Franz Waxman (né Wachsmann; December 24, 1906February 24, 1967) was a German-born composer and conductor of Jewish descent, known primarily for his work in the

film music A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

genre. His film scores include ''

Bride of Frankenstein ''Bride of Frankenstein'' is a 1935 American science fiction horror film, and the first sequel to Universal Pictures' 1931 film ''Frankenstein''. As with the first film, ''Bride of Frankenstein'' was directed by James Whale starring Boris Kar ...

'', ''

Rebecca Rebecca, ; Syriac: , ) from the Hebrew (lit., 'connection'), from Semitic root , 'to tie, couple or join', 'to secure', or 'to snare') () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical ...

'', ''

Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare in ...

'', '' A Place in the Sun'', '' Stalag 17'', ''

Rear Window ''Rear Window'' is a 1954 American mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and written by John Michael Hayes based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder". Originally released by Paramount Pictures, the film st ...

'', '' Peyton Place'', '' The Nun's Story'', and '' Taras Bulba''. He received twelve Academy Award nominations, and won two Oscars in consecutive years (for ''Sunset Boulevard'' and ''A Place in the Sun''). He also received a

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...

for the former film.

Bernard Herrmann Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in composing for films. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely r ...

said that the score for ''Taras Bulba'' was "the score of a lifetime." He also composed concert works, including the oratorio ''Joshua'' (1959), and ''The Song of Terezín'' (1964–65), a work for orchestra, chorus, and children's chorus based upon poetry written by children in the

Theresienstadt concentration camp Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination ca ...

during World War II. Waxman also founded the Los Angeles Music Festival in 1947 with which he conducted a number of West Coast premieres by fellow film composers, and concert composers alike.Palmer, 96.

Biography

Early life (1906–1934)

Waxman was born Franz Wachsmann () in Königshütte to

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

parents in the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

Province of Silesia The Province of Silesia (german: Provinz Schlesien; pl, Prowincja Śląska; szl, Prowincyjŏ Ślōnskŏ) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1919. The Silesia region was part of the Prussian realm since 1740 and established as an official p ...

(now Chorzów, Poland). At the age of three Waxman suffered a serious eye injury involving boiling water tipped from a stove, which left his vision permanently impaired. In 1923, at age 16, Waxman enrolled in the Dresden Music Academy and studied composition and conducting. Waxman lived from the money he made playing popular music and managed to put himself through school. While working as a pianist with the Weintraub Syncopators, a dance band, Waxman met Frederick Hollander, who eventually introduced Waxman to the eminent conductor

Bruno Walter Bruno Walter (born Bruno Schlesinger, September 15, 1876February 17, 1962) was a German-born conductor, pianist and composer. Born in Berlin, he escaped Nazi Germany in 1933, was naturalised as a French citizen in 1938, and settled in the U ...

.Thomas, 35. Waxman worked as an orchestrator for the German film industry, including on Hollander's score for '' The Blue Angel'' (1930). One of his first dramatic scores was for the film ''

Liliom ''Liliom'' is a 1909 play by the Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnár. It was well known in its own right during the early to mid-20th century, but is best known today as the basis for the Rodgers and Hammerstein 1945 musical ''Carousel''. P ...

'' (1934). That year Waxman suffered a severe beating by

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

sympathizers in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

that led him to leave Germany and move with his wife first to Paris, and soon after to Hollywood.

Film music and the Los Angeles Music Festival (1935–1949)

In Hollywood, Waxman met

James Whale James Whale (22 July 1889 – 29 May 1957) was an English film director, theatre director and actor, who spent the greater part of his career in Hollywood. He is best remembered for several horror films: '' Frankenstein'' (1931), '' The ...

, who had been highly impressed by Waxman's score for ''Liliom''. The success of his score for Whale's ''

'' (1935) led to the young composer's appointment as Head of Music at

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

.Thomas, 36. Waxman, however, was more interested in composition than musical direction for film, and in 1936 he left Universal to become a composer at MGM. Waxman scored a number of pictures during the next few years, but the score for

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

's ''

'' (1940) made his name. Waxman was frequently called to work on scores of horror or suspense films, and ''Rebecca'' was the culmination of the genre for Waxman.Palmer, 102. ''Rebecca'' was Hitchcock's first Hollywood film as part of his contract with

David O. Selznick David O. Selznick (May 10, 1902June 22, 1965) was an American film producer, screenwriter and film studio executive who produced '' Gone with the Wind'' (1939) and ''Rebecca'' (1940), both of which earned him an Academy Award for Best Picture. ...

, and thus it was the first time he was allowed a full symphonic score. Selznick financed the film at the same time as he was making '' Gone With the Wind''. Waxman's score for ''Rebecca'' is eerie and ethereal, often setting the mood and as Jack Sullivan put it, becoming a "soundboard for the subconscious." In 1943, Waxman left MGM and moved to Warner Bros., where he worked alongside such great film composers as Max Steiner and Erich Wolfgang Korngold. A period of extended composition followed, including such films as ''

Mr. Skeffington ''Mr. Skeffington'' is a 1944 American drama film directed by Vincent Sherman, based on the 1940 novel of the same name by Elizabeth von Arnim. The film stars Bette Davis as a beautiful but self-centered woman who has many suitors but marries Jo ...

'' (1944) and '' Objective, Burma!'' (1945). A climactic scene in ''Objective, Burma!'' was scored fugally, and this would become one of Waxman's trademarks, returning in ''

The Spirit of St. Louis The ''Spirit of St. Louis'' (formally the Ryan NYP, registration: N-X-211) is the custom-built, single-engine, single-seat, high-wing monoplane that was flown by Charles Lindbergh on May 20–21, 1927, on the first solo nonstop transatlanti ...

'' (1957) and '' Taras Bulba'' (1962). In 1947, Waxman formed the Los Angeles Music Festival, for which he served as music director and conductor for the rest of his life. Waxman's goal with the LA Music Festival was to bring the thriving town to "European cultural standards", according to Tony Thomas. In addition to performing the work of great masters such as

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...

, he also collaborated with his colleagues, such as Miklós Rózsa, conducting his Violin Concerto.

Post-war film scores (1947–1959)

By 1947, Waxman had left Warner Bros., to become a freelance film composer, taking only the jobs he wanted rather than being appointed by the studio. Waxman scored the film '' Sorry, Wrong Number'' (1948), which climaxes with the use of a passacaglia, highlighting Waxman's highly inventive use of unusual musical forms in film. Waxman had used classical forms before: the climactic "Creation" cue from ''The Bride of Frankenstein'' (1935), as

Christopher Palmer Christopher Francis Palmer (9 September 194622 January 1995) was an English composer, arranger and orchestrator; biographer of composers, champion of lesser-known composers and writer on film music and other musical subjects; record producer; and ...

expresses it, "is in effect a fantasia on one note." His work on ''

'' (1950) led to an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

. The score is fast-paced and powerful, utilizing various techniques to highlight the insanity of Norma Desmond, including low pulsing notes (first heard in ''The Bride of Frankenstein'') and frequent trills. According to Mervyn Cooke,

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...

's opera ''

Salome Salome (; he, שְלוֹמִית, Shlomit, related to , "peace"; el, Σαλώμη), also known as Salome III, was a Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II, son of Herod the Great, and princess Herodias, granddaughter of Herod the Great, a ...

'' was the inspiration for the wild trills heard during Desmond's insane final performance. Waxman received a second consecutive Oscar for '' A Place in the Sun'' (1951). However, while awards for film music highlighted the beginning of the 1950s, Waxman now began to write serious works for the concert hall. The Sinfonietta for Strings and Timpani came in 1955 and 1959 saw the completion of Waxman's oratorio ''Joshua''. Composed to commemorate the death of Waxman's wife, ''Joshua'' with its strong Hebrew influences and extensive use of form is a powerful example of Waxman's compositional powers by the end of the 1950s.

Later life (1960–1967)

Waxman's later life saw continuing growth of his reputation as a composer.

writes that at the time of his death in 1967, "Waxman was at the zenith of his powers."Palmer, 97. Waxman's output in the 1960s was perhaps more subdued than that which came before it, however he did write ''Taras Bulba'' in 1962. Waxman worked on several television shows, including ''

Gunsmoke ''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centers on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central chara ...

'', in 1966. ''The Song of Terezín'' (1964–65) was based upon poetry by children trapped in the Nazi's

. Perhaps Waxman's deep spiritual connection to the subject came from his own encounters with Nazism on a Berlin street in 1934, but whatever the reason for Waxman's deep commitment to the subject, ''The Song of Terezin'' stands as the exemplary work of the composer's life. The work is composed for mixed chorus, children's chorus, soprano soloist, and orchestra. He had a son, John Waxman; John had two children, Josh and Alyce Waxman; and Josh had three children, Andrew, Christopher, and Grace Waxman. Waxman died from cancer in February 1967, two months after his sixtieth birthday. His legacy contains over 150 film scores and an abundant collection of concert works.

Legacy

Some of Waxman's music has been featured on commercial recordings, both on LP and CD. Charles Gerhardt and the National Philharmonic Orchestra played highlights from various Waxman scores for an

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

recording in the early 1970s that utilized

Dolby Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (often shortened to Dolby Labs and known simply as Dolby) is an American company specializing in audio noise reduction, audio encoding/compression, spatial audio, and HDR imaging. Dolby licenses its technologies to ...

surround sound. Twenty years later, Australian composer and conductor Richard Mills (b. 1949) recorded an anthology of film suites with the Queensland Symphony for the record label Varèse-Sarabande (VSD5242/5257/5480/5713) which were (as the Gerhardt above) produced by George Korngold, son of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, a colleague of Waxman, as well as another pioneer of the "Hollywood sound". The music for ''Taras Bulba'' has been recorded by the ity of Prague Philharmonic/Nic Raine, on 2 cd Tadlow013-2 The

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Lead ...

ranked Waxman's score for ''Sunset Boulevard'' No. 16 on their list of the greatest film scores. His scores for the following films were also nominated for the list: *''

'' (1935) *'' Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' (1941) *'' The Nun's Story'' (1959) *'' Peyton Place'' (1957) *'' The Philadelphia Story'' (1940) *'' A Place in the Sun'' (1951) *''

'' (1940) *'' Sayonara'' (1957) *''

'' (1957) *'' Taras Bulba'' (1962)

Filmography

* ''

Burglars Burglary, also called breaking and entering and sometimes housebreaking, is the act of entering a building or other areas without permission, with the intention of committing a criminal offence. Usually that offence is theft, robbery or murder ...

'' (1930) * '' The Man in Search of His Murderer'' (1931) * '' Caught in the Act'' (1931) * ''

Scampolo ''Scampolo'' is a 1958 German film directed by Alfred Weidenmann and starring Romy Schneider, Paul Hubschmid, and Georg Thomalla. Schneider plays the title role. Plot Scampolo is a young, poor girl who lives on the island of Ischia. She fal ...

'' (1932) * ''

The First Right of the Child ''The First Right of the Child'' (german: Das erste Recht des Kindes) is a 1932 German drama film directed by Fritz Wendhausen and starring Hertha Thiele, Eduard Wesener and Helene Fehdmer. The film's sets were designed by the art director E ...

'' (1932) * '' The Empress and I'' (1933) * ''

The Only Girl ''The Only Girl'' is a 1933 British-German musical film directed by Friedrich Hollaender and starring Lilian Harvey, Charles Boyer, and Mady Christians. It is the English-language version of ''The Empress and I'' which also starred Harvey and Ch ...

'' (1933) * ''

Greetings and Kisses, Veronika ''Greetings and Kisses, Veronika'' (german: Gruß und Kuß – Veronika) is a 1933 German comedy film directed by Carl Boese and starring Franciska Gaal, Paul Hörbiger, and Otto Wallburg. It was shot at the Johannisthal Studios in Berlin. The ...

'' (1933) * ''

'' (1934) * ''

Mauvaise Graine ''Mauvaise Graine'' (English: ''Bad Seed'') is a 1934 French drama film directed by Billy Wilder (in his directorial debut) and Alexander Esway. The screenplay by Wilder, , Max Colpet, and Claude-André Puget focuses on a wealthy young playboy ...

'' (1934) * '' The Crisis is Over'' (1934) * ''

'' (1935) * ''

Flash Gordon Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established '' Buck Rogers'' adv ...

'' (serial, stock music from ''Bride of Frankenstein'', 1936) *'' Fury'' (1936) *'' The Invisible Ray'' (1936) *''

The Devil-Doll ''The Devil-Doll'' (1936) is a horror film directed by Tod Browning and starring Lionel Barrymore and Maureen O'Sullivan. The film was adapted from the novel ''Burn Witch Burn!'' (1932) by Abraham Merritt. It has become a cult film.Paul Simpson, ...

'' (1936) *''

Captains Courageous ''Captains Courageous: A Story of the Grand Banks'' is an 1897 novel by Rudyard Kipling that follows the adventures of fifteen-year-old Harvey Cheyne Jr., the spoiled son of a railroad tycoon, after he is saved from drowning by a Portuguese f ...

'' (1937) * ''

Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars ''Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars'' is a 1938 Universal Pictures 15–chapter science-fiction movie serial based on the syndicated newspaper comic strip ''Flash Gordon''. It is the second of the three Flash Gordon serials made by Universal between 1 ...

'' (serial, stock music from ''Bride of Frankenstein'', 1938) *''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ''A Christmas ...

'' (1938) * '' The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn'' (1939) * '' The Young in Heart'' (1938, 2 Academy Award nominations) * '' On Borrowed Time'' (1939) * ''

Lady of the Tropics ''Lady of the Tropics'' is a 1939 American drama film directed by Jack Conway, starring Robert Taylor, Hedy Lamarr, and Joseph Schildkraut. Plot While visiting French Indochina with his girlfriend and her family on her father's yacht, freeload ...

'' (1939) * '' Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe'' (serial, stock music from ''Bride of Frankenstein'', 1940) * '' Strange Cargo'' (1940) *''

'' (1940, Academy Award nomination) *''

Boom Town A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although ...

'' (1940) *'' The Philadelphia Story'' (1940) *'' Suspicion'' (1941, Academy Award nomination) *'' Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' (1941, Academy Award nomination) *'' Woman of the Year'' (1942) *'' Her Cardboard Lover'' (1942) *'' Edge of Darkness'' (1943) *'' Destination Tokyo'' (1943) *''

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

'' (1943) *''

To Have and Have Not ''To Have and Have Not'' is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1937 by Charles Scribner's Sons. The book follows Harry Morgan, a fishing boat captain out of Key West, Florida. ''To Have and Have Not'' was Hemingway's second novel set in th ...

'' (1944, uncredited) *''

'' (1944) *'' Objective, Burma!'' (1945, Academy Award nomination) *'' Hotel Berlin'' (1945) *'' Humoresque'' (1946, Academy Award nomination) *'' Possessed'' (1947) *'' That Hagen Girl'' (1947) *'' Cry Wolf'' (1947) *'' The Paradine Case'' (1947) *'' Sorry, Wrong Number'' (1948) *'' Alias Nick Beal'' (1949) *'' Night Unto Night'' (1949) *''

'' (1950) (Academy Award) *'' The Furies'' (1950) *'' Night and the City'' (1950) *'' Dark City'' (1950) *'' The Blue Veil'' (1951) *'' He Ran All the Way'' (1951) *''

Anne of the Indies ''Anne of the Indies'' is a 1951 Technicolor 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, Thom ...

'' (1951) *'' A Place in the Sun'' (1951) (Academy Award) *'' Red Mountain'' (1951) *'' Decision Before Dawn'' (1951) *''

Phone Call from a Stranger ''Phone Call from a Stranger'' is a 1952 American film noir drama film directed by Jean Negulesco from a screenplay by Nunnally Johnson, based on the 1950 novelette of the same name by I. A. R. Wylie. The film centers on the survivor of an airc ...

'' (1952) *'' Come Back, Little Sheba'' (1952) *''

My Cousin Rachel ''My Cousin Rachel'' is a Gothic novel written by English author Daphne du Maurier, published in 1951. Bearing thematic similarities to her earlier and more famous novel ''Rebecca'', it is a mystery-romance, set primarily on a large estate in ...

'' (1952) *''

Botany Bay Botany Bay ( Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...

'' (1953) *'' Stalag 17'' (1953) *'' Demetrius and the Gladiators'' (1954) * ''

Elephant Walk ''Elephant Walk'' is a 1954 American drama film produced by Paramount Pictures, directed by William Dieterle, and starring Elizabeth Taylor, Dana Andrews, Peter Finch and Abraham Sofaer.It is based upon the 1948 novel '' Elephant Walk'' by "Rob ...

'' (1954) *''

Prince Valiant ''Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur'', often simply called ''Prince Valiant'', is an American comic strip created by Hal Foster in 1937. It is an epic adventure that has told a continuous story during its entire history, and the full stretc ...

'' (1954) *''

'' (1954) *'' The Silver Chalice'' (1954) (Academy Award nomination) *'' Mister Roberts'' (1955) *'' Peyton Place'' (1957) *'' Sayonara'' (1957) *''

'' (1957) *''

Run Silent, Run Deep ''Run Silent, Run Deep'' is a novel by Commander (later Captain) Edward L. Beach Jr. published in 1955 by Henry Holt & Co. The story describes World War II submarine warfare in the Pacific Ocean, and deals with themes of vengeance, endurance, ...

'' (1958) *'' The Nun's Story'' (1959) (Academy Award nomination) *''

Sunrise at Campobello ''Sunrise at Campobello'' is a 1960 Warner Bros. biographical film telling the story of the struggles of future President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his family when Roosevelt was stricken with paralysis at the age of 39 ...

'' (1960) *'' Cimarron'' (1960) *'' Return to Peyton Place'' (1961) *'' The Big Bankroll'' (1961) *'' My Geisha'' (1962) *'' Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man'' (1962) *'' Taras Bulba'' (1962, Academy Award nomination) *'' Lost Command'' (1966) *''The Raid'' (1966)

episodes 11.18 & 11.19

Selected concert works

*'' Carmen Fantasie'', (1946) for violin and orchestra *''Tristan and Isolde Fantasy'', for violin, piano and orchestra *''Four Scenes from Childhood'' (1948), for violin and piano (written for Jascha Heifetz on the occasion of the birth of his son Jay) *''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 *"Joshua" (1959), Oratorio

References

External links

Official website
*

at

Syracuse University Library Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

Franz Waxman Remembered
by David Raksin (archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Waxman, Franz 1906 births 1967 deaths 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century German composers 20th-century classical composers American film score composers Best Original Music Score Academy Award winners Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery Deaths from cancer in California German classical composers German film score composers German male classical composers Golden Globe Award-winning musicians Jewish American classical composers Jewish classical composers Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States American male film score composers Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany People from Chorzów People from the Province of Silesia 20th-century American Jews