The Kentucky Symphony Orchestra will offer a nostalgic, musical respite from a timutuous world on Saturday as it presents the film scores of Hollywood’s “Golden Age” from 1939-1962.
In the 1930s a number of established and up-and-coming composers fled the rising fascism in Europe for America, where they found a new medium (beyond opera, symphonies, etc.) for which to ply their craft. Films were the rage in the U.S. and soaring, dashing, and epic scores were required to match the on-screen action and drama.
Max Steiner (Gone with the Wind, Casablanca) studied piano with Brahms and wrote and conducted operetta and musical theater before heading to California. A slightly younger, Erich Korngold (Sea Hawk, King’s Row) was a child prodigy composer with whom Mahler and Strauss were impressed. John Williams credits Korngold’s scores for inspiring his Star Wars film music.
Hungarian Miklós Rózsa (Ben-Hur, El Cid) remained a composer of symphonic music throughout his “double life”— to which he referred his film scoring efforts. Anecdotally Rozsa wrote the theme to the 1960s television series Dragnet with its famous opening. Franz Waxman (Sunset Boulevard, Taras Bulba) began in the German film music industry, before being severely beaten in 1934 by Nazi sympathizers in Berlin. He landed in Hollywood where he worked with the giants mentioned above, adding to the European seasoning of American cinema.
America produced its own golden era film score composer in Alfred Newman (20th C. Fox Fanfare, Captain of Castile, Airport). Newman started out on Broadway as a conductor and came to films in the 1930s working for MGM and 20th C. Fox). Alfred was the patriarch of a family that spawned many film/television composers — brothers Lionel and Emil, sons David, Thomas, nephew Randy, grand nephew Joey. Together the Newman family has racked-up 92 Oscar nominations to date.
“Without these great composers jumping into film scoring, we may never have heard of John Williams, Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman”, commented KSO music Director James Cassidy. “The forefathers set a high bar.”
Director James Cassidy and the KSO will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, November 7 at Greaves Concert Hall at Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights.
For additional details and ticketing information, visit kyso.org or call 859-431-6216.
Kentucky Symphony Orchestra