Franz Waxman facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Franz Waxman
Born	Franz Wachsmann (1906-12-24)December 24, 1906 Königshütte, Upper Silesia, German Empire (now Chorzów, Poland)
Died	February 24, 1967(1967-02-24) (aged 60) Los Angeles, California, United States
Era	20th century

Franz Waxman (born Franz Wachsmann; December 24, 1906 – February 24, 1967) was a famous composer and conductor. He was born in Germany and was of Jewish heritage. Waxman is best known for creating music for movies, also called film music.

Some of his most famous movie scores include Bride of Frankenstein, Rebecca, Sunset Boulevard, and Rear Window. He was nominated for the Academy Award twelve times. He won two Oscars in a row for his work on Sunset Boulevard and A Place in the Sun. He also won a Golden Globe Award for Sunset Boulevard. The famous composer Bernard Herrmann once said that Waxman's music for Taras Bulba was "the score of a lifetime."

Besides movie music, Franz Waxman also wrote music for concerts. This included a large musical work called an oratorio, Joshua (1959). He also wrote The Song of Terezín (1964–65). This special piece was for orchestra, chorus, and a children's chorus. It was based on poems written by children who were held in the Theresienstadt concentration camp during World War II. In 1947, Waxman started the Los Angeles Music Festival. He led many first-time performances of music by other film and concert composers at this festival.

Franz Waxman's Early Life and Career

Growing Up in Germany (1906–1934)

Franz Waxman was born Franz Wachsmann in Königshütte, Germany. This area is now called Chorzów in Poland. His parents were Jewish. When he was three years old, Waxman had a serious eye injury from boiling water. This accident affected his eyesight for the rest of his life.

In 1923, when he was 16, Waxman started studying music at the Dresden Music Academy. He learned about composing music and conducting orchestras. To pay for his studies, Waxman played popular music as a pianist. He played with a dance band called the Weintraub Syncopators. Through this, he met Frederick Hollander, who later introduced him to the famous conductor Bruno Walter.

Waxman began working as an orchestrator for German movies. This meant he arranged music for the orchestra to play. He worked on Hollander's music for the movie The Blue Angel (1930). One of his first important movie scores was for the film Liliom (1934). In that same year, Waxman was attacked by Nazi supporters in Berlin. Because of this, he and his wife left Germany. They first moved to Paris, and then soon after, they moved to Hollywood, USA.

Hollywood Success and Music Festival (1935–1949)

In Hollywood, Waxman met director James Whale. Whale was very impressed by Waxman's music for Liliom. Waxman's music for Whale's movie Bride of Frankenstein (1935) was a big hit. This success led him to become the Head of Music at Universal Studios. However, Waxman preferred composing music more than directing it. So, in 1936, he left Universal to become a composer at MGM.

Waxman wrote music for many movies over the next few years. His music for Alfred Hitchcock's film Rebecca (1940) made him very famous. Waxman often worked on horror and suspense movies. Rebecca was one of his best works in this type of film.

Rebecca was Hitchcock's first Hollywood movie. This meant he could use a full orchestra for the music. Waxman's music for Rebecca creates a mysterious and spooky mood. It often helps set the feeling of the movie.

In 1943, Waxman left MGM and joined Warner Bros.. There, he worked with other great film composers like Max Steiner and Erich Wolfgang Korngold. He then composed music for many more films. These included Mr. Skeffington (1944) and Objective, Burma! (1945). A key scene in Objective, Burma! used a special musical style called a fugue. This became one of Waxman's signature styles. He used it again in The Spirit of St. Louis (1957) and Taras Bulba (1962).

In 1947, Waxman started the Los Angeles Music Festival. He was the music director and conductor for this festival for the rest of his life. Waxman wanted the festival to bring "European cultural standards" to Los Angeles. He performed music by famous composers like Stravinsky. He also worked with his friends, like Miklós Rózsa, conducting his Violin Concerto.

Award-Winning Film Scores (1947–1959)

By 1947, Waxman had left Warner Bros. He decided to work as a freelance film composer. This meant he could choose only the movies he wanted to work on. Waxman composed the music for the film Sorry, Wrong Number (1948). The music for this movie uses a special form called a passacaglia at its most exciting part. This shows how creative Waxman was with using unusual musical forms in movies.

His music for Sunset Boulevard (1950) won him an Academy Award. The music is fast and powerful. It uses different techniques to show the main character Norma Desmond's growing madness. This includes low, pulsing notes and quick, repeated notes called trills. Some say that the opera Salome by Richard Strauss inspired the wild trills in Desmond's final crazy performance.

Waxman won his second Oscar in a row for A Place in the Sun (1951). While he was winning awards for movie music, Waxman also started writing serious music for concert halls. He wrote the Sinfonietta for Strings and Timpani in 1955. In 1959, he finished his oratorio Joshua. He wrote Joshua to remember his wife after she passed away. This work has strong Hebrew influences and shows Waxman's great skill as a composer.

Later Life and Legacy (1960–1967)

In his later years, Franz Waxman's fame as a composer continued to grow. Composer Christopher Palmer said that when Waxman died in 1967, he was "at the zenith of his powers," meaning he was at the peak of his abilities. Waxman's work in the 1960s was perhaps less frequent, but he did write the music for Taras Bulba in 1962. He also worked on music for several television shows, including Gunsmoke, in 1966.

One of his most important works was The Song of Terezín (1964–65). This piece was based on poems written by children who were held in the Nazi's Theresienstadt concentration camp. Waxman may have felt a deep connection to this topic because he himself had been attacked by Nazi supporters in Berlin in 1934. Whatever the reason, The Song of Terezín is seen as a very important work in his life. It is written for a mixed chorus, a children's chorus, a soprano singer, and an orchestra.

Franz Waxman passed away from cancer in February 1967, two months after his 60th birthday. He left behind a huge collection of music, including over 150 movie scores and many concert pieces.

Waxman's Musical Legacy

Some of Waxman's music has been released on recordings, both on old LP records and on CDs. In the early 1970s, Charles Gerhardt and the National Philharmonic Orchestra recorded some of Waxman's best movie music. Later, Australian composer and conductor Richard Mills recorded a collection of his film suites. The music for Taras Bulba has also been recorded by the City of Prague Philharmonic.

The American Film Institute (AFI) ranked Waxman's music for Sunset Boulevard as the 16th greatest film score of all time. His music for the following films was also considered for this list:

• Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)
• The Nun's Story (1959)
• Peyton Place (1957)
• The Philadelphia Story (1940)
• A Place in the Sun (1951)
• Rebecca (1940)
• Sayonara (1957)
• The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)
• Taras Bulba (1962)

Franz Waxman's Movie Music List

Selected Concert Works

• Carmen Fantasie, (1946) for violin and orchestra
• Tristan and Isolde Fantasy, for violin, piano and orchestra
• Four Scenes from Childhood (1948), for violin and piano (written for Jascha Heifetz on the occasion of the birth of his son Jay)
• Auld Lang Syne Variations (1947), for violin and chamber ensemble. Movements: "Eine kleine Nichtmusik," "Moonlight Concerto," "Chaconne a son gout," and "Hommage to Shostakofiev."
• The Song of Terezín (1964–65), based on poems by children of Theresienstadt concentration camp
• "Joshua" (1959), Oratorio

See also

In Spanish: Franz Waxman para niños