• Name: Erich Wolfgang Korngold
• Birthday: 05/29/1897
• Birth Place: Brno, Czech Republic
• Died: 11/29/1957
• Place of Death: Hollywood, CA
• Period: Modern
• Genre: Classical

Title	Release
The Adventures of Robin Hood [TER] W	2008
The Adventures of Robin Hood [Marco Polo] W	2003
Korngold in Vienna	1992
The Sea Hawk W	1987
Elizabeth & Essex: Korngold Film Scores	1973
(4) The Adventures of Robin Hood, symphonic suite from the film score W
(3) Lieder (3) for voice & piano, Op 18	1991
(13) Piano Trio in D major, Op. 1	1992
A Midsummer Night's Dream, film score (after Mendelssohn) W	1997
(11) Abschiedslieder (4) for voice & piano (or orchestra), Op. 14	1993
(3) Another Dawn, film score	1995
(5) Anthony Adverse, film score	2006
(3) Baby Serenade, Op. 24
(4) Between Two Worlds, film score	1995
(2) Caprice fantastique, for violin & piano (from Wichtelmännchen) (authorized arr. by Rèvay, Rózsika) WA	1999
(10) Captain Blood, film score
(9) Concerto for cello & orchestra in C, Op 37
(6) Concerto for piano left-hand & orchestra, Op 17
(3) Das Lied der Liebe, operetta	1932
(15) Das Wunder der Heliane, opera, Op. 20	1992
(3) Deception, film score
(5) Der Ring des Polykrates, opera, Op 7	1994
Der Schneemann, 4 easy pieces for piano WA	2000
(11) Der Schneemann, ballet-pantomime
Der Sturm, for chorus & orchestra	2003
(3) Devotion, film score
Die Gansleber im Hause Duschnitz, waltz song for voice & piano	2001
(2) Die Geniale (unpublished), for voice & piano	1998
(7) Die Kathrin, opera, Op. 28
(106) Die tote Stadt (The Dead City), opera, Op. 12
(5) Don Quixote, 6 pieces for piano	1978
(10) Einfache Lieder, for voice & piano (or orchestra), Op. 9	1991
(3) Escape Me Never, film score	1995
Fairy Pictures for piano	1973
Gesang der Heliane, for violin & piano (from Das Wunder der Heliane) WA	1999
(7) Geschichten von Strauss (Tales of Strauss), for piano, Op. 21	1997
(2) Give Us This Night, film score	1936
(3) Juarez, film score
(4) King's Row, film score WA	1992
Kleine Karikaturen (4) für Kinder, for piano, No. 1, Cuckoo (Arnold Schoenberg), Op. 19/1	1998
(2) Kleine Karikaturen (4) für Kinder, for piano, No. 2, To make you slumber (Igor Stravinsky) Op. 19/2	1998
Kleine Karikaturen (4) für Kinder, for piano, No. 3, Nothing ventured, nothing gained (Bela Bartok) Op. 19/3	1998
Kleine Karikaturen (4) für Kinder, for piano, No. 4, Hard times (Paul Hindemith) Op. 19/4	1998
(3) Kleine Karikaturen (4) für Kinder, for piano, Op 19	1997
Lieder (12), ("So Gott und Papa will") for voice & piano, Op. 5	2001
(3) Lieder (3) for voice & piano, Op. 22	1998
(2) Lieder (4) (from Shakespeare) for voice & piano, Op. 31	1998
(7) Lieder (5) for voice & piano, Op 38	1991
(2) Lieder for voice & piano, Op. 18: No. 1, Into my deep night	1991
(2) Lieder for voice & piano, Op. 18: No. 2, Away with pain	1991
(2) Lieder for voice & piano, Op. 18: No. 3, Temptation	1991
(2) Mariettas Lied zur Laute, for violin & piano (from Die tote Stadt) WA	1999
(2) Military March in B flat major	1996
(5) Much Ado About Nothing, incidental music, Op. 11
(13) Much Ado about Nothing, suite from the incidental music for chamber orchestra, Op. 11	2007

Erich Wolfgang Korngold's career bridged astonishing gaps in history and music -- from the final years of Imperial Austria, when he was hailed as "a new Mozart," to Hollywood in the heyday of the studio system, to the darkened era of postwar Europe. In Vienna of the 1920s, his name evoked the best that engagingly melodic, tonal music had to offer in the concert hall or the opera house; in Hollywood he was synonymous with the swashbucklers of Errol Flynn. Born in Brünn, in Moravia (now Brno, Czechoslovakia) he was the son of Julius Korngold, one of the most influential music critics in Vienna. Korngold was beating time with a spoon by the age of three, playing basic melodies at age 5, and composing at age 6. He was encouraged by Gustav Mahler to pursue his musical studies, and his teachers included Alexander Von Zemlinsky. He'd written a Piano Sonata in D minor and a ballet entitled The Snowman before he was 10, and at 13, he saw his second piano sonata premiered by Artur Schnabel. He wrote his first two operas, Der Ring des Polykrates and Violanta, in his teens, and in 1920, at 23, Korngold completed his most celebrated operatic work, Die tote Stadt; it was an immediate hit in Austria and Germany, and quickly entered the repertory of opera companies around the world.

The 1920s saw Korngold add theatrical music to his activities -- his adaptation of Johann Strauss' Eine Nacht in Venedig was a worldwide success, as was his Strauss pastiche, Waltzes in Vienna. In 1929, Korngold was commissioned by the producer Max Reinhardt to work on a new stage production of Die Fledermaus. Reinhardt was pleased with the results and impressed with Korngold's work; three years later, when Warner Bros. studios engaged Reinhardt to adapt his stage version of -A Midsummer Night's Dream into a film, he engaged Korngold to arrange Felix Mendelssohn's music for the movie. The resulting film was a financial failure, but the studio was impressed with what Korngold had done with the music. He was offered a contract, which he accepted after some slight hesitation.

His first film score, for Captain Blood (1935), delighted both the studio's executives and millions of filmgoers -- Korngold's music added a richness to the sweeping tale of heroism and triumph over injustice that startled viewers with its inventiveness, adding an extra dimension to the drama, and excitement and beauty of the movie. Over the next two years, Korngold turned in dazzling musical scores for Anthony Adverse (1936), Green Pastures (1936), and The Prince and the Pauper (1937).

In late 1937, he returned to Vienna in hope of premiering a new operatic work, but the growing Nazi influence over politics and art made it impossible for Korngold and his family (all of whom were Jewish) to remain. In early 1938, he accepted a new contract offer from Warner Bros. and got himself and his family to America just before Germany annexed Austria. Korngold spent the next nine years in Hollywood among the movie colony's artistic elite, able to pick and choose his films and always doing superb work. Korngold turned in a dozen memorable scores that defined elegance in film music -- from costumed adventures like The Sea Hawk (1940) to serious drama such as Kings Row (1942).

Following the end of World War II, he returned to Austria and got a harsh reception from a populace resentful of his years in Hollywood, and derision from critics over his melodic, tonal music. Korngold lived his final years comfortably in California, in near complete artistic eclipse. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide