Erich Wolfgang Korngold
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Erich Wolfgang Korngold (May 29, 1897 – November 29, 1957) was a composer.
Born in an assimilated Jewish home in Brünn, Austria-Hungary (now Brno, Czech Republic), Erich was the son of the music critic Julius Korngold. He studied music under Alexander von Zemlinsky and Robert Fuchs. Mahler, upon meeting the young Erich, called him a "musical genius." Richard Strauss also spoke very highly of the youth.
He had success in Europe with his opera Die tote Stadt (1920), among other pieces, before moving in 1934 to the United States. There he composed a number of film scores that have been recognized ever since as classics of their kind. For the rest of his life he continued to write concert music in a rich, chromatic late Romantic style, with the Violin Concerto among his notable later works. In 1943, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He died in Los Angeles.
Despite his achievements and considerable popularity with the musical public, Korngold for years attracted almost no critical attention, and considerable critical disdain. Then in the 1990s two full-scale biographies of him appeared almost simultaneously. One is Jessica Duchen, Erich Wolfgang Korngold 1996 (Phaidon Press, 20th Century Composers series). The other is Brendan G. Carroll, Erich Korngold: The Last Prodigy (Amadeus Press, 1997); Carroll is President of the International Korngold Society.
Works
Orchestral and vocal works
- Songs of Farewell, Op. 14 (composed 1920; first performed 1921; orchestral version first performed 1923)
- Piano Concerto (composed 1923; first performed 1924)
- Songs of the Clown (1937)
- Violin Concerto (composed 1945; first performed 1947)
- Cello Concerto (1946, expanded from a work written for the 1946 film Deception)
- Symphony in F sharp major, Op.40 (composed 1947–52; first performed 1954)
Chamber works
- Piano Trio, op. 1 in D major (composed and first performed 1910)
- Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor with concluding passacaglia (composed 1908; first performed 1908–9)
- Piano Sonata No. 2, op. 2 in E major in three movements (composed 1910; first performed 1911)
- Violin Sonata, op. 6 in G major (composed 1912; first performed 1916)
- String Sextet, op. 10 in D major (first performed 1917)
- Quintet for two violins, viola, violoncello and piano in E Major, op. 15 (composed 1920–21; first performed 1923)
- String Quartet No.1, op.16 in A major (composed 1923; first performed 1924)
- Piano Sonata No. 3, op. 25 in C major (composed 1931; first performed 1932) ([link])
- String Quartet No.2, op.26 in E-flat major (composed 1933; first performed 1934)
- String Quartet No.3, op.34 in D major (composed 1945; first performed 1946)
Operas
- Der Ring des Polykrates (1916)
- Violanta (1916)
- Die Tote Stadt (1920)
- Das Wunder der Heliane (1927)
- Die Kathrin (1939)
Arrangements for operettas
- Eine Nacht in Venedig (A Night in Venice) (1923)
- Cagliostro in Wien (Cagliostro in Vienna) (1927)
- Rosen aus Florida (Roses from Florida) (1929)
- Die Fledermaus (The Bat) (1929)
- Walzer aus Wien (Waltzes from Vienna) (1930)
- Die schöne Helena (1931)
- Das Lied der Liebe (The Song of Love) (1931)
- Die geschiedene Frau (1933)
- Rosalinda (1942)
- The Great Waltz (1949)
Film soundtracks
- A Midsummer Night's Dream (after Mendelssohn) (1935)
- Captain Blood (1935)
- Give Us This Night (1936)
- Hearts Divided (1936)
- The Green Pastures (1936)
- Anthony Adverse (1936)
- The Prince And The Pauper (1937)
- Another Dawn (1937)
- The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
- Juarez (1939)
- The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
- The Sea Hawk (1940)
- The Sea Wolf (1941)
- King's Row (1942)
- The Constant Nymph (1943)
- Between Two Worlds (1944)
- Devotion (1946)
- Of Human Bondage (1946)
- Deception (1946)
- Escape Me Never (1947)
- Magic Fire (after Wagner) (1956)
External links
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