Alexander Goldscheider (born June 22, 1950) is a Czech-born British

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

music producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

and computer specialist.

Life and career

He read music at

Charles University ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , undergr ...

in Prague, and received a PhD for his analysis of the music of ''

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

'' in 1975. Initially a music writer, critic, and radio/club DJ (1968–73), he moved into songwriting and music production, becoming a staff producer at Supraphon (1976–79), where he produced a number of pop, rock, and jazz LPs of Czech singers and bands. He pioneered the use of

synthesizers A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

in Czechoslovakia and his music was released by

Panton Records Panton Records or PANTON was a Czechoslovak and later Czech record label and music publishing house of the Czech Music Fund, founded in 1968. In Czechoslovakia, it was one of the three major state-owned labels, the other two being Supraphon and ...

and Supraphon, used on TV and in films. He moved to London in 1981, recorded two solo albums (''Themes for a One-Man-Band Vol. 1 & 2''), and in 1983 worked at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop producing his own music for radio, TV, and films. Goldscheider then co-founded a music and computer company

Romantic Robot Romantic Robot is a small independent British company that publishes classical music recordings. In the 1980s it designed and produced peripherals and software for home computers. History Romantic Robot was founded in London in 1983 by Czech-bor ...

, which initially designed and sold hardware (Multiprint, Videoface,

Multiface The Multiface was a hardware peripheral released by Romantic Robot for several 1980s home computers. The primary function of the device was to dump the computer's memory to external storage. Pressing a red button on the Multiface activated it. As ...

s 1, 2, 3, 128 and ST) and published software (Music Typewriter, Trans-Express, Genie,

Wriggler Wriggler may refer to: *Collared wrigglers, fish in the family Xenisthmidae *Wriggler (mosquito larva) Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' ...

) for

Sinclair Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colour ...

, Amstrad CPC, and

Atari ST The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...

computers.

became a recording label in 1991, when Goldscheider produced and released a 2-CD set of music written and performed in a Czech concentration camp –'' Terezín: The Music 1941-44''. The set included children's opera ''

Brundibár ''Brundibár'' is a children's opera by Jewish Czech composer Hans Krása with a libretto by Adolf Hoffmeister, made most famous by performances by the children of Theresienstadt concentration camp (Terezín) in occupied Czechoslovakia. The name ...

'' by

Hans Krása Hans Krása (30 November 1899 – 17 October 1944) was a Czech composer, murdered during the Holocaust at Auschwitz. He helped to organize cultural life in Theresienstadt concentration camp. Life Hans Krása was born in Prague, the son of Anna ...

, which has since been staged, recorded, and filmed all over the world. In addition to producing another CD (''An American in Prague – Aaron Copland conducts the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra''), Goldscheider has since concentrated on writing, performing, and producing his own compositions, recording classical singers, large choruses, and the Romantic Robot Orchestra on CDs such as ''

Stabat Mater The Stabat Mater is a 13th-century Christian hymn to Mary, which portrays her suffering as Jesus Christ's mother during his crucifixion. Its author may be either the Franciscan friar Jacopone da Todi or Pope Innocent III.Sabatier, Paul ''Life o ...

'' and '' The Song of Songs'', with occasional detours into web design. In June 2018, British record company Little Beat Different released his eponymous vinyl LP ''Alexander Goldscheider''. The first part of his memoirs ''Intended Coincidences'' was published in Prague in July 2020. Alexander Goldscheider's grandson Ben Goldscheider is also a musician. He won the Brass Category Final of the 2016 BBC Young Musician competition, playing the

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

Discography and Books

* ''Themes for a One-Man-Band Vol. 1'' * ''Themes for a One-Man-Band Vol. 2''
''Undercurrents''
* '' Terezín: The Music 1941–44'' (produced) * ''An American in Prague'' (produced) * ''Stabat Mater'' * ''The Song of Songs''
''Alexander Goldscheider''

''Intended Coincidences''

Notes

References

External links

Romantic Robot

Last.fm

Discogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldscheider, Alexander 1950 births Living people Czech composers Czech male composers Czech expatriates in the United Kingdom Musicians from Prague Writers from Prague Czech male writers Czech exiles Czech Jews Czech people of Russian-Jewish descent Charles University alumni