Albert Richard Sendrey, also Albert Richard Szendrei, (26 December 1911The Riemann Musiklexikon (1972) incorrectly gives the date of birth of Albert Richard Sendrey as 26 December 1922. – 18 May 2003) was an American composer, conductor and arranger of Austro-Hungarian origin. Sendrey is the son of the Hungarian-born composer, conductor and musicologist

Alfred Szendrei Alfred Szendrei, also ''Alfred Sendrey'' and ''Aladár Szendrei'' (29 February 1884 – 3 March 1976) was an American musicologist, organist, conductor, composer of Hungarian origin. He was one of the leading conductors and pioneers of German radio ...

. His mother, Eugenie (birth name: Eugenie Weisz), worked as a soprano at the

Vienna State Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August S ...

under

Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

Life and career

Sendrey was born into a family of musicians in Chicago in 1911 during his father's time as a theatre conductor. He studied with his father and attended the

University of Music and Theatre Leipzig The University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig (german: Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig) is a public university in Leipzig (Saxony, Germany). Founded in 1843 by Felix Mendelssohn ...

and the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

, as well as the

Trinity College of Music Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music and dance conservatoire based in London, England. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. The conservatoire has ...

in London. He was a student of Albert Coats, John Barbirolli and Henry Geehl. From 1935 to 1937, he worked as an arranger for film companies in Paris and from 1937 to 1944 in London. As a Jew, Sendrey fled from the National Socialists around 1933, first to Paris with his family. The

Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...

in May and June 1940 forced the family to flee further to the United States where they changed their Hungarian surname "Szendrei" to the Americanized spelling "Sendrey". Albert Sendrey settled in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

. Among other works, Sendrey wrote the ballet ''Danse d'odalisque'', three symphonies, an ''Oriental Suite for Orchestra'' (1935), a toccata and a fugue for orchestra. He also wrote chamber music: two string quartets, a duo for horn and viola, a Divertimento for violoncello, a concertina for piano. His main field of work as a composer was film and television music. He composed film and television scores like '' Laramie'' for example. He also wrote for

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

Musicals like ''Peter Pan'' (New York 1954) and ''New Faces of 1956''. He also composed special music for nightclubs. In total, Sendrey composed, arranged and orchestrated the music for about 170 film and television productions. From 1956 to 1964 he also worked as a pianist and conductor for the pop singer and actor Tony Martin. Sendrey died in

Woodland Hills, Los Angeles Woodland Hills is a neighborhood bordering the Santa Monica Mountains in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. Geography Woodland Hills is in the southwestern region of the San Fernando Valley, which is locate ...

at the age of 91.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sendrey, Albert Richard American conductors (music) 1911 births 2003 deaths Musicians from Chicago 20th-century American conductors (music) 20th-century classical composers American classical composers American film score composers American male classical composers American male conductors (music) 20th-century American male musicians