Born May 29, 1897 in Brunn, Moravia, Austria-Hungary, now Brno, Czech Republic, Erich Wolfgang Korngold was a child prodigy.
The son of a well-known music critic, young Korngold accompanied his father in playing four-handed piano arrangements by the age of five. By the age of eleven he was appearing before enthusiastic Vienna audiences that included Emperor Franz Josef with his ballet-pantomime Snow Man. Two years later, he wrote a piano sonata that was performed by Arthur Schnabel. He composed his first orchestral piece at 14 which attracted the attention of Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler, and many other prominent composers and conductors.
In 1920, Korngold conducted the Hamburg Opera in his seminal work, Die Tote Stadt, which became an international success. He married in 1924.
By 1931, Korngold had become professor of music at the Vienna State Academy.
Invited to the U.S. by Max Reinhardt to score his first film, 1935’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, he decided to stay.
Under contract to Warner Bros. from 1935-1947, Korngold composed some of the studio’s best-known scores beginning with 1935’s Captain Blood.
Although he composed the Oscar-winning score for 1936’s Anthony Adverse, the award was given to the head of Warner Bros. music department. In 1937, he composed the classic score for The Prince and the Pauper and in 1938, the even more lauded score for The Adventures of Robin Hood for which he was given the Oscar himself.
Nominated again for 1939’s The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex and 1940’s The Sea Hawk, Korngold continued to supply first-rate scores for such Warner Bros. films as 1941’s The Sea Wolf, 1942’s Kings Row, 1943’s The Constant Nymph, 1943’s Between Two Worlds, 1945’s San Antonio, 1946’s Devotion, Of Human Bondage, and Deception, and 1947’s Escape Me Never. His last score, written for 1948’s The Adventures of Don Juan, was not used.
Having become a U.S. citizen in 1943, Korngold decided not to renew his contract with Warner Bros. after its 1947 expiration. He wanted to resume his career as a serious composer but found that the world had passed him by and in 1949 returned to Vienna with his wife.
During the next few years, he composed exclusively for concert halls, returning to film scoring for one last time with 1955’s Magic Fire, a biography of composer Richard Wagner.
In 1956, Korngold suffered a stroke which left him partially paralyzed. He died a year later at the age of 60 from a heart attack.
After his death, Warner Bros. continued to make use of his music in such films as 1958’s Home Before Dark and 1959’s Up Periscope. His music continues to be used in film and TV movies to this day.
ESSENTIAL FILMS
CAPTAIN BLOOD (1935), directed by Michael Curtiz
After adapting, enhancing, and conducting Mendelsohn’s score for Max Reinhardt’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Korngold signed a contract with Warner Bros. that kept his at the studio through 16 films, most of which were masterpieces admired by Max Steiner and other composers who adapted his style. This was the first of numerous Errol Flynn films that he would score throughout his tenure at Warner Bros. Nominated for 3 Oscars including Best Picture, both director Curtiz and Korngold’s score were additional write-in nominees at the Oscars during the second and last time that write-in nominations were allowed.
ANTHONY ADVERSE (1936), directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Nominated for 7 Oscars and winner of 4 including Best Score, Korngold’s monumental score was attributed to the head of Warner Bros. Music Department, Leo Forbstein, who collected the Oscar that should have gone to Korngold. The epic film, based on the bestselling novel by Hervey Allen, starred Fredric March, Olivia de Havilland, Donald Woods, Anita Louise, Edmund Gwenn, Claude Rains, Louis Hayward, and Gale Sondergaard who won an Oscar for her screen debut. Also in the cast were Steffi Duna, Billy Mauch, Akim Tamiroff, Ralph Morgan, Henry O’Neill, Pedro de Cordoba, George E. Stone, and Luis Alberni.
THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER (1937), directed by William Keighley
Adapted from Mark Twain’s classic novel about Henry VIII’s heir apparent, Prince Edward and the look-alike poor man’s son who switch places as the king lay on his deathbed, provided another opportunity for Korngold to supply one of his majestic scores. The film was another Errol Flynn starrer, but it was the Mauch Twins, Billy and Bobby, in the title roles that audiences warmed to in this one. Flynn plays the adventurer who befriends the prince disguised as the pauper while Claude Rains, Henry Stephenson, Barton MacLane, Alan Hale, eric Portman, Halliwell Hobbes, Phyllis Barry, Montagu Love, and Fritz Leiber provide additional support.
THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938), directed by Michael Curtiz, William Keighley
The definitive film version of the Robin Hood legend received four Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Art Direction, Film editing, and Score, winning all but Best Picture which went to You Can’t Take It with You. This time, Korngold, rather than the head of his department, was the rightful recipient of the award for his work on the Errol Flynn – Olivia de Havilland classic. Curtiz, who directed most of the film, was nominated for Best Director for two other classic films this year, Angels with Dirty Faces and Four Wives, but not for this which was credited to both him and Keighley who began the film.
KINGS ROW (1942), directed by Sam Wood
Nominated for 3 Oscars including Best Picture, Director, and Black-and-White Cinematography, Korngold’s sumptuous score was overlooked with the award going to his fellow Warner Bros. composer Max Steiner for Now, Voyager. The film version of Henry Bellamann’s controversial novel, an expose of small-time America, is best remembered for the scene in which third-billed Ronald Reagan wakes up to find his legs are gone. Ann Sheridan Robert Cummings, Betty Field, Charles Coburn, Claude Rains, Judith Anderson, Nancy Coleman, Kaaren Verne, Maria Ouspenskaya, and Harry Davenport co-star.
ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD AND OSCAR
The Adventures of Robin Hood 1938) – Oscar – Best Original Score
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) – nominated – Best Scoring
The Sea Hawk (1940) – nominated – Best Score
