Bernard Grun (; 11 February 1901 28 December 1972) was a German.

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 def ...

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

, and author. He is primarily remembered as the compiler of ''The Timetables of History''.

Early life

Grün was born on 11 February 1901 in Startsch,

Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

(now Stařeč,

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

).. He completed a degree in

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and a doctorate in

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, going on to study

music theory Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...

at Vienna's national music academy under

Alban Berg Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( ; ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...

Hans Gál Hans Gál Officer of the Order of the British Empire, OBE (5 August 1890 – 3 October 1987) was an Austrian composer, pedagogue, musicologist, and author, who emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1938. Life Gál was born to a Jewish family in ...

, Felix von Weingartner, and Egon Wellesz.

Career

Grün composed

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

and songs and took work as a conductor in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

and

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

before joining the Comedy House (') in Vienna. The 1920 film ''Die Erlebnisse der berühmten Tänzerin Fanny Elssler'' featured a screenplay by Grün. From 1924 to 1929 he worked as a conductor in Prague at the Neues deutsches Theater (New German Theatre). His first major work was the 1929 ''Bohemian Musicians'', performed in Vienna in 1930, and he composed music for the soundtrack of the 1932 film '' Ein Auto und kein Geld''. Grün completed ''Marlene's Wedding'' and ''Gaby'' before being forced to leave Austria ahead of its

unification Unification or unification theory may refer to: Computer science * Unification (computer science), the act of identifying two terms with a suitable substitution * Unification (graph theory), the computation of the most general graph that subs ...

with

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. He moved to the United Kingdom in 1935, anglicising his name to "Bernard Grun". Following this, he co-composed music for the 1938 musical '' Magyar Melody''. On 27 March 1939, it became the first musical to be broadcast directly from a theatre and shown on television (

BBC TV BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios ...

). In 1946, he published his compilation ''The Timetables of History'', adapted from Werner Stein's ''Kulturfahrplan'', presenting human history since 5000BC in tabular form. Each century, then decade, then year, is presented with its major events (if known) divided under the seven headings: * Influential leaders and political events * Literature & Theater * Religion, Philosophy, Learning * Visual Arts * Music * Scientific and technological inventions * Daily Life, innovations, trends. It has been in constant publication, with the most recent update in 2005. In the postwar period, Grun continued writing film music for titles such as '' White Cradle Inn'' (1947), ''Balalaika'', ''The Blind Goddess'' and ''Brass Monkey'' (all from 1948). In 1952, " Broken Wings", a song which Grun co-wrote, was published.Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series. United States: n.p., 1952. p.107. Grun was credited as a composer alongside John Jerome, which was a collaborative pseudonym for Harold Cornelius Fields, Howard Ellington Barnes and Joseph Dominic Roncoroni. The song entered the UK Singles Chart in a recording by The Stargazers, a British vocal group, in February 1953. The same month, two other recordings of the song also entered the UK chart: an American recording by Art and Dotty Todd (which peaked at number 6), and one by British singer

Dickie Valentine Richard Bryce ( Maxwell; 4 November 1929 – 6 May 1971), known professionally as Dickie Valentine, was a British pop singer who enjoyed great popularity in Britain during the 1950s. In addition to several other Top Ten hit singles, Valentine h ...

(which reached number 12). The Stargazers' recording climbed to number 1 in April 1953. The song also made number 1 on the UK's sheet music sales chart in February 1953, where it stayed for six weeks. Over the course of his life, Grun served as the musical director of theatres in

, Vienna,

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, and London, including His Majesty's Theatre. In addition to his own output, he was also responsible for adapting various musical works, including Bizet's ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...

'', Lehár's ''

Count of Luxembourg The territory of Luxembourg has been ruled successively by counts, dukes and grand dukes. It was part of the medieval Kingdom of Germany, and later the Holy Roman Empire until it became a sovereignty, sovereign state in 1815. Counts of Luxembourg ...

'', Millöcker's '' Dubarry'', and Benatzky's '' White Horse Inn''.

Personal life and death

Grun married the British fashion designer Edith Hart. He died of a heart attack on 28 December 1972 in London, aged 71..

Works

Print

Grun authored the books:. * ''The Timetables of History'' (1946) * ''Private Lives of the Great Composers, Conductors, and Musical Artistes of the World'' (1954) * ''Prince of Vienna: The Life, the Times, and the Melodies of Oscar Straus'' (1955) * ''The Golden Quill'' (1956) * ''Fanny Beloved'' (1959) * ''Die Leichte Muse: Kulturgeschichte der Operette'' (1961) * ''Aller Spass dieser Welt'' (1965) * , translated as ''Gold and Silver: The Life and Times of Franz Lehár'' (1970) * ''Alban Berg: Letters to His Wife'' (1971, editor and translator) * ''Bernard Grun's Beste Musiker Anekdoten'' (1974) * ''Mit Takt und Taktstock: Musikeranekdoten'' (1979)

Music

Grun composed the music for over 30 musicals, including: * ''Böhmische Musikanten'' (1929) * ''Musik um Susi'' (1932) * ''Marlenes Brautfahrt'' (1933) * ''Die Tänzerin Fanny Elßler'' (1934) * ''Gaby'' (1936) * ''

Balalaika The balalaika (, ) is a Russian string instrument, stringed musical instrument with a characteristic triangular wooden, hollow body, fretted neck, and three strings. Two strings are usually tuned to the same note and the third string is a perf ...

'' (1936 musical, with George Posford). * ''Madame Sans-Gêne'' (1937) * ''Old Chelsea'' (1943, in part). * '' Summer Song (1956 arrangement of Dvorak)

Filmography

Grun's work featured in over 60 films, mainly in the 1930s and '40s, including:. * ''Die Erlebnisse der Berühmten Tänzerin Fanny Elßler'' (1920, writer) * ''

An Auto and No Money ''An Auto and No Money'' (German: ''Ein Auto und kein Geld'') is a 1932 German comedy film directed by Jacob Fleck and Luise Fleck and starring Paul Kemp, Dina Gralla and Igo Sym. It was shot at the Hunnia Studios in Budapest. The film's sets ...

'' (1932, composer) * ''

'' (1939 & 1948, composer) * ''Magyar Melody'' (1939, composer) * '' White Cradle Inn'' (1947, released as ''High Fury'' in US; composer, arranger, & conductor) * '' Brass Monkey'' (1948, composer) * '' The Blind Goddess'' (1948, composer)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grun, Bernard 1901 births 1972 deaths People from Třebíč District Musicians from the Margraviate of Moravia Writers from the Margraviate of Moravia Austrian composers 20th-century Austrian lawyers 20th-century British composers 20th-century Austrian musicians 20th-century Austrian male musicians Austrian people of Moravian-German descent Berg scholars