Franz Waxman | Artist
Franz Waxman (Wachsmann) was a Polish-German film music composer and conductor born 1906 in Upper Silesia, German Empire (now Poland). Waxman is known primarily for his work in the film music genre, having scored major films including Bride of Frankenstein, Rebecca, Sunset Boulevard, A Place in the Sun, Stalag 17, Rear Window, Peyton Place, The Nun's Story, and Taras Bulba. He received twelve Academy Award nominations, and won two Oscars in consecutive years (for Sunset Boulevard and A Place in the Sun). He also composed concert works, including the oratorio Joshua (1959), and The Song of Terezín (1964), a work for orchestra and children's chorus based upon poetry written by children in the Theresienstadt concentration camp during World War II. Waxman also founded the Los Angeles Music Festival in 1947 with which he conducted a number of West Coast premieres by fellow film composers, and concert composers alike. In 1923, at age 16, Waxman enrolled in the Dresden Music Academy and studied composition and conducting. He made a living from the money he made playing popular music and managed to put himself through school. While working as a pianist with the Weintraub Syncopators, a dance band, Waxman met Frederick Hollander, who eventually introduced him to the eminent conductor Bruno Walter. Waxman worked as an orchestrator for the German film industry, including on Hollander's score for The Blue Angel (1930). One of his first dramatic scores was for the film Liliom (1934). That year Waxman, who was Jewish, suffered a severe beating by Nazi sympathizers in Berlin that led him to leave Germany and move with his wife first to Paris, and soon after to Hollywood. In Hollywood, Waxman met James Whale, who engaged him to score Bride of Frankenstein (1935) led to the young composer's appointment as Head of Music at Universal Studios. Waxman, however, was more interested in composition than musical direction for film, and in 1936 he left Universal to become a composer at MGM. Waxman scored a number of pictures during the next few years, but the score for Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940) made his name. The American Film Institute ranked Waxman's score for Sunset Boulevard, No.16 on their list of the greatest film scores. His scores for the following films were also nominated for the list: Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941), The Nun's Story (1959), Peyton Place (1957), The Philadelphia Story (1940), A Place in the Sun (1951), Rebecca (1940), Sayonara (1957), The Spirit of St. Louis (1957), and Taras Bulba (1962). Waxman died from cancer in February 1967, two months after his sixtieth birthday. His legacy contains over 150 film scores and a vast collection of concert works.
Artist Website: wikipedia/Franz_Waxman
Featured Albums: Franz Waxman
Related Artists: Miklós Rózsa
