Max Steiner

Maximilian Raoul Steiner (May 10, 1888 – December 28, 1971) was an Austrian-born American music composer for theatre and films. He was a child prodigy who conducted his first operetta when he was twelve and became a full-time professional, either composing, arranging, or conducting, when he was fifteen. Steiner worked in England, then Broadway, and in 1929 he moved to Hollywood, where he became one of the first composers to write music scores for films. He was referred to as "the father of film music".[1] Steiner played a major part in creating the tradition of writing music for films, along with composers Dimitri Tiomkin, Franz Waxman, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Alfred Newman, Bernard Herrmann, and Miklós Rózsa. Steiner composed over 300 film scores with RKO Pictures
RKO Pictures and Warner Bros., and was nominated for 24 Academy Awards, winning three: The Informer (1935); Now, Voyager
Now, Voyager (1942); and Since You Went Away
Since You Went Away (1944). Besides his Oscar-winning scores, some of Steiner's popular works include King Kong (1933), Little Women (1933), Jezebel (1938), Casablanca (1942), The Searchers (1956), A Summer Place (1959), and Gone with the Wind (1939), the film score for which he is best known. He was also the first recipient of the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, which he won for his score for Life with Father. Steiner was a frequent collaborator with some of the most famous film directors in history, including Michael Curtiz, John Ford, and William Wyler, and scored many of the films with Errol Flynn, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, and Fred Astaire. Many of his film scores are available as separate soundtrack recordings.

Contents

1 Early years 2 Beginning music career 3 Broadway music (1914–1929) 4 Hollywood
Hollywood film music (1929–1971)

4.1 Symphony of Six Million
Symphony of Six Million (1932) 4.2 King Kong (1933) 4.3 The Informer (1935) 4.4 Composing for Warner Bros. 4.5 Gone with the Wind (1939) 4.6 Award-winning Scores 4.7 Westerns 4.8 Later works

5 Methods of composing

5.1 Character themes 5.2 Scene and situation themes

6 Personal life and death 7 Awards and honors 8 Filmography 9 References 10 External links

10.1 Multimedia links

Early years[edit]

Max Steiner's birthplace in Vienna
Vienna today, Praterstraße 72

Steiner was born on May 10, 1888, in Austria-Hungary. He was the only child in a wealthy business and theatrical family of Jewish heritage.[2][3][4] He was named after his paternal grandfather, Maximilian Steiner
Maximilian Steiner (1839–1880), who was credited with first persuading Johann Strauss II
Johann Strauss II to write for the theater, and was the influential manager of Vienna's historic Theater an der Wien.[5] His father was the Hungarian-Jewish Gábor Steiner (1858–1944, born in Temesvár, Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire), a Viennese impresario, carnival exposition manager, and inventor, responsible for building the Wiener Riesenrad. His father encouraged Steiner's musical talent, and allowed him to conduct an American operetta, The Belle of New York which allowed Steiner to gain early recognition by the operetta's author, Gustave Kerker.[5] Steiner's mother was a dancer in stage productions put on by his grandfather.[6] His godfather was the composer Richard Strauss.[7] Max Steiner
Max Steiner often credited his family for inspiring his early musical abilities. His parents sent Steiner to the Vienna
Vienna University of Technology, but he expressed little interest in scholastic subjects. He enrolled in the Imperial Academy of Music in 1904,[8] where, due to his precocious musical talents and private tutoring by Robert Fuchs and Gustav Mahler, he completed a four-year course in only one year. He studied various instruments including piano, organ, violin, double bass, and trumpet. He also had courses in harmony, counterpoint, and composition.[6] For his early achievements he was awarded a gold medal by the academy.[5] Beginning music career[edit] Steiner first entered the world of professional music when he was fifteen. He wrote and conducted the operetta, The Beautiful Greek Girl. The opera ran for a year and led to opportunities to conduct other shows in various cities around the world, including Moscow and Hamburg. He was invited to London to conduct Lehar's The Merry Widow. He stayed in London for eight years conducting musicals at Daly's Theares, the Adelphi, the Hippodrome, the London Pavilion
London Pavilion and the Blackpool Winter Gardens.[5] In England, Steiner wrote and conducted theater productions and symphonies. But in 1914, World War I
World War I started and he was interned as an enemy alien.[9] Fortunately, he was befriended by the Duke of Westminster, who was a fan of his work, and was given exit papers to go to America, although his money was impounded. He arrived in New York City in December 1914, with only $32 to his name.[5] Broadway music (1914–1929)[edit] Steiner soon acquired employment and worked in New York for fifteen years as a musical director, arranger, orchestrator, and conductor of Broadway productions. These productions include operettas and musicals written by Victor Herbert, Jerome Kern, Vincent Youmans, and George Gershwin, among others. Steiner's credits include: George White's Scandals (1922) (director), Peaches (1923) (composer), Lady, Be Good (1924) (conductor and orchestrator).[10] In 1927, Steiner orchestrated and conducted Harry Tierney's Rio Rita. Tierney himself later requested that RKO Pictures
RKO Pictures in Hollywood
Hollywood hire Steiner to work in their music production departments. William LeBaron, RKO's head of production, traveled to New York to watch Steiner conduct and was impressed by Steiner and his musicians, who each played several instruments, making Steiner a Hollywood
Hollywood asset.[5] His final production on Broadway was Sons O' Guns in 1929.[5] Hollywood
Hollywood film music (1929–1971)[edit] Symphony of Six Million
Symphony of Six Million (1932)[edit] Steiner accepted the offer from RKO to work in their music production departments, and moved to California in 1929. Soon after arriving, he orchestrated the film version of the musical Rio Rita and Dixiana (1930).[11] Steiner later received his first screen credit as an orchestrator for Dixiana. Later that year, Steiner was made director of RKO's music production department.[5][6] Steiner’s next film was Cimarron (1931), a Western. This was Steiner's first film for which he wrote an original composition.[5] He then worked on Bird of Paradise, putting to music almost the entire 85-minute film. In 1932, Steiner was asked to add music to Symphony of Six Million (1932), by David O. Selznick, the new producer at RKO.[5] Steiner composed a short segment that Selznick liked so much that he asked him to compose the theme and underscoring for the entire picture.[12] Selznick was very proud of the film, feeling that it gave a realistic view of Jewish family life and tradition.[13]:75 "Music until then had not been used very much for underscoring."[5] Steiner "pioneered the use of original composition as background scoring for films."[5] The successful scoring in the film was a turning point for Steiner's career and for the film industry; after the underscoring of Symphony of Six Million, a third to half of the success of most films was “attributed to the extensive use of music.”[12] King Kong (1933)[edit] The score for King Kong (1933) became Steiner's breakthrough. The studio’s bosses were initially skeptical about the need for an original score; however, since they disliked the film’s contrived special effects, they let Steiner try to improve the film with music. The studio suggested using old tracks in order to save on the cost of the film.[5] But, King Kong producer Merian C. Cooper
Merian C. Cooper asked Steiner to score the film anyway and said he would pay for the orchestra. Steiner took advantage of this offer and used an eighty-piece orchestra, explaining that the film "was made for music. It was the kind of film that allowed you to do anything and everything, from weird chords and dissonances to pretty melodies.".[5] The film became a "landmark of film scoring" [13]:113 The film quickly made Steiner one of the most respected names in Hollywood. He continued as RKOs music director for two more years, until 1936. During this time, he composed, arranged and conducted another 55 films, including most of the Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dance musicals. He also wrote a sonata used in Katharine Hepburn’s first film, Bill of Divorcement (1932). RKO producers, including Selznick, often came to him when they had problems with films, treating him as if he were a “doctor.”[5] Steiner was asked to compose a score for Of Human Bondage (1934), which originally lacked music. He added musical touches to significant scenes. Director John Ford called on Steiner to score his film, The Lost Patrol (1934), which lacked tension without music. The Informer (1935)[edit] John Ford
John Ford again hired Steiner to compose for his next film, The Informer (1935) before Ford actually began production. Ford even asked his screenwriter to meet with Steiner during the writing phase to collaborate. Ford’s preparation paid off, as the film was nominated for six Academy Awards
Academy Awards and won four, including Steiner's first Academy Award for Best Score.[14] Producer David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick set up his own production company in 1936 and recruited Steiner to write the scores for his next three films.[5] Composing for Warner Bros.[edit] In April 1937, Steiner left RKO and signed a long-term contract with Warner Bros.; he could, however, continue to work for Selznick. The first film he scored for Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. was The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936). Steiner became a mainstay at Warner Bros., scoring 140 of their films over the next 30 years. There are numerous soundtrack recordings of Steiner’s music, both as soundtracks, collections, and recordings by others. Steiner wrote into his seventies, ailing and near blind, but his compositions “revealed a freshness and fertility of invention.”[2] A theme for A Summer Place in 1959, written when Steiner was 71, became one of Warner Brothers’ biggest hit-tunes for years and a re-recorded pop standard. Steiner also scored 18 of Bette Davis’s romantic dramas. Gone with the Wind (1939)[edit] In 1939, Steiner was borrowed from Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. by Selznick to compose the score for Gone with the Wind (1939), which became one of Steiner's most notable successes. Steiner was the only composer Selznick considered for scoring the film.[5] Steiner was given only three months to complete the score, despite composing twelve more film scores that year, more than he would in any other year of his career. When the film was released, it was the longest film score ever composed, nearly three hours. The composition consisted of 16 main themes and almost 300 musical segments.[5] To meet the deadline, Steiner sometimes worked for 20-hours straight, assisted by doctor-administered Benzedrine to stay awake.[5] Selznick had asked Steiner to use only pre-existing classical music to help cut down on cost and time,[15] but Steiner tried to convince him that filling the picture with swatches of classic concert music or popular works would not be as effective as an original score, which could be used to heighten the emotional content of scenes.[16] Nevertheless, Steiner ignored Selznick's wishes and composed an entirely new score. Selznick’s opinion about using original scoring may have changed due to the overwhelming reaction to the film, nearly all of which contained Steiner’s music. A year later, he even wrote a letter emphasizing the value of original film scores.[17] :227 The film went on to win ten Academy Awards, although not for the best original score, which instead went to Herbert Stothart for the musical The Wizard of Oz.[18] The score is ranked #2 by AFI as the second greatest American film score of all time.[19] Award-winning Scores[edit] Steiner received Oscar nominations for various scores, including The Letter (1940), Sergeant York (1941), and Casablanca (1942), which remains one of his most famous scores. He won his first Oscar for The Informer in 1935 and won his second Oscar for Now, Voyager
Now, Voyager (1942), one of his favorite scores.[5] Steiner received his third and final Oscar in 1944 for Since You Went Away
Since You Went Away (1944). He also won a Golden Globe for Best Original Score for Life with Father (1947) along with other awards throughout his career.[14] Westerns[edit] Steiner wrote the scores for over twenty large-scale Westerns, most with epic-inspiring scores “about empire building and progress”[5] like Dodge City (1939), The Oklahoma Kid
The Oklahoma Kid (1939), and The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944). Dodge City, starring Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, is a good example of Steiner’s handling of typical scenes of the Western genre.[5] Steiner used a "lifting, loping melody" that reflected the movement and sounds of wagons, horses and cattle.[5] Steiner showed a love for combining Westerns and romance, as he did in They Died with Their Boots On
They Died with Their Boots On (1941), also starring Flynn and de Havilland.[5] Considered his greatest Western is The Searchers (1956). Later works[edit] Although his contract ended in 1953, Steiner returned to Warner Bros. in 1958 and scored several films, and ventured into television.[4] He continued to score films produced by Warner until the mid sixties.[5] Steiner's pace slowed significantly in the mid-1950s, and he began freelancing. In 1954, RCA Victor
RCA Victor asked Steiner to prepare and conduct an orchestral suite of music from Gone with the Wind for a special LP, which was later issued on CD. There are also acetates of Steiner conducting the Warner Brothers studio orchestra in music from some of his film scores. In 1959, he composed the score for the film A Summer Place. The memorable instrumental theme composed by Steiner spent nine weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1960 (in an instrumental cover version by Percy Faith).[20] In 1963, Steiner began writing his autobiography, which, although completed, was never published, and is the only source available on Steiner's childhood. A copy of the manuscript resides with the rest of the Max Steiner
Max Steiner Collection at Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.[10] Methods of composing[edit] Steiner explains that in the early days of sound, producers avoided underscoring music behind dialogue, feeling that the audience would wonder where the music was coming from. As a result, he notes that “they began to add a little music here and there to support love scenes or silent sequences.” But in scenes where music might be expected, such as a nightclub, ballroom or theater, the orchestra fit in more naturally and was used often.[12] However, because half of the music was recorded on the set, Steiner says it led to a great deal of inconvenience and cost when scenes were later edited, because the score would often be ruined. As recording technology improved during this period, he was able to record the music synced to the film and could change the score after the film was edited. Steiner explains his own typical method of scoring:

When a picture is finished and finally edited, it is turned over to me. Then I time it: not by stop watch, however, as many do. I have the film put through a special measuring machine and then a cue sheet created which gives me the exact time, to a split second, in which an action takes place, or a word is spoken. While these cue sheets are being made, I begin to work on themes for the different characters and scenes, but without regard to the required timing. During this period I also digest what I have seen, and try to plan the music for this picture. There may be a scene that is played a shade too slowly which I might be able to quicken with a little animated music; or, to a scene that is too fast, I may be able to give a little more feeling by using slower music. Or perhaps the music can clarify a character’s emotion, such as intense suffering, which is not demanded or fully revealed by a silent close-up.[12]

Steiner often followed his instincts and his own reasoning in creating film scores. For example, when he chose to go against Selznick’s instruction to use classical music for Gone With the Wind. Steiner stated:

It is my conviction that familiar music, however popular, does not aid the underlying score of a dramatic picture. I believe that, while the American people are more musically minded than any other nation in the world, they are still not entirely familiar with all the old and new masters’ works ... Of course there are many in our industry who disagree with my viewpoint.[12]

Scores from the classics were sometimes harmful to a picture, especially when they drew unwanted attention to themselves by virtue of their familiarity. For example, films like 2001 – A Space Odyssey, The Sting and Manhattan, had scores that were easily recognized instead of having a preferred "subliminal" effect. Steiner, was among the first to acknowledge the need for original scores for each film. Steiner felt that knowing when to start and stop was the hardest part of proper scoring, since incorrect placement of music can speed up a scene meant to be slow and vice versa: "Knowing the difference is what makes a film composer."[5] He also notes that many composers, contrary to his own technique, would fail to subordinate the music to the film:

I've always tried to subordinate myself to the picture. A lot of composers make the mistake of thinking of film as a concert platform on which they can show off. This is not the place ... If you get too decorative, you lose your appeal to the emotions. My theory is that the music should be felt rather than heard.[5]

Character themes[edit] One of the important principles that guided Steiner whenever possible was his rule: Every character should have a theme. "Steiner creates a musical picture that tells us all we need to know about the character."[21] To accomplish this, Steiner synchronized the music, the narrative action and the leitmotif as a structural framework for his compositions.[21] A good example of how the characters and the music worked together is best exemplified by his score for The Glass Menagerie (1950):[2]

For the physically crippled heroine, Laura, Steiner had to "somehow capture in sound her escape from the tawdriness of reality into her make-believe world of glass figures ... The result is tone-colour of an appropriately glassy quality; ... a free use of vibraphone, celesta, piano, glockenspiel and triangle enhances the fragility and beauty of the sound."[2] For Laura’s well-traveled soldier brother: "Tom's theme has a big-city blues-type resonance. It is also rich and warm ... [and] tells us something of Tom’s good-hearted nature."[2] For Jim, Laura’s long-awaited ‘gentleman caller’ who soon transforms her life: Steiner's "clean-limbed melody reflects his likeableness and honesty ... Elements of Jim’s theme are built into the dance-band music at the ‘Paradise’ as he assures her of her essential beauty and begins successfully to counter her deep-seated inferiority complex. Upon their return home, the music darkens the scene in preparation for Jim’s disclosure that he is already committed to another girl.”[2]

Another film which exemplifies the synchronizing of character and music is The Fountainhead (1949): The character of Roark, an idealist architect (played by Gary Cooper):

Steiner’s theme for the hero is fraught with a true emotion and a genuine idealism and aspiration. It surges upward in ‘masculine’ style, whilst Roark’s mistress’s theme wends downwards in curves of typically feminine shapeliness ... He above, she traveling up in the workmen’s elevator: the music seems to draw them together in mutual fulfillment ... The score brings dignity and grandeur to the picture.”[2]

Scene and situation themes[edit] In the same way that Steiner created a theme for each character in a film, Steiner's music developed themes to express emotional aspects of general scenes which originally lacked emotional content[2] For example:

King Kong (1933): The music told the story of what was happening in the film. It expressed Kong's "feelings of tenderness towards his helpless victim." the music underscores feelings that the camera simply cannot express. The score of the film showed "the basic power of music to terrorize and to humanize.”[2] The Letter (1940), starring Bette Davis: The music of this film creates an atmosphere of "tropical tension and violence" by "blasting the credits fortissimo across the theater." Steiner's score emphasizes the tragic and passionate themes of the film.[2] The Big Sleep (1946): The music of this film "darkens to match" the changing atmosphere of the film. It creates a claustrophobic feeling by including high strings "pitted rhythmically" against low strings and brass.[2] The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948): Steiner uses the music to intensify the anguish of Bogart and Holt, when they are left to dig a mine in the hot sun. The music "assumes the character of a fiercely protesting funeral march." The timing of the music caves in as the mind caves in on Bogart. The music also serves to emphasize the theme of greed. It "tells us the nature of the thoughts flashing through Holt’s mind as he stands outside the ruined mine." However, when the warm tones of the music rise again, it reflects Holt's goodness as he saves Bogart from the collapsed mine. This "climax is marked by a grandioso statement of the theme on full orchestra.”[2]

Personal life and death[edit] Max Steiner
Max Steiner married Audree van Lieu on April 27, 1927. They divorced on December 14, 1933. Max married Louise Klos, a harpist, in 1936. They had a son, Ron, together and they divorced in 1946. In 1947, Max married Leonette Blair.[10] Ron died in 1962. Max Steiner
Max Steiner died of congestive heart failure in Hollywood, aged 83.[14] He is entombed in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.[22] Awards and honors[edit]

Plaque for Steiner at his birthplace in Praterstraße 72, Vienna

Unveiling the Max Steiner-plaque in 1988 (f.l. R. Blumauer, H. Weißmann, H. Zilk)

The United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service issued its "American Music Series" stamps on September 16, 1999 to pay tribute to renowned Hollywood composers, including Steiner. After Steiner's death, Charles Gerhardt conducted the National Philharmonic Orchestra in an RCA Victor
RCA Victor album of highlights from Steiner's career, titled Now Voyager. Additional selections of Steiner scores were included on other RCA classic film albums during the early 1970s. The quadraphonic recordings were later digitally remastered for Dolby
Dolby surround sound and released on CD. In 1975, Steiner was honored with a star located at 1551 Vine Street on the Hollywood
Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to motion pictures. In 1995, Steiner was inducted posthumously into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In commemoration of Steiner's 100th birthday a memorial plaque was unveiled by Helmut Zilk, then Mayor of Vienna, in 1988 at Steiner's birthplace, the Hotel Nordbahn (now Austria Classic Hotel Wien) on Praterstraße 72.

Filmography[edit] Main article: Max Steiner
Max Steiner filmography The American Film Institute
American Film Institute respectively ranked Steiner's scores for Gone with the Wind (1939) and King Kong (1933) #2 and #13 on their list of the 25 greatest film scores. His scores for the following films were also nominated for the list:

Adventures of Don Juan (1948) Casablanca (1942) Dark Victory
Dark Victory (1939) The Informer (1935) Jezebel (1938) Johnny Belinda (1948) Now, Voyager
Now, Voyager (1942) A Summer Place (1959) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

References[edit]

^ " Max Steiner
Max Steiner – Father of Film Music" on YouTube, trailer to documentary film ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Palmer, Christopher. The Composer
Composer in Hollywood, “Max Steiner: Birth of an Era”, Marion Boyars Publishers (1990) pp. 15–50 ^ Neale, Steve, ed. Classical Hollywood
Hollywood Reader, Routledge (2012) p. 235 ^ a b Volkov, Shulamit. Germans, Jews, and Antisemites: Trials of Emancipation, Cambridge Univ. Press (2006) p. 42 ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa Thomas, Tony. Max Steiner: Vienna, London, New York, and Finally Hollywood, Max Steiner Collection, Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University 1996 ^ a b c MacDonald, Laurence E. The Invisible Art of Film Music: A Comprehensive History, Ardsley House (1998) p. 26 ^ "Max Steiner". Hollywood
Hollywood in Vienna. ^ Wegele, Peter (2014). Max Steiner: Composing, Casablanca and the Golden Age of Film Music, p. 47-74. Blue Ridge Summit: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ^ Brook, Vincent. Driven to Darkness: Jewish Emigre Directors and the Rise of Film Noir, Rutgers Univ. Press (2009) p. 215 ^ a b c Leaney, Edward A. (1996). "A Max Steiner
Max Steiner Chronology". In D'Arc, James; GIllespie, John N. The Max Steiner
Max Steiner Collection. Provo, Utah: Special
Special Collections and Manuscripts, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University. ^ "Max Steiner: Film Scores". Songwriter Hall of Fame. Retrieved April 1, 2016. ^ a b c d e Cooke, Mervyn. The Hollywood
Hollywood Film Music Reader, Oxford Univ. Press (2010) pp. 55–68 ^ a b Haver, Ronald. David O. Selznick’s Hollywood, Knopf Publishers (1980) ^ a b c "Max Steiner". IMDb. IMDb.com, Inc. ^ Bartel, Pauline. The Complete “Gone with the Wind” Trivia Book, Rowman & Littlefield (1989) p. 92 ^ Gottlie, Jack. Funny, It Doesn't Sound Jewish, S.U.N.Y. Press (2004) p. 47 ^ Selznick, David O., Behlmer, Rudy, ed. Memo from David O. Selznick, Viking Press (1972) ^ "The 12th Academy Awards
Academy Awards (1940) Nominees and Winners". Oscars.org (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences). Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved August 10, 2011. ^ "AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores" (PDF). afi.com. American Film Institute. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 3, 2016. Retrieved March 23, 2017. ^ Bronson, Fred (October 1, 2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th ed.). New York: Billboard Books. p. 75. ISBN 978-0823076772. ^ a b Kalinak, Kathryn. Settling the Score: Music and the Classical Hollywood
Hollywood Film, Univ of Wisconsin Press. (1992) pp. 113–121 ^ "Max Steiner". NNDB. Soylent Communications.

External links[edit]

Max Steiner
Max Steiner discography at Discogs Max Steiner
Max Steiner on IMDb Max Steiner
Max Steiner at the Internet Broadway Database
Internet Broadway Database Max Steiner
Max Steiner at AmericanComposers.com Max Steiner
Max Steiner at Find a Grave Max Steiner
Max Steiner music and photographs, MSS 6131 at L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young University Max Steiner
Max Steiner sound recording from The Informer, MSS 8705 at L. Tom Perry Special
Special Collections, Brigham Young University Max Steiner
Max Steiner Christmas cards, MSS 6914 at L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young University

Multimedia links[edit]

" Max Steiner
Max Steiner – Father of Film Music" on YouTube, film documentary trailer " Max Steiner
Max Steiner – Greatest Hits" on YouTube, compilation by Beny Debny Score to Symphony of Six Million
Symphony of Six Million (1932) on YouTube Score to King Kong (1933) on YouTube Score to The Informer (1935) on YouTube
YouTube (Academy Award) Score to The Garden of Allah (1936) on YouTube Score to The Life of Émile Zola (1937) on YouTube Score to Gone With the Wind (1939) on YouTube "Gone With the Wind" theme to Ice Dancing on YouTube Score to All This and Heaven Too (1940) on YouTube Score to Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1940) on YouTube Score to City for Conquest (1940) on YouTube Score to Cassablanca (1942) on YouTube Score to Now Voyager (1942) on YouTube
YouTube (Academy Award) Score to They Died with Their Boots On
They Died with Their Boots On (1942) on YouTube Score to Since You Went Away
Since You Went Away (1944) on YouTube
YouTube (Academy Award) Score to Mildred Pierce (1945) on YouTube Score to The Big Sleep (1946) on YouTube "Score to Johnny Belinda (1948) on YouTube Score to Key Largo (1948) on YouTube Score to Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) on YouTube Score to The Lady Takes a Sailor (1949) on YouTube Score to Operation Pacific (1951) on YouTube Score to The Last Command (1955) on YouTube Score to The Searchers (1956) on YouTube Score to Helen of Troy (1956) on YouTube Score to Band of Angels (1957) on YouTube Theme from A Summer Place (1959) on YouTube
YouTube Selections from A Summer Place on YouTube

v t e

Academy Award for Best Original Score

1930s

Louis Silvers
Louis Silvers (1934) Max Steiner
Max Steiner (1935) Leo F. Forbstein
Leo F. Forbstein (1936) Charles Previn
Charles Previn (1937) Erich Wolfgang Korngold/Alfred Newman (1938) Herbert Stothart/Richard Hageman, W. Franke Harling, John Leipold, Leo Shuken (1939)

1940s

Leigh Harline, Paul J. Smith, Ned Washington/Alfred Newman (1940) Bernard Herrmann/ Frank Churchill and Oliver Wallace (1941) Max Steiner/ Ray Heindorf and Heinz Roemheld (1942) Alfred Newman/ Ray Heindorf (1943) Max Steiner/ Morris Stoloff and Carmen Dragon
Carmen Dragon (1944) Miklós Rózsa/ Georgie Stoll (1945) Hugo Friedhofer/ Morris Stoloff (1946) Miklós Rózsa/Alfred Newman (1947) Brian Easdale/ Johnny Green
Johnny Green and Roger Edens (1948) Aaron Copland/ Roger Edens and Lennie Hayton (1949)

1950s

Franz Waxman/ Adolph Deutsch and Roger Edens (1950) Franz Waxman/ Johnny Green
Johnny Green and Saul Chaplin (1951) Dimitri Tiomkin/Alfred Newman (1952) Bronisław Kaper/Alfred Newman (1953) Dimitri Tiomkin/ Adolph Deutsch and Saul Chaplin (1954) Alfred Newman/Robert Russell Bennett, Jay Blackton and Adolph Deutsch (1955) Victor Young/Alfred Newman and Ken Darby (1956) Malcolm Arnold (1957) Dimitri Tiomkin/Andre Previn (1958) Miklós Rózsa/Andre Previn and Ken Darby (1959)

1960s

Ernest Gold/ Morris Stoloff and Harry Sukman (1960) Henry Mancini/Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal (1961) Maurice Jarre/ Ray Heindorf (1962) John Addison/Andre Previn (1963) Richard M. Sherman
Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman/Andre Previn (1964) Maurice Jarre/ Irwin Kostal (1965) John Barry/ Ken Thorne (1966) Elmer Bernstein/Alfred Newman and Ken Darby (1967) John Barry/ Johnny Green
Johnny Green (1968) Burt Bacharach/ Lennie Hayton and Lionel Newman (1969)

1970s

Francis Lai/ The Beatles
The Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr) (1970) Michel Legrand/ John Williams
John Williams (1971) Charlie Chaplin, Raymond Rasch and Larry Russell/ Ralph Burns
Ralph Burns (1972) Marvin Hamlisch/ Marvin Hamlisch
Marvin Hamlisch (1973) Nino Rota
Nino Rota and Carmine Coppola/ Nelson Riddle
Nelson Riddle (1974) John Williams/ Leonard Rosenman
Leonard Rosenman (1975) Jerry Goldsmith/ Leonard Rosenman
Leonard Rosenman (1976) John Williams/ Jonathan Tunick (1977) Giorgio Moroder/ Joe Renzetti (1978) Georges Delerue/ Ralph Burns
Ralph Burns (1979)

1980s

Michael Gore (1980) Vangelis
Vangelis (1981) John Williams/ Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse (1982) Bill Conti/Michel Legrand, Alan and Marilyn Bergman (1983) Maurice Jarre/Prince (1984) John Barry (1985) Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock (1986) Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne
David Byrne and Cong Su (1987) Dave Grusin
Dave Grusin (1988) Alan Menken
Alan Menken (1989)

1990s

John Barry (1990) Alan Menken
Alan Menken (1991) Alan Menken
Alan Menken (1992) John Williams
John Williams (1993) Hans Zimmer
Hans Zimmer (1994) Luis Enríquez Bacalov/ Alan Menken
Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz (1995) Gabriel Yared/ Rachel Portman (1996) James Horner/ Anne Dudley
Anne Dudley (1997) Nicola Piovani/ Stephen Warbeck (1998) John Corigliano (1999)

2000s

Tan Dun
Tan Dun (2000) Howard Shore
Howard Shore (2001) Elliot Goldenthal
Elliot Goldenthal (2002) Howard Shore
Howard Shore (2003) Jan A. P. Kaczmarek
Jan A. P. Kaczmarek (2004) Gustavo Santaolalla
Gustavo Santaolalla (2005) Gustavo Santaolalla
Gustavo Santaolalla (2006) Dario Marianelli (2007) A. R. Rahman
A. R. Rahman (2008) Michael Giacchino
Michael Giacchino (2009)

2010s

Trent Reznor
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Atticus Ross (2010) Ludovic Bource
Ludovic Bource (2011) Mychael Danna (2012) Steven Price (2013) Alexandre Desplat
Alexandre Desplat (2014) Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone (2015) Justin Hurwitz
Justin Hurwitz (2016) Alexandre Desplat
Alexandre Desplat (2017)

v t e

Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score

1940s

Life with Father – Max Steiner
Max Steiner (1947) The Red Shoes – Brian Easdale (1948) The Inspector General – Johnny Green
Johnny Green (1949)