201-581: Maximilian Raoul Steiner (10 May 1888 – 28 December 1971) was an Austrian composer and conductor who emigrated to America and became one of Hollywood 's greatest musical composers. Steiner was a child prodigy who conducted his first operetta when he was twelve and became a full-time professional, proficient at composing, arranging, and conducting, by the time he was fifteen. Threatened with internment in England during World War I , he fled to Broadway ; and in 1929 he moved to Hollywood, where he became one of
402-601: A denazification tribunal in Munich. That same month he orchestrated Ruhe, meine Seele! , a song that he had originally composed in 1894. In December 1948, Strauss was hospitalized for several weeks after undergoing bladder surgery. His health rapidly deteriorated after that, and he conducted his last performance, the end of Act 2 of Der Rosenkavalier at the Prinzregententheater in Munich, during celebrations of his 85th birthday on 10 June 1949. On 15 August, he suffered
603-532: A singer in a choir , as a player in a youth orchestra , or as a performer on a solo instrument (e.g., piano , pipe organ , or violin ). Teens aspiring to be composers can continue their postsecondary studies in a variety of formal training settings, including colleges, conservatories, and universities. Conservatories , which are the standard musical training system in countries such as France and Canada, provide lessons and amateur orchestral and choral singing experience for composition students. Universities offer
804-404: A "spotting process" in which he and the director of the film would watch the film in its entirety and discuss where underscoring of diegetic music would begin and end. Another technique Steiner used was the mixing of realistic and background music. For example, a character humming to himself is realistic music, and the orchestra might play his tune, creating a background music effect that ties into
1005-467: A breeze, to avant-garde music from the 20th century that uses graphic notation , to text compositions such as Aus den Sieben Tagen , to computer programs that select sounds for musical pieces. Music that makes heavy use of randomness and chance is called aleatoric music , and is associated with contemporary composers active in the 20th century, such as John Cage , Morton Feldman , and Witold Lutosławski . The nature and means of individual variation of
1206-595: A celebrity conductor, and from 1919 to 1924 he was principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera . In 1920 he co-founded the Salzburg Festival with Max Reinhardt and the set designer Alfred Rolle. In 1924 Strauss's opera Intermezzo premiered at the Dresden Semperoper with both the music and libretto by Strauss. For this opera, Strauss wanted to move away from post-Wagnerian metaphysics which had been
1407-426: A composition professor , ensemble experience, and graduate courses in music history and music theory, along with one or two concerts featuring the composition student's pieces. A master's degree in music (referred to as an M.Mus. or M.M.) is often a required minimum credential for people who wish to teach composition at a university or conservatory. A composer with an M.Mus. could be an adjunct professor or instructor at
1608-496: A concert of lieder with his wife. During this trip he was working intensively on composing his third opera, Salome , based on Oscar Wilde 's 1891 play Salome . The work, which premiered in Dresden in 1905, became Strauss's greatest triumph in his career up to that point, and opera houses all over the world quickly began programing the opera. After Salome , Strauss had a string of critically successful operas which he created with
1809-708: A concert pianist, performing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 , for which he composed his own cadenzas . In December 1885, Bülow unexpectedly resigned from his post, and Strauss was left to lead the Meiningen Court Orchestra as interim principal conductor for the remainder of the artistic season through April 1886. He notably helped prepare the orchestra for the world premiere performance of Johannes Brahms 's Symphony No. 4 , which Brahms himself conducted. He also conducted his Symphony No. 2 for Brahms, who advised Strauss: "Your symphony contains too much playing about with themes. This piling up of many themes based on
2010-428: A concert platform on which they can show off. This is not the place ... If you get too decorative, you lose your appeal to the emotions. My theory is that the music should be felt rather than heard. Although some scholars cite Steiner as the inventor of the click track technique as such, he, possibly alongside Roy Webb , was the first to use the technique in film scoring. Carl W. Stalling and Scott Bradley used
2211-602: A conservative harmonic style, many of which are lost: two piano trios (1877 and 1878), a string quartet (1881), a piano sonata (1882), a cello sonata (1883), a piano quartet (1885), a violin sonata (1888), as well as a serenade (1882) and a longer suite (1884), both scored for double wind quintet plus two additional horns and contrabassoon. After 1890, Strauss composed very infrequently for chamber groups, his energies being almost completely absorbed with large-scale orchestral works and operas. Four of his chamber pieces are actually arrangements of portions of his operas, including
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#17328773648912412-466: A crucial influence on his son's developing taste, not least in Strauss's abiding love for the horn. His Horn Concerto No. 1 , is representative of this period and is a staple of the modern horn repertoire. In 1874, Strauss heard his first Wagner operas, Lohengrin and Tannhäuser . In 1878 he attended performances of Die Walküre and Siegfried in Munich, and in 1879 he attended performances of
2613-412: A culture eventually developed whereby faithfulness to the composer's written intention came to be highly valued (see, for example, Urtext edition ). This musical culture is almost certainly related to the high esteem (bordering on veneration) in which the leading classical composers are often held by performers. The historically informed performance movement has revived to some extent the possibility of
2814-432: A drunk Gypo sees a beautiful woman at the bar, insinuating he had mistaken her for Katie. Other musical themes included in the film score are an Irish folk song on French horns for Frankie McPhilip, a warm string theme for Dan and Gallagher and Mary McPhillip, and a sad theme on English horn with harp for the blind man.The most important motif in the film is the theme of betrayal relating to how Gypo betrays his friend Frankie:
3015-432: A given place is referred to as performance practice , whereas interpretation is generally used to mean the individual choices of a performer. Although a musical composition often has a single author, this is not always the case. A work of music can have multiple composers, which often occurs in popular music when a band collaborates to write a song, or in musical theatre , where the songs may be written by one person,
3216-587: A heart attack and he quietly died of kidney failure in his sleep shortly after 2 PM on 8 September 1949, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen , West Germany . From his death-bed, typical of his enduring sense of humour, he commented to his daughter-in-law Alice, "dying is just as I composed it in Tod und Verklärung ". Georg Solti , who had arranged Strauss's 85th birthday celebration, also directed an orchestra during Strauss's burial. The conductor later described how, during
3417-627: A library of audio recordings. When the Steiner collection went to Brigham Young University in 1981, the organization disbanded. The Max Steiner Memorial Society was formed in the United Kingdom continue the work of the Max Steiner Music Society. The American Film Institute respectively ranked Steiner's scores for Gone with the Wind (1939) and King Kong (1933) #2 and #13 on their list of
3618-547: A month to month contract as the head of the music department with promise of more work in the future and he agreed. Because the few composers in Hollywood were unavailable, Steiner composed his first film score for Cimarron . The score was well received and was partially credited for the success of the film. He turned down several offers to teach film scoring technique in Moscow and Peking in order to stay in Hollywood. In 1932, Steiner
3819-477: A musical director, arranger, orchestrator, and conductor of Broadway productions. These productions include operettas and musicals written by Victor Herbert , Jerome Kern , Vincent Youmans , and George Gershwin , among others. Steiner's credits include: George White's Scandals (1922) (director), Peaches (1923) (composer), and Lady, Be Good (1924) (conductor and orchestrator). At twenty-seven years old, Steiner became Fox Film 's musical director in 1915. At
4020-546: A new kind of virtuosity in its bravura orchestral manner. Strauss went on to write a series of increasingly ambitious tone poems: Death and Transfiguration (1889), Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks (1895), Also sprach Zarathustra (1896), Don Quixote (1897), Ein Heldenleben (1898), Symphonia Domestica (1903) and An Alpine Symphony (1911–1915). One commentator has observed of these works that "no orchestra could exist without his tone poems, written to celebrate
4221-426: A paradigm shift in the scoring of fantasy and adventure films . The score was an integral part of the film, because it added realism to an unrealistic film plot. The studio's bosses were initially skeptical about the need for an original score; however, since they disliked the film's contrived special effects, they let Steiner try to improve the film with music. The studio suggested using old tracks in order to save on
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#17328773648914422-441: A performer of Western popular music creates a "cover" of an earlier song, there is little expectation of exact rendition of the original; nor is exact faithfulness necessarily highly valued (with the possible exception of "note-for-note" transcriptions of famous guitar solos ). In Western art music, the composer typically orchestrates their compositions, but in musical theatre and pop music, songwriters may hire an arranger to do
4623-590: A period. Goebbels wrote in his diary: Unfortunately we still need him, but one day we shall have our own music and then we shall have no further need of this decadent neurotic. Nevertheless, because of Strauss's international eminence, in November 1933 he was appointed to the post of president of the newly founded Reichsmusikkammer , the Reich Music Chamber. Strauss, who had lived through numerous political regimes and had no interest in politics, decided to accept
4824-489: A piano reduction of the orchestral part himself, with his teacher Benno Walter as soloist. The same year he entered Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich , where he studied philosophy and art history, but not music. He left a year later to go to Berlin, where he studied briefly before securing a post with the Meiningen Court Orchestra as assistant conductor to Hans von Bülow , who had been enormously impressed by
5025-473: A range of composition programs, including bachelor's degrees, Master of Music degrees, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees. As well, there are a variety of other training programs such as classical summer camps and festivals, which give students the opportunity to get coaching from composers. Bachelor's degrees in composition (referred to as B.Mus. or B.M) are four-year programs that include individual composition lessons, amateur orchestra/choral experience, and
5226-536: A scene that is played a shade too slowly which I might be able to quicken with a little animated music; or, to a scene that is too fast, I may be able to give a little more feeling by using slower music. Or perhaps the music can clarify a character's emotion, such as intense suffering, which is not demanded or fully revealed by a silent close-up. Steiner often followed his instincts and his own reasoning in creating film scores. For example, when he chose to go against Selznick's instruction to use classical music for Gone with
5427-453: A sequence of courses in music history, music theory, and liberal arts courses (e.g., English literature), which give the student a more well-rounded education. Usually, composition students must complete significant pieces or songs before graduating. Not all composers hold a B.Mus. in composition; composers may also hold a B.Mus. in music performance or music theory. Master of Music degrees (M.mus.) in composition consists of private lessons with
5628-519: A show put on by his father. Steiner's parents sent him to the Vienna University of Technology , but he expressed little interest in scholastic subjects. He enrolled in the Imperial Academy of Music in 1904, where, due to his precocious musical talents and private tutoring by Robert Fuchs , and Gustav Mahler , he completed a four-year course in only one year, winning himself a gold medal from
5829-662: A sonata used in Katharine Hepburn 's first film, Bill of Divorcement (1932). RKO producers, including Selznick, often came to him when they had problems with films, treating him as if he were a music "doctor". Steiner was asked to compose a score for Of Human Bondage (1934), which originally lacked music. He added musical touches to significant scenes. Director John Ford called on Steiner to score his film, The Lost Patrol (1934), which lacked tension without music. John Ford hired Steiner again to compose for his next film, The Informer (1935), before Ford began production of
6030-416: A special measuring machine and then a cue sheet created which gives me the exact time, to a split second, in which an action takes place, or a word is spoken. While these cue sheets are being made, I begin to work on themes for the different characters and scenes, but without regard to the required timing. During this period I also digest what I have seen, and try to plan the music for this picture. There may be
6231-546: A successful career and had a good "melodic sense". Now referred to as the "father of film music" or the "dean of film music", Steiner had written or arranged music for over three hundred films by the end of his career. George Korngold , son of Erich Korngold, produced the Classic Film Score Series albums which included the music of Steiner. Albert K. Bender established the Max Steiner Music Society with international membership, publishing journals and newsletters and
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6432-459: A tendency to cluster in specific cities throughout history. Based on over 12,000 prominent composers listed in Grove Music Online and using word count measurement techniques, the most important cities for classical music can be quantitatively identified. Paris has been the main hub for western classical music in all periods. It was ranked fifth in the 15th and 16th centuries but first in
6633-490: A third clarinet in C, bassett horn, bass clarinet, and contrabassoon. Strauss wrote two early symphonies: Symphony No. 1 (1880) and Symphony No. 2 (1884). However, Strauss's style began to truly develop and change when, in 1885, he met Alexander Ritter , a noted composer and violinist, and the husband of one of Richard Wagner's nieces. It was Ritter who persuaded Strauss to abandon the conservative style of his youth and begin writing tone poems . He also introduced Strauss to
6834-479: A tragic scene or vice versa." Three of Max Steiner's scores won the Academy Award for Best Original Score : The Informer (1935), Now, Voyager (1942), and Since You Went Away (1944). Steiner received a certificate for The Informer . He originally received plaques for Now, Voyager and Since You Went Away , but those plaques were replaced with Academy Award statuettes in 1946. As an individual, Steiner
7035-510: A triad, which differ from one another only in rhythm, has no value." Brahms' music, like Wagner's, also left a tremendous impression upon Strauss, and he often referred to this time of his life as his 'Brahmsschwärmerei' ('Brahms adoration') during which several his compositions clearly show Brahms' influence, including the Piano Quartet in C minor , Op. 13 (1883–84), Wandrers Sturmlied (1884) and Burleske (1885–86)." In 1885 Strauss met
7236-676: A university, but it would be difficult in the 2010s to obtain a tenure track professor position with this degree. To become a tenure track professor, many universities require a doctoral degree . In composition, the key doctoral degree is the Doctor of Musical Arts , rather than the PhD ; the PhD is awarded in music, but typically for subjects such as musicology and music theory . Doctor of Musical Arts (referred to as D.M.A., DMA, D.Mus.A. or A.Mus.D) degrees in composition provide an opportunity for advanced study at
7437-635: A variety of ways. In much popular music, the composer writes a composition , and it is then transmitted via oral tradition . Conversely, in some Western classical traditions music may be composed aurally—i.e. "in the mind of the musician"—and subsequently written and passed through written documents . In the development of European classical music , the function of composing music initially did not have much greater importance than that of performing it. The preservation of individual compositions did not receive enormous attention and musicians generally had no qualms about modifying compositions for performance. In
7638-487: A very difficult time breaking through and getting the credit they deserve." During the Medieval eras, most of the art music was created for liturgical (religious) purposes and due to the views about the roles of women that were held by religious leaders, few women composed this type of music, with the nun Hildegard von Bingen being among the exceptions. Most university textbooks on the history of music discuss almost exclusively
7839-619: A year before his death, he was cleared of any wrongdoing by a denazification tribunal in Munich. Strauss was born on 11 June 1864 in Munich , the son of Josephine (née Pschorr) and Franz Strauss , who was the principal horn player at the Court Opera in Munich and a professor at the Königliche Musikschule . His mother was the daughter of Georg Pschorr, a financially prosperous brewer from Munich . Strauss began his musical studies at
8040-867: Is a good example of Steiner's handling of typical scenes of the Western genre. Steiner used a "lifting, loping melody" which reflected the movement and sounds of wagons, horses, and cattle. Steiner showed a love for combining Westerns and romance, as he did in They Died with Their Boots On (1941), also starring Flynn and de Havilland. The Searchers (1956) is, today, considered his greatest Western. Although his contract ended in 1953, Steiner returned to Warner Bros. in 1958 and scored several films such as Band of Angels , Marjorie Morningstar , and John Paul Jones , and later ventured into television. Steiner still preferred large orchestras and leitmotif techniques during this part of his career. Steiner's pace slowed significantly in
8241-429: Is heavy and loud, but some of the music is a bit lighter. For example, when the ship sails into Skull Island , Steiner keeps the music calm and quiet with a small amount of texture in the harps to help characterize the ship as it cautiously moves through the misty waters. Steiner received a bonus from his work, as Cooper credited 25 percent of the film's success to the film score. Before he died, Steiner admitted King Kong
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8442-578: Is remarked in the part of the film when Frankie confronts Gypo looking at his reward for arrest poster. Steiner uses minor " Mickey Mousing " techniques in the film. Through this score, Steiner showed the potential of film music, as he attempted the show the internal struggles inside of Gypo's mind through the mixing of different themes such as the Irish "Circassian Circle", the "blood-money" motif, and Frankie's theme. The score concludes with an original "Sancta Maria" by Steiner. Some writers have erroneously referred to
8643-404: Is termed "interpretation". Different performers' interpretations of the same work of music can vary widely, in terms of the tempos that are chosen and the playing or singing style or phrasing of the melodies. Composers and songwriters who present their music are interpreting, just as much as those who perform the music of others. The standard body of choices and techniques present at a given time and
8844-589: The Baroque music era, many composers were employed by aristocrats or as church employees. During the Classical period , composers began to organize more public concerts for profit, which helped composers to be less dependent on aristocratic or church jobs. This trend continued in the Romantic music era in the 19th century. In the 20th century, composers began to seek employment as professors in universities and conservatories. In
9045-723: The Bavarian State Opera where he worked as third conductor from 1886 to 1889. He then served as principal conductor of the Deutsches Nationaltheater und Staatskapelle Weimar from 1889 to 1894. In 1894 he made his conducting debut at the Bayreuth Festival , conducting Wagner's Tannhäuser with his wife, soprano Pauline de Ahna , singing Elisabeth. He then returned to the Bavarian State Opera, this time as principal conductor, from 1894 to 1898, after which he
9246-544: The Bayreuth Festival to hear his father perform in the world premiere of Wagner's Parsifal ; after which surviving letters to his father and to Thuille detail his seemingly negative impression of Wagner and his music. In later life, Strauss said that he deeply regretted the conservative hostility to Wagner's progressive works. In early 1882, in Vienna, Strauss gave the first performance of his Violin Concerto in D minor , playing
9447-563: The Berlin Philharmonic in 1894–1895. In 1897, the Strausses' only child, their son Franz, was born. In 1906, Strauss purchased a block of land at Garmisch-Partenkirchen and had a villa ( Strauss-Villa [ de ] ) built there with the down payments from the publisher Adolph Fürstner for his opera Salome , residing there until his death. Strauss left the Bavarian State Opera in 1898 when he became principal conductor of
9648-622: The Berliner Tonkünstlerverein . He also served as editor of the book series Die Musik . He used all of these posts to champion contemporary German composers like Mahler . His own compositions were becoming increasingly popular, and the first major orchestra to perform an entire concert of only his music was the Vienna Philharmonic in 1901. In 1903 Strauss Festivals dedicated to his music were established in London and Heidelberg. At
9849-558: The Daphne-Etude for solo violin and the String Sextet, which is the overture to his final opera Capriccio . His last independent chamber work, an Allegretto in E major for violin and piano, dates from 1948. He also composed two large-scale works for wind ensemble during this period: Sonatina No. 1 "From an Invalid's Workshop" (1943) and Sonatina No. 2 "Happy Workshop" (1946)—both scored for double wind quintet plus two additional horns,
10050-483: The Four Last Songs , which deal with the subject of dying. The last one, "Im Abendrot" (At Sunset), ends with the line "Is this perhaps death?" The question is not answered in words, but instead Strauss quotes the "transfiguration theme" from his earlier tone poem Death and Transfiguration — meant to symbolize the transfiguration and fulfilment of the soul after death. In June 1948, he was cleared of any wrong-doing by
10251-516: The Gauleiter of Vienna. However, Strauss was unable to protect his Jewish relatives completely; in early 1944, while Strauss was away, Alice and her son Franz were abducted by the Gestapo and imprisoned for two nights. Strauss's personal intervention at this point saved them, and he was able to take them back to Garmisch, where the two remained under house arrest until the end of the war. Strauss completed
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#173287736489110452-521: The National Philharmonic Orchestra in an RCA Victor album of highlights from Steiner's career, titled Now Voyager . He also won a Golden Globe for Best Original Score for Life with Father (1947). Additional selections of Steiner scores were included on other RCA classic film albums during the early 1970s. The quadraphonic recordings were later digitally remastered for Dolby surround sound and released on CD . In 1975, Steiner
10653-652: The Reichsmusikkammer and principal conductor of the Bayreuth Festival. The latter role he accepted after conductor Arturo Toscanini had resigned from the position in protest against the Nazi Party . These positions have led some to criticize Strauss for his seeming collaboration with the Nazis. However, Strauss's daughter-in-law, Alice Grab Strauss [née von Hermannswörth], was Jewish and much of his apparent acquiescence to
10854-519: The Renaissance music era, composers typically worked for aristocratic employers. While aristocrats typically required composers to produce a significant amount of religious music, such as Masses , composers also penned many non-religious songs on the topic of courtly love : the respectful, reverential love of a great woman from afar. Courtly love songs were very popular during the Renaissance era. During
11055-655: The Staatskapelle Berlin at the Berlin State Opera in the fall of 1898; a position he remained in for 15 years. By this time in his career, he was in constant demand as a guest conductor internationally and enjoyed celebrity status as a conductor; particularly in the works of Wagner , Mozart , and Liszt in addition to his own compositions. He became president of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Musikverein in 1901, and that same year became leader of
11256-696: The Theresienstadt concentration camp to argue, albeit unsuccessfully, for the release of Alice's grandmother, Paula Neumann. In the end, Neumann and 25 other relatives were murdered in the camps. While Alice's mother, Marie von Grab, was safe in Lucerne, Switzerland, Strauss also wrote several letters to the SS pleading for the release of her children who were also held in camps; his letters were ignored. In 1942, Strauss moved with his family back to Vienna, where Alice and her children could be protected by Baldur von Schirach ,
11457-497: The Vienna Opera from 1908 to 1911. Although he took composition classes from Weingartner, as a young boy, Steiner always wanted to be a great conductor. Between 1907 and 1914, Steiner traveled between Britain and Europe to work on theatrical productions. Steiner first entered the world of professional music when he was fifteen. He wrote and conducted the operetta The Beautiful Greek Girl , but his father refused to stage it saying it
11658-643: The libretti were poor, with a fairly simple style, the music often relying too heavily on the Viennese waltz style. As a result, when Steiner started writing pieces for the theater, he was interested in writing libretto as his teacher had, but had minimal success. However, many of his future film scores such as Dark Victory (1939), In This Our Life (1941), and Now, Voyager (1942) had frequent waltz melodies as influenced by Eysler. According to author of Max Steiner's "Now, Voyager" Kate Daubney, Steiner may also have been influenced by Felix Weingartner who conducted
11859-400: The orchestration of the accompaniment parts and writing of the overture is done by an orchestrator, and the words may be written by a third person. A piece of music can also be composed with words, images, or, in the 20th and 21st centuries, computer programs that explain or notate how the singer or musician should create musical sounds. Examples of this range from wind chimes jingling in
12060-410: The " Tara " theme for the O'Hara family plantation. Steiner explains Scarlett's deep-founded love for her home is why "the 'Tara' theme begins and ends with the picture and permeates the entire score". The film went on to win ten Academy Awards, although not for Best Original Score, which instead went to Herbert Stothart for The Wizard of Oz . The score of Gone with the Wind is ranked #2 by AFI as
12261-472: The "blood-money" motif. The theme is heard as the Captain throws the money on the table after Frankie is killed. The theme is a four note descending tune on harp; the first interval is the tritone . As the men are deciding who will be the executioner, the motif is repeated quietly and perpetually to establish Gypo's guilt and the musical motif is synchronized with the dripping of water in the prison. As it appears in
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#173287736489112462-427: The 17th to 20th centuries inclusive. London was the second most meaningful city: eighth in the 15th century, seventh in the 16th, fifth in the 17th, second in the 18th and 19th centuries, and fourth in the 20th century. Rome topped the rankings in the 15th century, dropped to second in the 16th and 17th centuries, eighth in the 18th century, ninth in the 19th century but back at sixth in the 20th century. Berlin appears in
12663-421: The 1930s and 1940s "Golden Age" of film music as influences of his work. In fact, George Lucas wanted Williams to use the scores of Steiner and Korngold as influences for the music for Star Wars , despite the rarity of grandiose film music and the lack of use of leitmotifs and full orchestrations during the 1970s. Often compared to his contemporary Erich Wolfgang Korngold, his rival and friend at Warner Bros. ,
12864-502: The 1940s. The Letter is set in Singapore , the tale of murder begins with the loud main musical theme during the credits, which sets the tense and violent mood of the film. The main theme characterizes Leslie, the main character, by her tragic passion. The main theme is heard in the confrontation between Leslie and the murdered man's wife in the Chinese shop. Steiner portrays this scene through
13065-480: The 2005 remake of King Kong , stated that he was influenced by Steiner's score; his descending theme when Kong first appears is reminiscent of Steiner's score. In fact, during the tribal sacrifice scene of the 2005 version, the music playing is from Steiner's score of the same scene in the 1933 version . Composer of the Star Wars film score, John Williams cited Steiner as well as other European emigrant composers in
13266-422: The 20th century, composers also earned money from the sales of their works, such as sheet music publications of their songs or pieces or as sound recordings of their works. In 1993, American musicologist Marcia Citron asked, "Why is music composed by women so marginal to the standard 'classical' repertoire?" Citron "examines the practices and attitudes that have led to the exclusion of women composers from
13467-459: The 25 greatest film scores . His scores for the following films were also nominated for the list: Composer A composer is a person who writes music . The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music , or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. The term is descended from Latin , compōnō ; literally "one who puts together". The earliest use of
13668-651: The Academy Award in 1936, the academy does not officially consider Steiner as the individual winner of the award, as Steiner accepted the award on behalf of RKO 's music department of which he was the department head. Steiner's 20 nominations make him the third most nominated individual in the history of the scoring categories, behind John Williams and Alfred Newman . The United States Postal Service issued its "American Music Series" stamps on 16 September 1999, to pay tribute to renowned Hollywood composers, including Steiner. After Steiner's death, Charles Gerhardt conducted
13869-500: The Bavarian State Opera was not a happy one. With the death of Ludwig II of Bavaria in June 1886, the opera house was not as well financially supported by his successor Otto of Bavaria which meant that much of the more ambitious and expensive repertoire that he wanted to stage, such as Wagner's operas, were unfeasible. The opera assignments he was given, works by Boieldieu, Auber and Donizetti, bored him, and to make matters worse Hermann Levi,
14070-659: The Bayreuth Festival, conducting Wagner's Tannhäuser with Pauline singing Elisabeth. Just prior to their marriage the following September, Strauss left his post in Weimar when he was appointed Kapellmeister, or first conductor, of the Bavarian State Opera where he became responsible for the operas of Wagner. While working in Munich for the next four years he had his largest creative period of tone poem composition, producing Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks (1895), Also sprach Zarathustra (1896), Don Quixote (1897), and Ein Heldenleben (1898). He also served as principal conductor of
14271-516: The Bell Tolls (1943), so she couldn't re-film the section with Steiner's song. Stuck with "As Time Goes By", Steiner embraced the song and made it the center theme of his score. Steiner's score for Casablanca was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, losing to The Song of Bernadette (1943). Steiner received his third and final Oscar in 1944 for Since You Went Away (1944). Steiner actually first composed
14472-455: The French play Salomé by Oscar Wilde . This was followed by several critically acclaimed operas with librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal : Elektra , Der Rosenkavalier , Ariadne auf Naxos , Die Frau ohne Schatten , Die ägyptische Helena , and Arabella . His last operas, Daphne , Friedenstag , Die Liebe der Danae and Capriccio used libretti written by Joseph Gregor ,
14673-406: The Irish historical setting and influence of the film. The theme is not heard consistently throughout the film and serves rather as a framework for the other melodic motifs heard throughout different parts of the film. The score for this film is made up of many different themes which characterize the different personages and situations in the film. Steiner helps portray the genuine love Katie has for
14874-735: The Montreux Palace hotel in Montreux. There they met the Swiss music critic Willy Schuh , who became Strauss's biographer. Short of money, in 1947 Strauss embarked on his last international tour, a three-week trip to London, in which he conducted several of his tone poems and excerpts of his operas, and was present during a complete staging of Elektra by the BBC . The trip was a critical success and provided him and his wife with some much-needed money. From May to September 1948, just before his death, Strauss composed
15075-583: The Nazi Party was done to save her life and the lives of her children (his Jewish grandchildren). He was also apolitical, and took the Reichsmusikkammer post to advance copyright protections for composers, attempting as well to preserve performances of works by banned composers such as Mahler and Felix Mendelssohn . Further, Strauss insisted on using a Jewish librettist, Stefan Zweig , for his opera Die schweigsame Frau which ultimately led to his firing from
15276-480: The Nazi regime. Strauss attempted to ignore Nazi bans on performances of works by Debussy, Mahler, and Mendelssohn. He also continued to work on a comic opera, Die schweigsame Frau , with his Jewish friend and librettist Stefan Zweig . When the opera was premiered in Dresden in 1935, Strauss insisted that Zweig's name appear on the theatrical billing, much to the ire of the Nazi regime. Hitler and Goebbels avoided attending
15477-473: The No. 1 film composer." Wagner was the inventor of the leitmotif , and this influenced Steiner's composition. In his music, Steiner relied heavily on leitmotifs. He would also quote pre-existing, recognizable melodies in his scores, such as national anthems. Steiner was known and often criticized for his use of Mickey Mousing or "catching the action". This technique is characterized by the precise matching of music with
15678-513: The Reichsmusikkammer and Bayreuth. His opera Friedenstag , which premiered just before the outbreak of World War II , was a thinly veiled criticism of the Nazi Party that attempted to persuade Germans to abandon violence for peace. Thanks to his influence, his daughter-in-law was placed under protected house arrest during the war, but despite extensive efforts he was unable to save dozens of his in-laws from being killed in Nazi concentration camps . In 1948,
15879-408: The Strauss home. The Strauss family was frequently joined in their home for music making, meals, and other activities by the orphaned composer and music theorist Ludwig Thuille who was viewed as an adopted member of the family. Strauss's father taught his son the music of Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart, and Schubert. His father further assisted his son with his musical composition during the 1870s and into
16080-804: The Viennese theatre historian. Other well-known works by Strauss include two symphonies, lieder (especially the Four Last Songs ), the Violin Concerto in D minor , the Horn Concerto No. 1 , Horn Concerto No. 2 , his Oboe Concerto and other instrumental works such as Metamorphosen . A prominent conductor in Western Europe and the Americas, Strauss enjoyed quasi-celebrity status as his compositions became standards of orchestral and operatic repertoire. He
16281-411: The Western world, before the Romantic period of the 19th century, composition almost always went side by side with a combination of either singing, instructing and theorizing . Even in a conventional Western piece of instrumental music, in which all of the melodies , chords , and basslines are written out in musical notation, the performer has a degree of latitude to add artistic interpretation to
16482-555: The Wind (1939), which ranked second on the AFI 's list of best American film scores, and is the film score for which he is best known. He was also the first recipient of the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score , which he won for his score for Life with Father . Steiner was a frequent collaborator with some of the best known film directors in history, including Michael Curtiz , John Ford , and William Wyler , and scored many of
16683-470: The Wind. Steiner stated: It is my conviction that familiar music, however popular, does not aid the underlying score of a dramatic picture. I believe that, while the American people are more musically minded than any other nation in the world, they are still not entirely familiar with all the old and new masters' works ... Of course there are many in our industry who disagree with my viewpoint. Scores from
16884-461: The academy at the age of fifteen. He studied various instruments including violin , double bass , organ , and trumpet . His preferred and best instrument was the piano, but he acknowledged the importance of being familiar with what the other instruments could do. He also had courses in harmony , counterpoint , and composition . Along with Mahler and Fuchs, he cited his teachers as Felix Weingartner and Edmund Eysler . The music of Edmund Eysler
17085-568: The action to the music than composing the melodies and motifs, as creating and composing came easy to him. With Steiner's background in his European musical training largely consisting of operas and operettas and his experience with stage music, he brought with him a slew of old-fashioned techniques he contributed to the development of the Hollywood film score. Although Steiner has been called, "the man who invented modern film music", he himself claimed that, "the idea originated with Richard Wagner ... If Wagner had lived in this century, he would have been
17286-485: The actions or gestures on screen. Steiner was criticized for using this technique too frequently. For example, in Of Human Bondage , Steiner created a limping effect with his music whenever the clubfooted character walked. One of the important principles that guided Steiner whenever possible was his rule: Every character should have a theme. "Steiner creates a musical picture that tells us all we need to know about
17487-504: The age of four, studying piano with August Tombo who was the harpist in the Munich Court Orchestra. Soon after, he began attending the rehearsals of the orchestra, and began getting lessons in music theory and orchestration from the ensemble's assistant conductor. He wrote his first composition at the age of six, and continued to write music almost until his death. In 1872, he started receiving violin instruction from Benno Walter ,
17688-502: The age of twelve, The Belle of New York , which allowed Steiner to gain early recognition by the operetta's author, Gustave Kerker . Steiner's mother Marie was a dancer in stage productions put on by his grandfather when she was young, but later became involved in the restaurant business. His godfather was the composer Richard Strauss who strongly influenced Steiner's future work. Steiner often credited his family for inspiring his early musical abilities. As early as six years old, Steiner
17889-412: The audience would wonder where the music was coming from. As a result, Steiner noted, "They began to add a little music here and there to support love scenes or silent sequences." But in scenes where music might be expected, such as a nightclub , ballroom , or theater, the orchestra fit in more naturally and was used often. In order to justify the addition of music in scenes where it wasn't expected, music
18090-602: The autumn of 1887. Also happily, Strauss met his future wife, soprano Pauline de Ahna , in 1887. De Ahna was then a voice student at the Munich Musikschule (now the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich ), but soon switched to private lessons with Strauss who became her principal teacher. In May 1889 Strauss left his post with the Bavarian State Opera after being appointed Kapellmeister to Charles Alexander, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach in Weimar, beginning in
18291-424: The autumn of 1889. During the summer of 1889 he served as the assistant conductor of the Bayreuth Festival during which time he befriended Cosima Wagner who became a longterm close friend. Pauline De Ahna went with Strauss to Weimar and he later married her on 10 September 1894. She was famous for being irascible, garrulous, eccentric and outspoken, but to all appearances the marriage was essentially happy, and she
18492-532: The blackest days of World War II, the piece expresses Strauss's mourning of, among other things, the destruction of German culture—including the bombing of every great opera house in the nation. At the end of the war, Strauss wrote in his private diary: The most terrible period of human history is at an end, the twelve year reign of bestiality, ignorance and anti-culture under the greatest criminals, during which Germany's 2000 years of cultural evolution met its doom. In April 1945, American soldiers occupying Germany at
18693-411: The boys or their mother being sent to concentration camps . Frustrated that he could no longer work with Zweig as his librettist, Strauss turned to Joseph Gregor , a Viennese theatre historian, at Gregor's request. The first opera they worked on together was Daphne , but it ultimately became the second of their operas to be premiered. Their first work to be staged was in 1938, when the entire nation
18894-504: The character." To accomplish this, Steiner synchronized the music, the narrative action, and the leitmotif as a structural framework for his compositions. It may be added that Steiner's leitmotifs were more direct and less subtle than those by his contemporary Austrian-emigré competitors in the Hollywood scoring market, such as Erich Korngold or Ernst Toch . Unlike the latter two, Steiner took on large staff to help with orchestration, allowing him to multiply his output. A good example of how
19095-563: The characters and the music worked together is best exemplified by his score for The Glass Menagerie (1950): Another film which exemplifies the synchronizing of character and music is The Fountainhead (1949): The character of Roark, an idealist architect (played by Gary Cooper ): Steiner's theme for the hero is fraught with a true emotion and a genuine idealism and aspiration. It surges upward in 'masculine' style, whilst Roark's mistress's theme wends downwards in curves of typically feminine shapeliness ... He above, she traveling up in
19296-427: The characters in the film. The theme for Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) is beguiling and ironic, with a playful grace note at the end of the motif, portrayed mixed between major and minor. At the end of the film, his theme is played fully in major chords and finishes by abruptly ending the chord as the film terminates (this was an unusual film music practice in Hollywood at the time). According to Christopher Palmer ,
19497-445: The classics were sometimes harmful to a picture, especially when they drew unwanted attention to themselves by virtue of their familiarity. For example, films like 2001: A Space Odyssey , The Sting , and Manhattan , had scores with recognizable tunes instead of having a preferred "subliminal" effect. Steiner, was among the first to acknowledge the need for original scores for each film. Steiner felt knowing when to start and stop
19698-593: The composer Alexander Ritter who was a violinist in the Meiningen orchestra and the husband of one of Richard Wagner 's nieces. An avid champion of the ideals of Wagner and Franz Liszt , Ritter had a tremendous impact on the trajectory of Strauss's work as a composer from 1885 onward. Ritter convinced Strauss to abandon his more conservative style of composing and embrace the "music of the future" by modeling his compositional style on Wagner and Liszt. He further influenced Strauss by engaging him in studies and conversations on
19899-472: The composer I take off my hat; to Strauss the man I put it back on again", when Strauss had accepted the presidency of the Reichsmusikkammer . Much of Strauss's motivation in his conduct during the Third Reich was, however, to protect his Jewish daughter-in-law Alice and his Jewish grandchildren from persecution. Both of his grandsons were bullied at school, but Strauss used his considerable influence to prevent
20100-572: The composer – who had grown old, tired, and a little jaded – into focus. The major works of the last years of Strauss's life, written in his late 70s and 80s, include, among others, his Horn Concerto No. 2 , Metamorphosen , his Oboe Concerto , his Duet concertino for clarinet and bassoon , and his Four Last Songs . In June 1945, after finishing Metamorphosen , Strauss completed his Sonatina No 2 in E-flat major (" Fröhliche Werkstatt ") for 16 wind instruments, which he had begun in early 1944; at
20301-407: The composition of Metamorphosen , a work for 23 solo strings, in 1945. The title and inspiration for the work comes from a profoundly self-examining poem by Goethe , which Strauss had considered setting as a choral work. Generally regarded as one of the masterpieces of the string repertoire, Metamorphosen contains Strauss's most sustained outpouring of tragic emotion. Conceived and written during
20502-439: The cost of the film; however, King Kong producer Merian C. Cooper asked Steiner to score the film and said he would pay for the orchestra. Steiner took advantage of this offer and used an eighty-piece orchestra, explaining the film "was made for music". According to Steiner, "it was the kind of film that allowed you to do anything and everything, from weird chords and dissonances to pretty melodies." Steiner additionally scored
20703-475: The cue as featuring Franz Schubert 's " Ave Maria ". In 1937, Steiner was hired by Frank Capra to conduct Dimitri Tiomkin 's score for Lost Horizon (1937) as a safeguard in case Steiner needed to rewrite the score by an inexperienced Tiomkin; however, according to Hugo Friedhofer , Tiomkin specifically asked for Steiner, preferring him over the film studio's then music director. Selznick set up his own production company in 1936 and recruited Steiner to write
20904-517: The definition of composition is broad enough for the creation of popular and traditional music songs and instrumental pieces and to include spontaneously improvised works like those of free jazz performers and African percussionists such as Ewe drummers . During the Middle Ages, most composers worked for the Catholic church and composed music for religious services such as plainchant melodies. During
21105-479: The director of the Munich Court Orchestra and his father's cousin, and at 11 began five years of compositional study with Friedrich Wilhelm Meyer. In 1882 he graduated from the Ludwigsgymnasium and afterwards attended only one year at the University of Munich in 1882–1883. In addition to his formal teachers, Strauss was profoundly influenced musically by his father who made instrumental music-making central to
21306-511: The early 1880s, providing advice, comments, and criticisms. His father also provided support by showcasing his son's compositions in performance with the Wilde Gung'l, an amateur orchestra he conducted from 1875 to 1896. Many of his early symphonic compositions were written for this ensemble. His compositions at this time were indebted to the style of Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn , true to his father's teachings. His father undoubtedly had
21507-401: The emotional content of scenes. Steiner ignored Selznick's wishes and composed an entirely new score. Selznick's opinion about using original scoring may have changed due to the overwhelming reaction to the film, nearly all of which contained Steiner's music. A year later, he even wrote a letter emphasizing the value of original film scores. The most well known of Steiner's themes for the score is
21708-419: The end of the film, the theme is played at a fortissimo volume as Gypo staggers into the church, ending the climax with the clap of the cymbals, indicating Gypo's penitence, no longer needing to establish his guilt. Silent film mannerisms are still seen in Steiner's composition such as when actions or consequences are accompanied by a sforzato chord immediately before it, followed by silence. An example of this
21909-499: The end of the score he wrote "To the Manes of the divine Mozart at the end of a life full of thankfulness". Like those of most Germans, Strauss's bank accounts were frozen, and many of his assets seized by American forces. Now elderly and with very few resources left, Strauss and his wife left Germany for Switzerland in October 1945 where they settled in a hotel outside Zurich, and later at
22110-454: The end of the war arrived at Strauss's Garmisch estate. As Strauss descended the staircase, he announced to Lieutenant Milton Weiss of the U.S. Army, "I am Richard Strauss, the composer of Rosenkavalier and Salome ." Lt. Weiss, who was also a musician, nodded in recognition. An "Off Limits" sign was subsequently placed on the lawn to protect Strauss. The American oboist John de Lancie , who knew Strauss's orchestral writing for oboe thoroughly,
22311-448: The entire Ring Cycle , Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg , and Tristan und Isolde . The influence of Wagner's music on Strauss's style was to be profound, but at first his musically conservative father forbade him to study it. Indeed, in the Strauss household, the music of Richard Wagner was viewed with deep suspicion, and it was not until the age of 16 that Strauss was able to obtain a score of Tristan und Isolde . In 1882 he went to
22512-423: The essays of Wagner and the writings of Arthur Schopenhauer . Strauss went on to conduct one of Ritter's operas, and at Strauss's request Ritter later wrote a poem describing the events depicted in Strauss's tone poem Death and Transfiguration . The new influences from Ritter resulted in what is widely regarded as Strauss's first piece to show his mature personality, the tone poem Don Juan (1888), which displays
22713-449: The essence of a film in a single theme. The main title of the film's soundtrack has three specific aspects. First, the heavy-march-like theme helps to describe the oppressive military and main character Gypo's inevitable downfall. Second, the character's theme is stern and sober and puts the audience into the correct mood for the film. Finally, the theme of the music contains some Irish folk song influences which serves to better characterize
22914-479: The film score for China Gate , because Young had died before he could finish it. The credit frame reads: "Music by Victor Young, extended by his old friend, Max Steiner." There are numerous soundtrack recordings of Steiner's music as soundtracks, collections, and recordings by others. Steiner wrote into his seventies, ailing and near blind, but his compositions "revealed a freshness and fertility of invention." A theme for A Summer Place in 1959, written when Steiner
23115-468: The film's scenes. Consequently, Steiner directly influenced the development of the protagonist, Gypo. Victor McLaglen , who played Gypo, rehearsed his walking in order to match the fumbling leitmotif Steiner had created for Gypo. This unique film production practice was successful; the film was nominated for six Academy Awards and won four, including Steiner's first Academy Award for Best Scoring . This score helped to exemplify Steiner's ability to encompass
23316-455: The film. Ford even asked his screenwriter to meet with Steiner during the writing phase to collaborate. This was unusual for Steiner who typically refused to compose a score from anything earlier than a rough cut of the film. Because Steiner scored the music before and during film production, Ford would sometimes shoot scenes in synchronization with the music Steiner composed rather than the usual practice of film composers synchronizing music to
23517-456: The film. Steiner was criticized for this technique as the awareness of the film music can ruin the narrative illusion of the film; however, Steiner understood the importance of letting the film take the spotlight, making the music, "subordinate..to the picture," stating that, "if it gets too decorative, it loses its emotional appeal." Before 1932, producers of sound films tried to avoid the use of background music, because viewers would wonder where
23718-433: The film. This technique allowed conductors and orchestras to match the music with perfection to the timing of the film, eliminating the previous necessity to cut off or stop music in the middle of recording as had been done previously. Popularized by Steiner in film music, this technique allowed Steiner to "catch the action", creating sounds for small details on screen. In fact, Steiner reportedly spent more of his time matching
23919-510: The films with Errol Flynn , Bette Davis , Humphrey Bogart , and Fred Astaire . Many of his film scores are available as separate soundtrack recordings. Max Steiner was born on 10 May 1888, in Vienna , Austria-Hungary , as the only child in a wealthy business and theatrical family of Jewish heritage. He was named after his paternal grandfather, Maximilian Steiner (1839–1880), who was credited with first persuading Johann Strauss II to write for
24120-418: The first composers to write music scores for films. He is often referred to as "the father of film music ", as Steiner played a major part in creating the tradition of writing music for films, along with composers Dimitri Tiomkin , Erich Wolfgang Korngold , Franz Waxman , Alfred Newman , Bernard Herrmann , and Miklós Rózsa . Steiner composed over 300 film scores with RKO Pictures and Warner Bros. , and
24321-483: The general opinion of filmmakers during the time was that film music was a "necessary evil", and would often slow down production and release of the film after it was filmed. Steiner's first job was for the film Dixiana ; however, after a while, RKO decided to let him go, feeling they were not using him. His agent found him a job as a musical director on an operetta in Atlantic City. Before he left RKO, they offered him
24522-503: The guidance of faculty composition professors. Some schools require DMA composition students to present concerts of their works, which are typically performed by singers or musicians from the school. The completion of advanced coursework and a minimum B average are other typical requirements of a D.M.A program. During a D.M.A. program, a composition student may get experience teaching undergraduate music students. Some composers did not complete composition programs, but focused their studies on
24723-552: The highest artistic and pedagogical level, requiring usually an additional 54+ credit hours beyond a master's degree (which is about 30+ credits beyond a bachelor's degree). For this reason, admission is highly selective. Students must submit examples of their compositions. If available, some schools will also accept video or audio recordings of performances of the student's pieces. Examinations in music history, music theory, ear training/dictation, and an entrance examination are required. Students must prepare significant compositions under
24924-405: The increased use by composers of more detailed scoring in the form of dynamics, articulation et cetera; composers became uniformly more explicit in how they wished their music to be interpreted, although how strictly and minutely these are dictated varies from one composer to another. Because of this trend of composers becoming increasingly specific and detailed in their instructions to the performer,
25125-467: The inferiority of Steiner's individual scores, his influence was largely historical. Steiner was one of the first composers to reintroduce music into films after the invention of talking films. Steiner's score for King Kong modeled the method of adding background music into a movie. Some of his contemporaries did not like his music. Miklós Rózsa criticized Steiner for his use of Mickey Mousing and did not like his music, but Rózsa conceded that Steiner had
25326-472: The jangling of wind chimes which crescendos as the wife emerges through opium smoke. The jangling continues until the wife asks Leslie to take off her shawl, after which the theme blasts indicating the breaking point of emotions of these women. Steiner's score for The Letter was nominated for the 1941 Academy Award for Best Original Score, losing to Walt Disney 's Pinocchio . In the score for The Big Sleep , Steiner uses musical thematic characterization for
25527-479: The late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt . Along with Gustav Mahler , he represents the late flowering of German Romanticism , in which pioneering subtleties of orchestration are combined with an advanced harmonic style. Strauss's compositional output began in 1870 when he was just six years old and lasted until his death nearly eighty years later. His first tone poem to achieve wide acclaim
25728-635: The latter festival his cantata Taillefer was given its world premiere. In 1904 Strauss embarked on his first North American tour, with stops in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, New York City, and Pittsburgh. At Carnegie Hall he conducted the world premiere of his Symphonia Domestica on 21 March 1904 with the Wetzler Symphony Orchestra . He also conducted several other works in collaboration with composer Hermann Hans Wetzler and his orchestra that year at Carnegie Hall, and also performed
25929-454: The librettist and poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal . These operas included Elektra (1909), Der Rosenkavalier (1911), Ariadne auf Naxos (1912, rev. 1916), Die Frau ohne Schatten (1919), Die ägyptische Helena (1928), and Arabella (1933). While all of these works remain part of the opera repertoire, his opera Der Rosenkavalier is generally considered his finest achievement. During this time he continued to work internationally as
26130-657: The love theme for Bogart's Philip and Lauren Bacall 's Vivian is one of Steiner's strongest themes. Steiner uses the contrast of high strings and low strings and brass to emphasize Philip's feelings for Vivian opposed with the brutality of the criminal world.In 1947, Steiner scored a film noir Western , Pursued . Steiner had more success with the Western genre of film, writing the scores for over twenty large-scale Westerns, most with epic-inspiring scores "about empire building and progress", like Dodge City (1939), The Oklahoma Kid (1939), and Virginia City (1940). Dodge City , starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland ,
26331-467: The main character Gypo. In one scene, Katie calls after Gypo as a solo violin echos the falling cadence of her voice. In another scene, Gypo sees an advertisement for a steamship to America and instead of the advertisement, sees himself holding Katie's hand on the ship. Wedding bells are heard along with organ music and he sees Katie wearing a veil and holding a bouquet. In a later scene, the Katie theme plays as
26532-461: The mid-1950s, and he began freelancing. In 1954, RCA Victor asked Steiner to prepare and conduct an orchestral suite of music from Gone with the Wind for a special LP, which was later issued on CD. There are also acetates of Steiner conducting the Warner Brothers studio orchestra in music from many of his film scores. Composer Victor Young and Steiner were good friends, and Steiner completed
26733-400: The mid-20th century was Nadia Boulanger . Philips states that "[d]uring the 20th century the women who were composing/playing gained far less attention than their male counterparts." Women today are being taken more seriously in the realm of concert music, though the statistics of recognition, prizes, employment, and overall opportunities are still biased toward men. Famous composers have
26934-544: The monster is recognizable as a descending three-note chromatic motif. After the death of King Kong, the Kong theme and the Fay Wray theme converge, underlining the " Beauty and the Beast " type relationship between the characters. The music in the film's finale helped express the tender feelings Kong had for the woman without the film having to explicitly state it. The majority of the music
27135-400: The music are varied, depending on the musical culture in the country and the time period it was written. For instance, music composed in the Baroque era , particularly in slow tempos, often was written in bare outline, with the expectation that the performer would add improvised ornaments to the melody line during a performance. Such freedom generally diminished in later eras, correlating with
27336-424: The music of Steiner was often seen by critics as inferior to Korngold. Composer David Raksin stated that the music of Korngold was, "of a higher order with a much wider sweep;" however, according to William Darby and Jack Du Bois's American Film Music , even though other film score composers may have produced greater individual scores than Steiner, no composer ever created as many "very good" ones as Steiner. Despite
27537-515: The music of banned composers such as Gustav Mahler and Claude Debussy . In 1933, Strauss wrote in his private notebook: I consider the Streicher –Goebbels Jew-baiting as a disgrace to German honour, as evidence of incompetence—the basest weapon of untalented, lazy mediocrity against a higher intelligence and greater talent. Meanwhile, far from being an admirer of Strauss's work, Joseph Goebbels maintained expedient cordiality with Strauss only for
27738-479: The music was coming from. Steiner was known for writing using atmospheric music without melodic content for certain neutral scenes in music. Steiner designed a melodic motion to create normal-sounding music without taking too much attention away from the film. In contrast, Steiner sometimes used diegetic, or narrative based music, in order to emphasize certain emotions or contradict them. According to Steiner, there is, "no greater counterpoint ... than gay music underlying
27939-496: The opera, and it was halted after three performances and subsequently banned by the Third Reich . On 17 June 1935, Strauss wrote a letter to Stefan Zweig, in which he stated: Do you believe I am ever, in any of my actions, guided by the thought that I am 'German'? Do you suppose Mozart was consciously 'Aryan' when he composed? I recognise only two types of people: those who have talent and those who have none. This letter to Zweig
28140-435: The orchestration. In some cases, a pop songwriter may not use notation at all, and, instead, compose the song in their mind and then play or record it from memory. In jazz and popular music, notable recordings by influential performers are given the weight that written scores play in classical music. The study of composition has traditionally been dominated by the examination of methods and practice of Western classical music, but
28341-452: The outbreak of war in 1939. The two men collaborated on two more operas which proved to be Strauss's last: Die Liebe der Danae (1940) and Capriccio (1942). When his Jewish daughter-in-law Alice was placed under house arrest in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1938, Strauss used his connections in Berlin, including opera-house General Intendant Heinz Tietjen , to secure her safety. He drove to
28542-414: The performance of voice or an instrument or on music theory , and developed their compositional skills over the course of a career in another musical occupation. Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss ( German: [ˈʁɪçaʁt ˈʃtʁaʊs] ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his tone poems and operas . Considered a leading composer of
28743-408: The performer elaborating seriously the music as given in the score, particularly for Baroque music and music from the early Classical period . The movement might be considered a way of creating greater faithfulness to the original in works composed at a time that expected performers to improvise . In genres other than classical music, the performer generally has more freedom; thus for instance when
28944-514: The philosophical framework of Hofmannsthal's libretti, and instead embrace a modern domestic comedy to Hofmannsthal's chagrin. The work proved to be a success. At the outbreak of World War I Strauss was invited to sign the Manifesto of German artists and intellectuals supporting the German role in the conflict. Several colleagues, including Max Reinhardt , signed, but Strauss refused, and his response
29145-617: The position but to remain apolitical, a decision which would eventually become untenable. He wrote to his family, "I made music under the Kaiser , and under Ebert . I'll survive under this one as well." He later wrote in his journal: In November 1933, the minister Goebbels nominated me president of the Reichsmusikkammer without obtaining my prior agreement. I was not consulted. I accepted this honorary office because I hoped that I would be able to do some good and prevent worse misfortunes, if from now onwards German musical life were going to be, as it
29346-424: The premiere of his tone poem Death and Transfiguration in 1890. Both of these works, along with the earlier Burleske , became internationally known and established him as a leading modernist composer. He also had much success as a conductor in Weimar, particularly with the symphonic poems of Liszt and an uncut production of Tristan und Isolde in 1892. In the summer of 1894 Strauss made his conducting debut at
29547-479: The received ' canon ' of performed musical works." She argues that in the 1800s, women composers typically wrote art songs for performance in small recitals rather than symphonies intended for performance with an orchestra in a large hall, with the latter works being seen as the most important genre for composers; since women composers did not write many symphonies, they were deemed to be not notable as composers. According to Abbey Philips, "women musicians have had
29748-430: The role of male composers. As well, very few works by women composers are part of the standard repertoire of classical music. In Concise Oxford History of Music , " Clara Shumann [ sic ] is one of the only female composers mentioned", but other notable women composers of the common practice period include Fanny Mendelssohn and Cécile Chaminade , and arguably the most influential teacher of composers during
29949-407: The score for Gone with the Wind (1939), which became one of Steiner's most notable successes. Steiner was the only composer Selznick considered for scoring the film. Steiner was given only three months to complete the score, despite composing twelve more film scores in 1939, more than he would in any other year of his career. Because Selznick was concerned Steiner wouldn't have enough time to finish
30150-400: The score would often be ruined. As recording technology improved during this period, he was able to record the music synced to the film and could change the score after the film was edited. Steiner explains his own typical method of scoring: When a picture is finished and finally edited, it is turned over to me. Then I time it: not by stop watch, however, as many do. I have the film put through
30351-426: The score's length, Steiner had help from four orchestrators and arrangers, including Heinz Roemheld , to work on the score. Selznick had asked Steiner to use only pre-existing classical music to help cut down on cost and time, but Steiner tried to convince him that filling the picture with swatches of classic concert music or popular works would not be as effective as an original score, which could be used to heighten
30552-404: The score, he had Franz Waxman write an additional score in the case the Steiner didn't finish. To meet the deadline, Steiner sometimes worked for 20-hours straight, assisted by doctor-administered Benzedrine to stay awake. When the film was released, it was the longest film score ever composed, nearly three hours. The composition consisted of 16 main themes and nearly 300 musical segments. Due to
30753-575: The scores for his next three films. In April 1937, Steiner left RKO and signed a long-term contract with Warner Bros. ; he would, however, continue to work for Selznick. The first film he scored for Warner Bros. was The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936). Steiner became a mainstay at Warner Bros., scoring 140 of their films over the next 30 years alongside Hollywood stars such as Bette Davis , Errol Flynn , Humphrey Bogart , and James Cagney . Steiner frequently worked with composer Hugo Friedhofer who
30954-454: The second greatest American film score of all time. Now, Voyager would be the film score for which Steiner would win his second Academy Award. Kate Daubney attributes the success of this score to Steiner's ability to "[balance] the scheme of thematic meaning with the sound of the music." Steiner used motifs and thematic elements in the music to emphasize the emotional development of the narrative. After finishing Now, Voyager (1942), Steiner
31155-421: The senior conductor at the house, was often ill and Strauss was required to step in at the last minute to conduct performance for operas which he had never rehearsed. This caused problems for him, the singers, and the orchestra. During this time, Strauss did find much more enjoyable conducting work outside Munich in Berlin, Dresden, and Leipzig. In the latter city he met and befriended the composer Gustav Mahler in
31356-690: The singing of the famous trio from Rosenkavalier , "each singer broke down in tears and dropped out of the ensemble, but they recovered themselves and we all ended together". Strauss's wife, Pauline de Ahna, died eight months later on 13 May 1950 at the age of 88. Strauss himself declared in 1947 with characteristic self-deprecation: "I may not be a first-rate composer, but I am a first-class second-rate composer." The Canadian pianist Glenn Gould described Strauss in 1962 as "the greatest musical figure who has lived in this century". Some of Strauss's first compositions were solo instrumental and chamber works. These pieces include early compositions for piano solo in
31557-399: The style and forms of film music of the time period and for film scores to come. Known for their similar music styles, Roy Webb was also Steiner's contemporary and they were friends until Steiner's death. Webb's score for Mighty Joe Young was reminiscent of Steiner. James Bond composer John Barry cited Steiner as an influence of his work. James Newton Howard , who composed the score for
31758-404: The technique first in cartoon music. The click-track allows the composer to sync music and film together more precisely. The technique involves punching holes into the soundtrack film based on the mathematics of metronome speed. As the holes pass through a projector, the orchestra and conductor can hear the clicking sound through headphones, allowing them to record the music along the exact timing of
31959-521: The term in a musical context given by the Oxford English Dictionary is from Thomas Morley 's 1597 A Plain and Easy Introduction to Practical Music , where he says "Some wil [ sic ] be good descanters [...] and yet wil be but bad composers". "Composer" is a loose term that generally refers to any person who writes music. More specifically, it is often used to denote people who are composers by occupation, or those who work in
32160-595: The theater, and was the influential manager of Vienna's historic Theater an der Wien . His parents were Marie Josefine/Mirjam (Hasiba) and Hungarian-Jewish Gábor Steiner [ de ] (1858–1944, born in Temesvár , Kingdom of Hungary , Austrian Empire ), a Viennese impresario , carnival exposition manager, and inventor, responsible for building the Wiener Riesenrad . His father encouraged Steiner's musical talent, and allowed him to conduct an American operetta at
32361-465: The theme from Since You Went Away while helping counterbalance Franz Waxman's moody score for Rebecca . Producer David O. Selznick liked the theme so much, he asked Steiner to include it in Since You Went Away . In 1947, Max married Leonette Blair. Steiner also found success with the film noir genre. The Big Sleep , Mildred Pierce , and The Letter were his best film noir scores of
32562-658: The time, there was no specially written music for films and Steiner told studio founder William Fox his idea to write an original score for The Bondman (1916). Fox agreed and they put together a 110-piece orchestra to accompany the screenings. During his time working on Broadway, he married Audree van Lieu on 27 April 1927. They divorced on 14 December 1933. In 1927, Steiner orchestrated and conducted Harry Tierney 's Rio Rita . Tierney himself later requested RKO Pictures in Hollywood hire Steiner to work in their music production departments. William LeBaron , RKO's head of production, traveled to New York to watch Steiner conduct and
32763-440: The top ten rankings only in the 18th century and was ranked third most important city in both the 19th and 20th centuries. New York City entered the rankings in the 19th century (in fifth place) and stood at second rank in the 20th century. The patterns are very similar for a sample of 522 top composers. Professional classical composers often have a background in performing classical music during their childhood and teens, either as
32964-472: The tradition of Western classical music . Writers of exclusively or primarily songs may be called composers, but since the 20th century the terms ' songwriter ' or ' singer-songwriter ' are more often used, particularly in popular music genres. In other contexts, the term 'composer' can refer to a literary writer, or more rarely and generally, someone who combines pieces into a whole. Across cultures and traditions composers may write and transmit music in
33165-458: The use of original composition as background scoring for films". The successful scoring in Symphony of Six Million was a turning point for Steiner's career and for the film industry. Steiner reflected that a large part of the success of Symphony of Six Million "was attributed to the extensive use of music" in the film. The score for King Kong (1933) became Steiner's breakthrough and represented
33366-635: The various sites he was seeing along with tonal impressions that went with those descriptions. These he communicated in a letter to his mother, and they ultimately were used as the beginning of his first tone poem, Aus Italien (1886). Shortly after Strauss assumed his opera conducting duties in Munich, Ritter himself moved to the city in September 1886. For the next three years the two men would meet regularly, often joined by Thuille and Anton Seidl , to discuss music, particularly Wagner and Liszt, and discuss poetry, literature, and philosophy. Strauss's tenure at
33567-416: The wild tribal music which accompanied the ceremony to sacrifice Ann to Kong . He wrote the score in two weeks and the music recording cost around $ 50,000. The film became a "landmark of film scoring", as it showed the power music has to manipulate audience emotions. Steiner constructed the score on Wagnerian leitmotif principle, which calls for special themes for leading characters and concepts. The theme of
33768-422: The work, by such means as by varying their articulation and phrasing , choosing how long to make fermatas (held notes) or pauses, and — in the case of bowed string instruments, woodwinds or brass instruments — deciding whether to use expressive effects such as vibrato or portamento . For a singer or instrumental performer, the process of deciding how to perform music that has been previously composed and notated
33969-413: The workmen's elevator: the music seems to draw them together in mutual fulfillment ... The score brings dignity and grandeur to the picture. In the same way that Steiner created a theme for each character in a film, Steiner's music developed themes to express emotional aspects of general scenes which originally lacked emotional content. For example: When adding a music score to a picture, Steiner used
34170-521: The writings of Arthur Schopenhauer , Wagner, and Friedrich von Hausegger. All of this together gave a new aesthetic anchor to Strauss which first became evident in his embrace of the tone poem genre. After leaving his post in Meiningen in 1886, Strauss spent several weeks traveling throughout Italy before assuming a new post as third conductor at the Bavarian State Opera (then known as the Munich Hofoper). While traveling he wrote down descriptions of
34371-408: The young composer's Serenade (Op. 7) for wind instruments, composed when he was only 16 years of age. Strauss learned the art of conducting by observing Bülow in rehearsal. Bülow was very fond of the young man, and Strauss considered him as his greatest conducting mentor, often crediting him as teaching him "the art of interpretation". Notably, under Bülow's baton he made his first major appearance as
34572-412: Was Don Juan , and this was followed by other lauded works of this kind, including Death and Transfiguration , Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks , Also sprach Zarathustra , Don Quixote , Ein Heldenleben , Symphonia Domestica , and An Alpine Symphony . His first opera to achieve international fame was Salome , which used a libretto by Hedwig Lachmann that was a German translation of
34773-574: Was 68, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party rose to power . Strauss never joined the Nazi Party, and studiously avoided Nazi forms of greeting . For reasons of expediency, however, he was initially drawn into cooperating with the early Nazi regime in the hope that Hitler—an ardent Wagnerian and music lover who had admired Strauss's work since viewing Salome in 1907—would promote German art and culture. Strauss's need to protect his Jewish daughter-in-law and Jewish grandchildren also motivated his behavior, in addition to his determination to preserve and conduct
34974-454: Was 71, became one of Warner Brothers' biggest hit-tunes for years and a re-recorded pop standard. This memorable instrumental theme spent nine weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1960 (in an instrumental cover version by Percy Faith ). Steiner continued to score films produced by Warner until the mid-sixties. In 1963, Steiner began writing his autobiography. Although it
35175-407: Was a great source of inspiration to him. Throughout his life, from his earliest songs to the final Four Last Songs of 1948, he preferred the soprano voice to all others, and all his operas contain important soprano roles. In Weimar she created the role of Freihild in Strauss's first opera, Guntram , in 1894. The opera was received with mixed reviews in Weimar, but its later production in Munich
35376-422: Was an early influence in the pieces of Max Steiner; however, one of his first introductions to operettas was by Franz Lehár who worked for a time as a military bandmaster for Steiner's father's theatre. Steiner paid tribute to Lehár through an operetta modeled after Lehár's Die lustige Witwe which Steiner staged in 1907 in Vienna. Eysler was well known for his operettas though as critiqued by Richard Traubner ,
35577-429: Was asked by David O. Selznick , the new producer at RKO, to add music to Symphony of Six Million . Steiner composed a short segment; Selznick liked it so much that he asked him to compose the theme and underscoring for the entire picture. Selznick was proud of the film, feeling it gave a realistic view of Jewish family life and tradition. "Music until then had not been used very much for underscoring". Steiner "pioneered
35778-606: Was befriended by the Duke of Westminster , who was a fan of his work, and was given exit papers to go to America, although his money was impounded. He arrived in New York City in December 1914, with only $ 32. Unable to find work, he resorted to menial jobs such as a copyist for Harms Music Publishing, which quickly led him to jobs orchestrating stage musicals. In New York, Max Steiner quickly acquired employment and worked for fifteen years as
35979-410: Was chiefly admired for his interpretations of the works of Liszt, Mozart, and Wagner in addition to his own works. A conducting disciple of Hans von Bülow , Strauss began his conducting career as Bülow's assistant with the Meiningen Court Orchestra in 1883. After Bülow resigned in 1885, Strauss served as that orchestra's primary conductor for five months before being appointed to the conducting staff of
36180-668: Was completed, it was never published, and is the only source available on Steiner's childhood. A copy of the manuscript resides with the rest of the Max Steiner Collection at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah . Steiner scored his last piece in 1965; however, he claimed he would have scored more films had he been offered the opportunity. His lack of work in the last years of his life was due to Hollywood's decreased interest in his scores caused by new film producers and new taste in film music. Another contribution to his declining career
36381-554: Was hired as an orchestrator for Warner Bros; Friedholfer would orchestrate more than 50 of Steiner's pieces during his career. In 1938, Steiner wrote and arranged the first "composed for film" piece, Symphony Moderne which a character plays on the piano and later plays as a theme in Four Daughters (1938) and is performed by a full orchestra in Four Wives (1939). In 1939, Steiner was borrowed from Warner Bros. by Selznick to compose
36582-422: Was hired to score the music for Casablanca (1942). Steiner would typically wait until the film was edited before scoring it, and after watching Casablanca , he decided the song " As Time Goes By " by Herman Hupfeld wasn't an appropriate addition to the movie and he wanted to replace it with a song of his own composition; however, Ingrid Bergman had just cut her hair short in preparation for filming For Whom
36783-540: Was his failing eyesight and deteriorating health, which caused him to reluctantly retire. Tony Thomas cited Steiner's last score as, "a weak coda to a mighty career." Steiner died of congestive heart failure in Hollywood, aged 83. He is entombed in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California . In the early days of sound, producers avoided underscoring music behind dialogue, feeling
36984-583: Was honored with a star located at 1551 Vine Street on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to motion pictures. In 1995, Steiner was inducted posthumously into the Songwriters Hall of Fame . In commemoration of Steiner's 100th birthday, a memorial plaque was unveiled in 1988 at Steiner's birthplace, the Hotel Nordbahn (now Austria Classic Hotel Wien ) on Praterstraße 72. In 1990, Steiner
37185-401: Was impressed by Steiner and his musicians, who each played several instruments. Eventually, Steiner became a Hollywood asset. Steiner's final production on Broadway was Sons O' Guns in 1929. By request of Harry Tierney, RKO hired Max Steiner as an orchestrator and his first film job consisted of composing music for the main and end titles and occasional "on screen" music. According to Steiner,
37386-440: Was in the army unit, and asked Strauss to compose an oboe concerto. Initially dismissive of the idea, Strauss completed this late work, his Oboe Concerto , before the end of the year. The metaphor " Indian summer " has been used by journalists, biographers, and music critics, notably Norman Del Mar in 1964, to describe Strauss's late creative upsurge from 1942 to the end of his life. The events of World War II seemed to bring
37587-418: Was integrated into the scene through characters or added more conspicuously. For example, a shepherd boy might play a flute along with the orchestra heard in the background, or a random, wandering violinist might follow around a couple during a love scene; however, because half of the music was recorded on the set, Steiner says it led to a great deal of inconvenience and cost when scenes were later edited, because
37788-528: Was intercepted by the Gestapo and sent to Hitler. Strauss was subsequently dismissed from his post as Reichsmusikkammer president in 1935. The 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics nevertheless used Strauss's Olympische Hymne , which he had composed in 1934. Strauss's seeming relationship with the Nazis in the 1930s attracted criticism from some noted musicians, including Toscanini, who in 1933 had said, "To Strauss
37989-716: Was invited to conduct Lehar's The Merry Widow . He stayed in London for eight years conducting musicals at Daly's Theatre, the Adelphi, the Hippodrome, the London Pavilion, and the Blackpool Winter Gardens. Steiner married Beatrice Tilt on September 12, 1912. The exact date of their divorce is unknown. In England, Steiner wrote and conducted theater productions and symphonies. But the beginning of World War I in 1914 led him to be interned as an enemy alien . Fortunately, he
38190-403: Was met with scorn and was Strauss's first major failure. In spite of the failure of his first opera, Strauss's tenure in Weimar brought about several important successes for his career. His tone poem Don Juan premiered in Weimar on 11 November 1889 to tremendous critical response, and the work quickly brought him international fame and success. This was followed by another lauded achievement,
38391-467: Was nominated for 24 Academy Awards , winning three: The Informer (1935); Now, Voyager (1942); and Since You Went Away (1944). Besides his Oscar-winning scores, some of Steiner's popular works include King Kong (1933), Little Women (1933), Jezebel (1938), and Casablanca (1942), though he did not compose its love theme, " As Time Goes By ". In addition, Steiner scored The Searchers (1956), A Summer Place (1959), and Gone with
38592-487: Was nominated for a total of 20 Academy Awards, and won two. Prior to 1939, the academy recognized a studio's music department, rather than the individual composer, with a nomination in the scoring category. During this time, five of Steiner's scores including The Lost Patrol and The Charge of the Light Brigade were nominated, but the academy does not consider these nominations to belong to Max Steiner himself. Consequently, even though Steiner's score for The Informer won
38793-601: Was not good enough. Steiner took the composition to competing impresario Carl Tuschl who offered to produce it. Much to Steiner's pleasure, it ran in the Orpheum Theatre for a year. This led to opportunities to conduct other shows in various cities around the world, including Moscow and Hamburg. Upon returning to Vienna, Steiner found his father in bankruptcy. Having difficulties finding work, he moved to London (in part to follow an English showgirl he had met in Vienna). In London, he
38994-440: Was one of his favorite scores. King Kong quickly made Steiner one of the most respected names in Hollywood. He continued as RKO's music director for two more years, until 1936. Max married Louise Klos, a harpist, in 1936. They had a son, Ron, together and they divorced in 1946. Steiner composed, arranged and conducted another 55 films, including most of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers ' dance musicals. Additionally, Steiner wrote
39195-402: Was one of the first to be recognized for Lifetime Achievement by an online awards site. In Kurt London's Film Music , London expressed the opinion that American film music was inferior to European film music because it lacked originality of composition; he cited the music of Steiner as an exception to the rule. Steiner, along with contemporaries Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Alfred Newman , set
39396-479: Was preparing for war, they presented Friedenstag ( Peace Day ), a one-act opera set in a besieged fortress during the Thirty Years' War . The work is essentially a hymn to peace and a thinly veiled criticism of the Third Reich. With its contrasts between freedom and enslavement, war and peace, light and dark, this work has a close affinity with Beethoven 's Fidelio . Productions of the opera ceased shortly after
39597-421: Was principal conductor of the Berlin State Opera from 1898 to 1913. From 1919 to 1924 he was principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera , and in 1920 he co-founded the Salzburg Festival . In addition to these posts, Strauss was a frequent guest conductor in opera houses and with orchestras internationally. In 1933 Strauss was appointed to two important positions in the musical life of Nazi Germany : head of
39798-494: Was recorded with approval by the French critic Romain Rolland in his diary for October 1914: "Declarations about war and politics are not fitting for an artist, who must give his attention to his creations and his works." In 1924 Strauss's son Franz married Alice von Grab-Hermannswörth, daughter of a Jewish industrialist, in a Roman Catholic ceremony. Franz and Alice had two sons, Richard and Christian. In March 1933, when Strauss
39999-456: Was said, "reorganized" by amateurs and ignorant place-seekers. Strauss privately scorned Goebbels and called him "a pipsqueak". However, in 1933 he dedicated an orchestral song, " Das Bächlein " ("The Little Brook"), to Goebbels, to gain his cooperation in extending German music copyright laws from 30 years to 50 years. Also in 1933, he replaced Arturo Toscanini as director of the Bayreuth Festival after Toscanini had resigned in protest against
40200-485: Was taking three or four piano lessons a week, yet often became bored of the lessons. Because of this, he would practice improvising on his own, his father encouraging him to write his music down. Steiner cited his early improvisation as an influence of his taste in music, particularly his interest in the music of Claude Debussy which was " avant garde " for the time. In his youth, he began his composing career through his work on marches for regimental bands and hit songs for
40401-416: Was the hardest part of proper scoring, since incorrect placement of music can speed up a scene meant to be slow and vice versa: "Knowing the difference is what makes a film composer." He also notes that many composers, contrary to his own technique, would fail to subordinate the music to the film: I've always tried to subordinate myself to the picture. A lot of composers make the mistake of thinking of film as
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