Walter Jurmann
Encyclopedia
Walter Jurmann was an Austria
n-born composer of popular music renowned for his versatility who, after emigrating to the United States
, specialized in film score
s and soundtrack
s.
Born in Vienna
, Jurmann received a classical education, taking his Matura
exams in 1921. For some time he studied medicine
but in 1924, after working as a lounge pianist in a posh hotel
in the Semmering
area of Lower Austria
, abandoned his studies altogether in order to pursue a career in music. He moved to Berlin
and soon became successful with tunes such as "Du bist nicht die Erste". Probably his most famous 1920s song is "Veronika, der Lenz ist da
", popularized by the all-male a cappella
ensemble, the Comedian Harmonists
. With the arrival of sound movies
Jurmann also began writing film music, starting with Ihre Majestät, die Liebe (Her Majesty, Love) (1930
). Jurman's melodies were so charming and easy to remember that a contemporary paper reported that cinemagoers were humming the new tunes already on the morning following the release of a new film.
In 1933, after the Nazis had come to power, Jurmann left Berlin for Paris
, France
, where he continued writing songs, occasionally incorporating elements of the French chanson
. In 1934 he met Louis B. Mayer
, who offered him a seven-year contract with MGM. Subsequently, Jurmann and his partner, Polish
-born composer Bronisław Kaper (1902 - 1983), went to Hollywood. Jurmann's successful films include Mutiny on the Bounty
(1935
) ("Love Song of Tahiti"), the 1936
movie San Francisco
("Theme from San Francisco
"), the 1937
Marx Brothers
' A Day at the Races
("All God's Chillun Got Rhythm"), and Presenting Lily Mars
(1943
) starring Judy Garland
.
In the early 1940s Jurmann, who had settled down in Los Angeles
, withdrew from the film business although he continued writing Ohrwürmer
up to his death. In 1953 he married Yvonne Jellinek, a Hungarian
fashion designer whom he had met at a party in the U.S. In 1971, during a trip to Europe
, he died unexpectedly of a heart attack
in Budapest
, his wife's home town. He is interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery
in Hollywood, California.
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n-born composer of popular music renowned for his versatility who, after emigrating to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, specialized in 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 and soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
s.
Born in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Jurmann received a classical education, taking his Matura
Matura
Matura or a similar term is the common name for the high-school leaving exam or "maturity exam" in various countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia,...
exams in 1921. For some time he studied medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
but in 1924, after working as a lounge pianist in a posh hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
in the Semmering
Semmering
For the town of the same name, see Semmering, Austria.Semmering is a mountain pass in the Eastern Northern Limestone Alps connecting Lower Austria and Styria, between which it forms a natural border.-Location:...
area of Lower Austria
Lower Austria
Lower Austria is the northeasternmost state of the nine states in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria since 1986 is Sankt Pölten, the most recently designated capital town in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria had formerly been Vienna, even though Vienna is not officially part of Lower Austria...
, abandoned his studies altogether in order to pursue a career in music. He moved to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
and soon became successful with tunes such as "Du bist nicht die Erste". Probably his most famous 1920s song is "Veronika, der Lenz ist da
Veronika, der Lenz ist da
Veronika, der Lenz ist da is a popular 1920s song by Walter Jurmann. Covered countless times, probably the best known version is by the German sextet, the Comedian Harmonists in 1930.- References :...
", popularized by the all-male a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
ensemble, the Comedian Harmonists
Comedian Harmonists
The Comedian Harmonists were an internationally famous, all-male German close harmony ensemble that performed between 1928 and 1934 as one of the most successful musical groups in Europe before World War II...
. With the arrival of sound movies
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
Jurmann also began writing film music, starting with Ihre Majestät, die Liebe (Her Majesty, Love) (1930
1930 in film
-Events:* November 1: The Big Trail featuring a young John Wayne in his first starring role is released in both 35mm, and a very early form of 70mm film and was the first large scale big-budget film of the sound era costing over $2 million. The film was praised for its aesthetic quality and realism...
). Jurman's melodies were so charming and easy to remember that a contemporary paper reported that cinemagoers were humming the new tunes already on the morning following the release of a new film.
In 1933, after the Nazis had come to power, Jurmann left Berlin for Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, 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...
, where he continued writing songs, occasionally incorporating elements of the French chanson
Chanson
A chanson is in general any lyric-driven French song, usually polyphonic and secular. A singer specialising in chansons is known as a "chanteur" or "chanteuse" ; a collection of chansons, especially from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, is also known as a chansonnier.-Chanson de geste:The...
. In 1934 he met Louis B. Mayer
Louis B. Mayer
Louis Burt Mayer born Lazar Meir was an American film producer. He is generally cited as the creator of the "star system" within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in its golden years. Known always as Louis B...
, who offered him a seven-year contract with MGM. Subsequently, Jurmann and his partner, Polish
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...
-born composer Bronisław Kaper (1902 - 1983), went to Hollywood. Jurmann's successful films include Mutiny on the Bounty
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935 film)
Mutiny on the Bounty is a 1935 film starring Charles Laughton and Clark Gable, and directed by Frank Lloyd based on the Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall novel Mutiny on the Bounty.The film was one of the biggest hits of its time...
(1935
1935 in film
-Events:*Judy Garland signs a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .*Seven year old Shirley Temple wins a special Academy Award.*The Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment started in order to educate the Bantu peoples.-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:...
) ("Love Song of Tahiti"), the 1936
1936 in film
The year 1936 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May 29 - Fritz Lang's first Hollywood film Fury, starring Spencer Tracy and Bruce Cabot, is released.*November 6 - first Porky Pig animated cartoon...
movie San Francisco
San Francisco (film)
San Francisco is a 1936 musical-drama directed by Woody Van Dyke, based on the April 18, 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The film, which was the top grossing movie of that year, stars Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald, and Spencer Tracy. The then very popular singing of MacDonald helped make this film...
("Theme from San Francisco
Theme from San Francisco
The theme from San Francisco, also known as "San Francisco", was a song from the 1936 American film San Francisco. The song had music written by Bronislaw Kaper and Walter Jurmann, with lyrics by Gus Kahn. The film is set in San Francisco before and after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake...
"), the 1937
1937 in film
The year 1937 in film involved some significant events, including the Walt Disney production of the first full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.- Events :*April 16 - Way Out West premieres in the US....
Marx Brothers
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
' A Day at the Races
A Day at the Races (film)
Further reading* Elisabeth Buxbaum: Veronika, der Lenz ist da. Walter Jurmann – Ein Musiker zwischen den Welten und Zeiten. Mit einem Werkverzeichnis von Alexander Sieghardt. Edition Steinbauer, Wien 2006, ISBN 3-902494-18-2-External links:*...
("All God's Chillun Got Rhythm"), and Presenting Lily Mars
Presenting Lily Mars
Presenting Lily Mars is an American musical motion picture produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and released in 1943. The film starred Judy Garland and Van Heflin and was based on the novel by Booth Tarkington...
(1943
1943 in film
The year 1943 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 3 - 1st missing persons telecast * February 20 - American film studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor films....
) starring Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
.
In the early 1940s Jurmann, who had settled down in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, withdrew from the film business although he continued writing Ohrwürmer
Earworm
Earworm, a loan translation of the German Ohrwurm, is a portion of a song or other music that repeats compulsively within one's mind, put colloquially as "music being stuck in one's head."...
up to his death. In 1953 he married Yvonne Jellinek, a Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
fashion designer whom he had met at a party in the U.S. In 1971, during a trip to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, he died unexpectedly of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, his wife's home town. He is interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood Forever Cemetery, originally called Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, is one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles, California. It is located at 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard in the Hollywood...
in Hollywood, California.