Erich Wolfgang Korngold (German: [ˈeːʁɪç ˈvɔlfɡaŋ ˈkɔʁnɡɔlt]; May 29, 1897 – November 29, 1957) was an Austrian composer and conductor, who fled Europe in the mid-1930s and later adopted US nationality.
[1][2] When he was 11, his ballet Der Schneemann (The Snowman) became a sensation in Vienna; his Second Piano Sonata, which he wrote at age 13, was played throughout Europe by Artur Schnabel.
At the request of motion picture director Max Reinhardt, and due to the rise of the Nazi regime, Korngold moved to Hollywood in 1934 to write music for films.
He subsequently wrote scores for such films as Captain Blood (1935), which helped boost the career of its starring newcomer, Errol Flynn.
Richard Strauss also spoke highly of the youth, and along with Mahler told Korngold's father there was no benefit in having his son enroll in a music conservatory since his abilities were already years ahead of what he could learn there.
Composers such as Richard Strauss and Giacomo Puccini heaped praise upon him, and many famous conductors, soloists and singers added his works to their repertoires.
[4]: 13 He completed a Concerto for Piano Left Hand for pianist Paul Wittgenstein in 1923 and his fourth opera, Das Wunder der Heliane, four years later.
However, after watching the filming, with a dynamic new star, Errol Flynn, in a heroic role alongside Olivia de Havilland, who had her debut in A Midsummer Night's Dream, he changed his mind.
Korngold not only had the background but also had the gift of melody, an innate sense of theater, and the skills to manipulate sentiment, emotion, humor, and excitement.
The short time frame forced him to use bits of symphonic poems by Franz Liszt, and a couple of engaging cues were written by Korngold orchestrator Milan Roder.
[4]: 9 After scoring Anthony Adverse, another Warners picture, this one starring Fredric March and Olivia de Havilland, Korngold's career in Hollywood developed quickly.
"[13] In 1938, Korngold was conducting opera in Austria when he was asked by Warner Brothers to return to Hollywood and compose a score for The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland.
The film, based on a largely fictional English legend, is considered the finest of its kind, with a continuous series of romantic and adventurous sequences propelled by Korngold's dynamic score.
His style for the Flynn swashbucklers resembled that of the creators of late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century German symphonic tone poems.
Korngold's original and distinctive style was influenced by the Wagnerian leitmotif, the orchestral virtuosity of Richard Strauss, the delicacy and broad melodic sweep of Puccini, and the long-line development of Gustav Mahler.
It dealt with the Mexican politician Benito Juarez but also involved the story of Archduke Maximilian von Habsburg and his wife, Carlotta.
Korngold was moved by the true-life story of how Louis Napoleon, seeing America engulfed by Civil War, took advantage of that fact and attempted, in 1864, to control Mexico.
After the United States demanded that France divest itself of its interests in Mexico, the Austrian aristocrat was left to his fate, and he was executed by the Juarez government.
He composed 3,000 bars of music for the score, at times emulating the rhythms of Frédéric Chopin and Franz Schubert, and the second theme of the first movement of his Violin Concerto was drawn from his work for the film.
Edward G. Robinson, as Wolf Larsen, plays a tormented and brutal captain of a sealing schooner, which gets crippled by a rival ship.
"[4]: 36 The story is set in a Midwestern US town (Kings Row), where the characters portray a wide range of psychological emotions, from loves and hates, bitterness, tenderness and torment.
His emotional directness and lack of inhibition, his unashamedly grand manner and the sheer exuberance of his invention breathed new life into a moribund tradition and have ensured the renewed and growing interest in his work which the last few years have witnessed.
[23] The impact of the score for Captain Blood led Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, to tell his composer to use that film as an archetypal example of the kind of sound he wanted for his series.
[23] According to Karlin and Wright in On the Track: The development of motifs is a powerful compositional device for the film composer, allowing him to bring an overall sense of unity to his score and still leave room for variety.
[25] In 1946 he composed an opera, Die stumme Serenade, which he recorded privately hoping to attract interest in making a full production.
His father, who had never been entirely comfortable in Los Angeles, and who had never approved of Erich's decision to work exclusively on film composition, died after a lengthy illness.
[31] In October 1956 he suffered a severe stroke and although he partially recovered, he "endured many physical and emotional difficulties" before his death at the age of 60, on November 29 the following year.
Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk, and Elizabeth and Essex all display Korngold's musical extravertism, and for some reason, his unmistakable Viennese kind of sentiment helped Errol Flynn be a convincing English hero.
In 1972, RCA Victor released an LP titled The Sea Hawk: The Classic Film Scores of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, featuring excerpts performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra.
[38] Carroll released excerpts of acetates with Korngold conducting the Warner Bros. studio orchestra in music from his film scores, some possibly taken from KFWB radio broadcasts.