Max Steiner: The Father of Film Music

Matt Painting of Tara From Gone With The Wind

Trailer HOLLYWOOD IN VIENNA Documentary (2009)
[In order of appearance]

John Mauceri - Director
Brendan Carroll - President Korngold Society
Danny Elfman - Film Composer
Jon Burlingame - Film Music Journalist
John Mauceri - Driector
Bruce Broughton - Film Composer
John Mauceri - Director
Richard Bellis - Film Composer
Bruce Broughton - Film Composer
_________________________________________________________________________________
Excerpts from Max Steiner Greatest Hits by Berny Productions

1. GONE WITH THE WIND / With Commentary And Sign In Ramsay Seikaly
2. THE FLAME AND THE ARROW
3. SHE
4. NOW, VOYAGER
5. THE FBI STORY
6. CASABLANCA
7. THE CAINE MUTINEY
8. PASSAGE TO MARSEILLE
9. KING KONG
10. DON JUAN
11. THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME
12. SINCE YOU WENT AWAY
13. THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BIRGADE
14. THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON
15. GONE WITH THE WIND / With Signoff Ramsay Seikaly

Maximilian Raoul "Max" Steiner (May 10, 1888 – December 28, 1971) was an Austrian-born American composer of music 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.

He worked in England, then Broadway, and moved to Hollywood in 1929 where he became one of the first composers to write music scores for films. Steiner is referred to as "the father of film music"[1] and is considered one of the greatest film score composers in the history of cinema.[2] Along with such composers asDimitri Tiomkin, Franz Waxman, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Alfred Newman and Miklós Rózsa, Steiner played a major part in creating the tradition of writing music for films.

Steiner composed over 300 film scores with RKO and Warner Brothers, and was nominated for 24 Academy Awards, winning three: The Informer (1935), Now, Voyager (1942), and 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), and the film score for which he is possibly best known, Gone with the Wind (1939).

He was also the first recipient of the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, which he won for his score to 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.


*Courtesy of  Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Steiner

---

Max Steiner: Composer of the Golden Age from Peter Mackie on Vimeo.