main theme that changes throughout the film, depending on the scene. MacDonald says the main theme is a "majestic and noble melody that immediately grabs the viewer's attention." This theme connects the whole score and often had a strong impact on viewers.

British composer Harold Truscott saw the film when he was 28. He wrote to Korngold, praising the music. He even watched the film more than thirty times just to hear the score, sometimes with his eyes closed. Like Gone with the Wind, Kings Row ends with the main theme sung like an opera by an unseen choir.

Later Scores: 1943–1956

After Kings Row, Korngold scored seven more films in four years. These included The Constant Nymph (1943), Between Two Worlds (1944), and Deception (1946).

World War II kept Korngold from going back to Europe. He became an American citizen in 1943. He stopped composing for films in 1947 and stayed in the U.S.

He spent the last ten years of his life writing concert music. This included a Violin Concerto, a Symphonic Serenade for strings, and a Symphony. The Violin Concerto has become very popular.

He returned to film scoring one last time before he died. This was for Magic Fire (1955), a film about the composer Richard Wagner. Korngold was asked to adapt Wagner's music for most of the film, but he also wrote some original music. He even appears in the final scenes as the conductor Hans Richter.

At the time of his death at age 60, he was working on his sixth opera.

How He Composed Music

Korngold thought of film stories like opera scripts. He liked to write special musical themes, called leitmotifs, for each main character in a film. He would then change these themes based on the emotions in a scene. He believed that having "musical identifications for characters, places, and even abstract ideas" helped the audience follow the story. Other film composers like Max Steiner also used music motifs.

For example, in Captain Blood, he created themes for different parts of Captain Blood's pirate life, using different instruments. A full version of the theme would be saved for a big battle scene. The music for Captain Blood was so impactful that Gene Roddenberry, who created Star Trek, told his composer to use it as an example for the sound he wanted for his show.

Korngold usually composed in the evenings at the piano. He would watch scenes from the film that a projectionist showed him. He would watch the scenes over and over, making up music as he went. He would then write down his ideas.

During his film scoring years, he still wrote some non-film pieces. These included Passover Psalm (1941) and Prayer (1942). In 1946, he composed an opera called Die stumme Serenade. He made a private recording of it, hoping to get it fully produced. On this recording, you can hear him humming as he played the piano.

During the day, he worked with people who helped arrange the music for the orchestra, like Hugo Friedhofer. He would make detailed notes about exactly what he wanted. He once told Friedhofer that he thought the opera Tosca was the best film score ever written. When the orchestra played, Korngold would conduct.

Personal Life

In 1924, Korngold married Luzi von Sonnenthal (1900–1962). She was an actress, writer, singer, and pianist. They had two sons, Ernst Werner and George Wolfgang. Luzi later wrote a book about her husband in 1967.

In 1943, Korngold became a naturalized citizen of the United States. The year 1945 was a big turning point for him. His father, who never really liked living in Los Angeles and didn't approve of Erich only writing film music, died after a long illness.

Around the same time, World War II ended in Europe. By this point, Korngold was becoming less happy with Hollywood and the types of films he was given. He really wanted to go back to writing music for concerts and the stage.

Death

Korngold lived in Toluca Lake, Los Angeles, close to Warner Brothers Studio. In October 1956, he had a severe stroke. Although he got somewhat better, he faced "many physical and emotional difficulties" before he died on November 29, 1957, at age 60. He was buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Legacy and Influence

For many years, Korngold's music didn't get much praise from critics. But in 1972, RCA Victor released an album called The Sea Hawk: The Classic Film Scores of Erich Wolfgang Korngold. This album featured parts of his film music. After this, more recordings of his operas and concert works came out. This led to performances of his Symphony in F-sharp major and other pieces.

The success of this album led to more recordings of classic film scores. These recordings are credited with bringing back symphonic music in films, especially in the Star Wars series. The music in Star Wars has clear influences from Korngold's style.

The American Film Institute ranked Korngold's score for The Adventures of Robin Hood as number 11 on their list of the greatest film scores. His music for these other films was also nominated:

• The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
• The Sea Hawk (1940)
• Kings Row (1942)
• Deception (1946)

In the 1990s, two full biographies about him were published. One was Jessica Duchen's Erich Wolfgang Korngold. The other was Brendan G. Carroll's Erich Korngold: The Last Prodigy. Carroll is the President of the International Korngold Society.

In 2019, the Bard Music Festival in New York celebrated Korngold with many performances and talks. They also published a book called Korngold and His World. Bard also put on the first U.S. production of his opera Das Wunder der Heliane in over ninety years.

Selected Recordings

• In 1973, Warner Brothers released special records with music from Korngold's films. One even had a rare recording of Korngold playing the main theme from Kings Row on the piano.
• A 1938 radio broadcast from KFWB with Korngold conducting music from The Adventures of Robin Hood, narrated by actor Basil Rathbone, was also released.
• In 1975, his opera Die tote Stadt was performed again in New York to sold-out crowds.

Many new digital recordings of Korngold's film scores and concert works have been made:

• His Violin Concerto and symphony were performed at The Proms in London for the first time in 2013.
• RCA Victor was the first to record a complete Korngold opera in stereo in 1975: Die tote Stadt.
• In 1980, CBS Masterworks recorded the opera Violanta.
• In 1993, Decca released a recording of Das Wunder der Heliane.
• Korngold's other two operas, Der Ring des Polykrates and Die Kathrin, have also been recorded.
• American conductor and pianist Alexander Frey has recorded all of Korngold's original piano works.
• In 2001, a documentary called Erich Wolfgang Korngold – The Adventures of a Wunderkind was released on DVD.
• The Korngold Violin Concerto was recorded in 2006 by Bramwell Tovey and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. This recording won a Grammy Award.
• Double bass player Joel Quarrington recorded a piece from Korngold's music for Much Ado About Nothing in 2008. He won a Juno Award for the album.
• In 2009, Korngold's Violin Concerto was released on the Naxos Records label.
• In 2022, Naxos released all of Korngold's incidental music, including music for a 1920 Vienna production of Much Ado About Nothing.

Selected Works

• Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor (1908)
• Piano Trio in D major, Op. 1 (1910)
• Piano Sonata No. 2 in E major, Op. 2 (1910)
• Schauspiel-Ouvertüre (Overture to a Play), Op. 4 (1911)
• Sinfonietta, Op. 5 (1912)
• Violin Sonata in G major, Op. 6 (1912)
• Der Ring des Polykrates, Op. 7 (opera) (1916)
• Violanta, Op. 8 (opera) (1916)
• Much Ado About Nothing, Op. 11 (Music for the play by Shakespeare) (1918–1919)
• Die tote Stadt, Op. 12 (opera) (1920)
• Quintet for two violins, viola, cello and piano in E major, Op. 15 (1920–21)
• String Quartet No. 1 in A major, Op. 16 (1923)
• Piano Concerto in C♯ for the left hand alone, Op. 17 (1923)
• Das Wunder der Heliane, Op. 20 (opera) (1927)
• String Quartet No. 2 in E♭ major, Op. 26 (1933)
• Die Kathrin, Op. 28 (opera) (1939)
• String Quartet No. 3 in D major, Op. 34 (1945)
• Violin Concerto, Op. 35 (1945)
• Die stumme Serenade, Op. 36 (musical comedy) (1954)
• Cello Concerto in C major, Op. 37 (1950)
• Symphonic Serenade in B♭ major for string orchestra, Op. 39 (1947–48)
• Symphony in F♯ major, Op. 40 (1947–52)

See also

In Spanish: Erich Wolfgang Korngold para niños