Franz Waxman
Encyclopedia
Franz Waxman was a German-American composer, known for his bravura
Carmen Fantasie for violin
and orchestra
, based on musical themes from the Bizet
opera
Carmen
, and for his musical scores for film
s.
in the German Empire
's Prussian
Province of Silesia
(now in Poland
). At the age of three Waxman suffered a serious eye injury involving boiling water tipped from a stove, which permanently impaired his vision.
Waxman orchestrated Friedrich Hollaender
's score for the 1930 film
The Blue Angel and then wrote original scores for several German films. With the Nazis in power
from 1933, he worked briefly in France
, composing the music for Fritz Lang
's French version of Liliom
, but arrived in the United States
by 1935. He was commissioned to write the score for Bride of Frankenstein
, his first American film, by director James Whale
, who had admired his score for Liliom.
Franz Waxman worked with the director Alfred Hitchcock
in four films, including Rebecca (1940), Suspicion
(1941), The Paradine Case
(1947), and Rear Window
(1954). Bernard Herrmann
, Franz Waxman, Louis Levy
, and Dimitri Tiomkin
are the only composers who often worked with Alfred Hitchcock. Although Miklós Rózsa
wrote most of the music for Spellbound
(1945), some of Franz Waxman's music was also used, especially the scene where Gregory Peck
and Ingrid Bergman
are skiing. Franz Waxman had two Academy Award nominations for his scores with Alfred Hitchcock: Rebecca and Suspicion.
During his career, Waxman received 12 Oscar nominations, winning in consecutive years for Sunset Boulevard
and A Place in the Sun.
In addition to his film score
s, Waxman composed concert
works and, in 1947, founded the Los Angeles International Music Festival, which he headed for twenty years. During his tenure, the festival served as the venue for world and American premieres of 80 major works by composers such as Igor Stravinsky
, William Walton
, Ralph Vaughan Williams
, Dmitri Shostakovich
and Arnold Schoenberg
.
Waxman died of cancer
in Los Angeles
, at age 60. He is interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, CA.
and the National Philharmonic Orchestra
played highlights from various Waxman scores for an RCA Victor recording in the early 1970s that utilized Dolby surround sound.
The American Film Institute
ranked Waxman's score for Sunset Blvd.
#16 on their list of the greatest film scores
. His scores for the following scores were also nominated for the list:
Bravura
In classical music, a bravura is a virtuosic passage intended to show off the skill of a performer, generally as a solo, and often in a cadenza. It can also be used as an adjective , or to refer to a performance of extraordinary virtuosity. The term comes from the Italian language for great skill....
Carmen Fantasie for violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
and orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
, based on musical themes from the Bizet
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
, and for his musical scores for film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s.
Biography
Waxman was born Franz Wachsmann in Königshütte (Chorzów)Chorzów
Chorzów is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. Chorzów is one of the central districts of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union - a metropolis with a population of 2 million...
in the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
's Prussian
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
Province of Silesia
Province of Silesia
The Province of Silesia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1815 to 1919.-Geography:The territory comprised the bulk of the former Bohemian crown land of Silesia and the County of Kladsko, which King Frederick the Great had conquered from the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy in the 18th...
(now in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
). At the age of three Waxman suffered a serious eye injury involving boiling water tipped from a stove, which permanently impaired his vision.
Waxman orchestrated Friedrich Hollaender
Friedrich Hollaender
Friedrich Hollaender was a German film composer.He was born in London, where his father, operetta composer Victor Hollaender, worked at the Barnum & Bailey Circus...
's score for the 1930 film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
The Blue Angel and then wrote original scores for several German films. With the Nazis in power
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
from 1933, he worked briefly in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, composing the music for Fritz Lang
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute...
's French version of Liliom
Liliom (1934 film)
Liliom is a 1934 French fantasy film directed by Fritz Lang based on the Hungarian stage play of the same name by Ferenc Molnár. The film stars Charles Boyer as Liliom , a carousel barker who is fired his job after falling in love with the chambermaid Julie...
, but arrived in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by 1935. He was commissioned to write the score for Bride of Frankenstein
Bride of Frankenstein
Bride of Frankenstein is a 1935 American horror film, the first sequel to Frankenstein...
, his first American film, by director James Whale
James Whale
James Whale was an English film director, theatre director and actor. He is best remembered for his work in the horror film genre, having directed such classics as Frankenstein , The Old Dark House , The Invisible Man and Bride of Frankenstein...
, who had admired his score for Liliom.
Franz Waxman worked with the director Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
in four films, including Rebecca (1940), Suspicion
Suspicion (film)
Suspicion is a romantic psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine as a married couple. It also stars Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Nigel Bruce, Dame May Whitty, Isabel Jeans, Heather Angel, and Leo G...
(1941), The Paradine Case
The Paradine Case
The Paradine Case is a 1947 American courtroom drama film, set in England, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and produced by David O. Selznick. The screenplay was written by Selznick and an uncredited Ben Hecht, from an adaptation by Alma Reville and James Bridie of the novel by Robert Smythe Hichens...
(1947), and Rear Window
Rear Window
Rear Window is a 1954 American suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by John Michael Hayes and based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder"...
(1954). Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann was an American composer noted for his work in motion pictures.An Academy Award-winner , Herrmann is particularly known for his collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock, most famously Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo...
, Franz Waxman, Louis Levy
Louis Levy
Louis Levy was an English film composer and music director, who worked in particular on Alfred Hitchcock and Will Hay films. He was born in London and died in Slough, Berkshire.-Career:...
, and Dimitri Tiomkin
Dimitri Tiomkin
Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin was a Russian-born Hollywood film score composer and conductor. He is considered "one of the giants of Hollywood movie music." Musically trained in Russia, he is best known for his westerns, "where his expansive, muscular style had its greatest impact." Tiomkin...
are the only composers who often worked with Alfred Hitchcock. Although Miklós Rózsa
Miklós Rózsa
Miklós Rózsa was a Hungarian-born composer trained in Germany , and active in France , England , and the United States , with extensive sojourns in Italy from 1953...
wrote most of the music for Spellbound
Spellbound (1945 film)
Spellbound is a psychological mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1945. It tells the story of the new head of a mental asylum who turns out not to be what he claims. The film stars Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov and Leo G. Carroll. It is an adaptation by Angus...
(1945), some of Franz Waxman's music was also used, especially the scene where Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
and Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute...
are skiing. Franz Waxman had two Academy Award nominations for his scores with Alfred Hitchcock: Rebecca and Suspicion.
During his career, Waxman received 12 Oscar nominations, winning in consecutive years for Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard (film)
Sunset Boulevard is a 1950 American film noir directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, and produced and co-written by Charles Brackett...
and A Place in the Sun.
In addition to his film score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
s, Waxman composed concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
works and, in 1947, founded the Los Angeles International Music Festival, which he headed for twenty years. During his tenure, the festival served as the venue for world and American premieres of 80 major works by composers such as Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
, William Walton
William Walton
Sir William Turner Walton OM was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera...
, Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
, Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
and Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
.
Waxman died of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, at age 60. He is interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, CA.
Legacy
Some of Waxman's music has been featured on commercial recordings, both on LP and CD. Charles GerhardtCharles Gerhardt
Charles Gerhardt may refer to:*Charles Frédéric Gerhardt , French chemist*Charles H. Gerhardt , American general*Charles Gerhardt , American conductor...
and the National Philharmonic Orchestra
National Philharmonic Orchestra
The National Philharmonic Orchestra was a British orchestra created exclusively for recording purposes. It was founded by RCA producer Charles Gerhardt and orchestra leader / contractor Sidney Sax due in part to the requirements of the Reader's Digest-History:...
played highlights from various Waxman scores for an RCA Victor recording in the early 1970s that utilized Dolby surround sound.
The American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
ranked Waxman's score for Sunset Blvd.
Sunset Boulevard (film)
Sunset Boulevard is a 1950 American film noir directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, and produced and co-written by Charles Brackett...
#16 on their list of the greatest film scores
AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores
Part of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores is a list of the top 25 film scores in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute in 2005.-The List:-External links:**...
. His scores for the following scores were also nominated for the list:
- The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. HydeDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941 film)Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1941 horror film starring Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner. Rather than being a new film version of the novel, it is a direct remake of the 1931 film of the same name, which differs greatly from the novel. The movie was based on Robert Louis Stevenson's...
(1941) - The Nun’s Story (1959)
- Peyton PlacePeyton Place (film)Peyton Place is a 1957 American drama film directed by Mark Robson. The screenplay by John Michael Hayes is based on the bestselling 1956 novel of the same name by Grace Metalious.-Plot:...
(1957) - The Philadelphia Story (1940)
- A Place in the Sun (1951)
- Rebecca (1940)
- SayonaraSayonaraSayonara is a 1957 color American film starring Marlon Brando. It tells the story of an American Air Force flier who was an "ace" fighter pilot during the Korean War....
(1957) - The Spirit of St. LouisThe Spirit of St. Louis (film)The Spirit of St. Louis is a 1957 biographical film directed by Billy Wilder and starring James Stewart as Charles Lindbergh. The screenplay was adapted by Charles Lederer, Wendell Mayes, and Billy Wilder from Lindbergh's 1953 autobiographical account of his historic flight, which won the Pulitzer...
(1957) - Taras Bulba (1962)
Selected filmography
- LiliomLiliom (1934 film)Liliom is a 1934 French fantasy film directed by Fritz Lang based on the Hungarian stage play of the same name by Ferenc Molnár. The film stars Charles Boyer as Liliom , a carousel barker who is fired his job after falling in love with the chambermaid Julie...
- Mauvaise GraineMauvaise GraineMauvaise Graine is a 1934 French drama film directed by Billy Wilder and Alexander Esway. The screenplay by Wilder, H.G...
(1934) - Bride of FrankensteinBride of FrankensteinBride of Frankenstein is a 1935 American horror film, the first sequel to Frankenstein...
(1935) - Fury (1936)
- Captains Courageous (1937)
- A Christmas CarolA Christmas Carol (1938 film)A Christmas Carol is a 1938 American film adaptation of Charles Dickens's novelette.-Cast:*Reginald Owen as Ebenezer Scrooge*Gene Lockhart as Bob Cratchit*Kathleen Lockhart as Mrs. Cratchit*Terry Kilburn as Tiny Tim*Barry MacKay as Fred...
(1938) - The Young in HeartThe Young in HeartThe Young in Heart is a film comedy starring Janet Gaynor, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Paulette Goddard, Roland Young, and Billie Burke....
(1938) (2 Academy Award nominations) - Rebecca (1940) (Academy Award nomination)
- The Philadelphia Story (1940)
- SuspicionSuspicion (film)Suspicion is a romantic psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine as a married couple. It also stars Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Nigel Bruce, Dame May Whitty, Isabel Jeans, Heather Angel, and Leo G...
(1941) (Academy Award nomination) - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. HydeDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941 film)Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1941 horror film starring Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner. Rather than being a new film version of the novel, it is a direct remake of the 1931 film of the same name, which differs greatly from the novel. The movie was based on Robert Louis Stevenson's...
(1941) (Academy Award nomination) - Her Cardboard LoverHer Cardboard LoverHer Cardboard Lover is a 1942 American comedy film directed by George Cukor. The screenplay by Jacques Deval, John Collier, Anthony Veiller, and William H. Wright is based on the English translation of Deval's play Dans sa candeur naïve by Valerie Wyngate and P.G. Wodehouse...
(1942) - Objective, Burma!Objective, Burma!Objective, Burma! is an Oscar-nominated 1945 war film which was loosely based on the six month raid by Merrill's Marauders in the Burma Campaign during the Second World War...
(1945) (Academy Award nomination) - HumoresqueHumoresque (film)Humoresque is a 1946 Warner Bros. feature film starring Joan Crawford and John Garfield in an older woman/younger man tale about a violinist and his patroness. The screenplay by Clifford Odets and Zachary Gold was based upon a novel by Fannie Hurst...
(1946) (Academy Award nomination) - Dark CityDark City (1950 film)Dark City is a 1950 film noir. The casting of Charlton Heston—in his first Hollywood film appearance—as a petty hood is unusual in light of his subsequent career. The film also features Jack Webb and Harry Morgan, who both went on to co-star in Dragnet. The musical score was composed by Franz...
(1950) - The FuriesThe Furies (film)The Furies is a Western film directed by Anthony Mann and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, and, in his last performance, Walter Huston.In 2008, the film was released on DVD in the U.S. by the Criterion Collection.-Plot:T.C...
(1950) - Sunset Boulevard (1950) (Academy Award)
- He Ran All the WayHe Ran All the WayHe Ran All the Way is a 1951 crime drama, considered a film noir, starring John Garfield and Shelley Winters. The film was Garfield's last, as accusations of his involvement with the Communist Party and a refusal to name names while testifying before the HUAC led to his blacklisting in Hollywood...
(1951) - Anne of the IndiesAnne of the IndiesAnne of the Indies is a 1951 adventure film made by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Jacques Tourneur and produced by George Jessel.The film stars Jean Peters and Louis Jourdan, with Debra Paget, Herbert Marshall, Thomas Gomez and James Robertson Justice.-Story Development:The story was...
(1951) - A Place in the Sun (1951) (Academy Award)
- Phone Call from a StrangerPhone Call from a StrangerPhone Call from a Stranger is a 1952 American drama film directed by Jean Negulesco, who was nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. The screenplay by Nunnally Johnson and I.A.R...
(1952) - Stalag 17Stalag 17Stalag 17 is a 1953 war film which tells the story of a group of American airmen held in a German World War II prisoner of war camp, who come to suspect that one of their number is a traitor...
(1953) - Demetrius and the GladiatorsDemetrius and the GladiatorsDemetrius and the Gladiators is a 1954 sword and sandal drama film and a sequel to The Robe. It was made by 20th Century Fox, directed by Delmer Daves and produced by Frank Ross. The screenplay was by Philip Dunne based on characters created by Lloyd C...
(1954) - Rear WindowRear WindowRear Window is a 1954 American suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by John Michael Hayes and based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder"...
(1954) - The Silver ChaliceThe Silver Chalice (film)The Silver Chalice is a 1954 historical epic film from Warner Bros., based on Thomas B. Costain's 1952 novel of the same name.-Plot:A Greek artisan is commissioned to cast the cup of Christ in silver and sculpt around its rim the faces of the disciples and Jesus himself. He travels to Jerusalem and...
(1954) (Academy Award nomination) - Mister Roberts (1955)
- Peyton PlacePeyton Place (film)Peyton Place is a 1957 American drama film directed by Mark Robson. The screenplay by John Michael Hayes is based on the bestselling 1956 novel of the same name by Grace Metalious.-Plot:...
(1957) - Run Silent, Run DeepRun Silent, Run DeepRun Silent, Run Deep is a novel published first in 1955 by then-Commander Edward L. Beach, Jr.. The name refers to "silent running", a submarine stealth tactic. It is also the name of a 1958 movie based on the same novel...
(1958) - The Nun's StoryThe Nun's Story (film)The Nun's Story is a 1959 Warner Brothers film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Audrey Hepburn. Based upon the 1956 novel of the same title by Kathryn Hulme, the story tells of the life of Sister Luke , a young Belgian woman who decides to enter a convent and make the many sacrifices...
(1959) (Academy Award nomination) - Return to Peyton PlaceReturn to Peyton Place (film)Return to Peyton Place is a 1961 drama film produced by Jerry Wald and directed by José Ferrer. The screenplay by Ronald Alexander is based on the 1959 novel Return to Peyton Place by Grace Metalious...
(1961) - Taras Bulba (1962) (Academy Award nomination)
Selected concert works
- Carmen Fantasie, for violin and orchestra
- Tristan and Isolde Fantasy, for violin, piano and orchestra
- Auld Lang Syne Variations (1947), for violin and chamber ensemble. Movements: "Eine kleine Nichtmusik," "Moonlight Concerto," "Chaconne a son gout," and "Hommage to Shostakofiev."
- The Song of Terezín (1964-65), based on poems by children of Theresienstadt concentration camp
External links
- Franz Waxman: extensive list of works
- Article by fellow composer David Raksin on Franz Waxman
- Official site on Franz Waxman, which provides comprehensive information on Waxman's life and works, and includes a discography
- Brief biography and list of compositions at www.musicuk.us
- Biographical overview of Waxman and listing of his works
- Guide to Waxman's papers at Syracuse University Library