Friedrich Strength

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Friedrich "Fritz" Stark (alias Fred , Frederic or Frederick Stark or Starck ; born November 16, 1891 in Meßkirch ; † November 16, 1969 in Merzhausen ) was a German-American pianist , conductor , composer and music arranger in Hollywood . Not to be confused with Frederick Starck, a founding member of the New York Philharmonic .

Life

Stark was born in 1891 as the son of the wealthy brewery owner Ernst Stark in the Baden regional town of Meßkirch. At that time there were four breweries there. The brewery zur Sonne (1895), which Messo-Bräu brewed, was taken over by the Bilger brewery from Gottmadingen as a depot after the First World War (1914–1918) ; it also stopped production in 1976. In 1912 Fritz Stark, as he was called by his nickname, emigrated to the USA at the age of 21 .

There he worked in California as a pianist in silent movie theaters. He also produced functional miniature organs. Under the Americanized name "Frederic Stark" he became one of the first film composers. He also worked on The tragedy of Pompey the Great by John Masefield .

From 1929 to 1938, Stark worked for Don Lee Radio in Los Angeles as a conductor for concert programs and radio plays with musical backgrounds. He also leads various studio orchestras. He then worked from 1938 until his retirement in 1961 as music director and music librarian at Walt Disney Studios in Hollywood .

During this time he played a key role in the setting, compilation and arrangement of the music for several world-famous Disney films. He created arrangements for Pinocchio (cartoon, 1940), Fantasia (cartoon, 1940), Victory Through Air Power (real-and-trick-mixed film, 1943), Grand Canyon (real -life film, 1958) and Sleeping Beauty (cartoon, 1959 ).

Leopold Stokowski wrote the prelude for the " Nutcracker Suite " in the film Fantasia , Frederick Stark took over Tchaikovsky's music in six special piano arrangements. Working for Grand Canyon can be considered his greatest achievement. The real film, which was shown in the US for the premiere of Sleeping Beauty , was awarded the “ Oscar ” in 1959 in the category Best Short Film (Real Film) . Frederick Stark was sent from Hollywood to Munich as a conductor for this film by Walt Disney in order to produce Ferde Grofé's " Grand Canyon Suite " for Disneyland Records with a symphony orchestra, which was otherwise under the direction of Kurt Graunke ( Symphonie-Orchester Graunke , which was renamed the Münchner Symphoniker in 1990 ).

In old age he returned to his hometown, where, among other things, in December 1964 he conducted the “Festive Concert” in the town hall with the Constance Symphony Orchestra . He died on November 16, 1969 at the age of 79 in Freiburg of a heart condition.

Works (selection)

  • Banner in the sky
  • Newsreel music. Vol. 3. Orchestra. Music & arr.
  • Oom-pah-pah!
  • Two weeks with pay
  • Up in the mountains
  • Valentine Waltz

Appreciation

In his honor, a street in his hometown of Messkirch was named after him, the Friedrich-Stark-Weg in the Hauptbühl II building area.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sandra Häusler (saw): Stories from unusual people. In: Südkurier of June 16, 2011
  2. ↑ Manfred Dieterle-Jöchle (dim): “It's amazing what people are capable of”. In: Südkurier from May 20, 2005
  3. ^ Manfred Dieterle-Jöchle (dim): City history in 205 pictures . In: Südkurier from August 19, 2005
  4. ↑ Alfred Th. Heim: Messkirch's inns through the ages . In: Südkurier of August 22, 2006
  5. ^ Gisela Stark: History of the Bilger Brewery . In: Südkurier of December 30, 2008
  6. ^ David R. Lindsay: The Lumberyard . In: Popular Science , Vol. 168, No. 6, June 1956, pp. 130-133, et al. 230, here p. 131
  7. ^ A b c Broadcasting , Volume 77, Cahners Publishing Company, 1969, p. 73
  8. ↑ The Score , Vol. 1, No. September 9, 1944.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file; 684 kB)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.asmac.org  
  9. ^ The Nutcracker Suite from Walt Disney's Fantasia. Story and illustrations inspired by the music of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky . Special arrangements freely transcribed for piano by Frederick Stark. "About the Music" introduction and foreword by Leopold Stokowski. Illustrations by Walt Disney Productions. 1940 hardcover (library binding). Publisher is Little, Brown and Company. Color and black-and-white illustrations with text and music.
  10. ↑ Cf. Fred Hamel (Ed.): Musica. Monthly for all areas of musical life , Volume 13, Bärenreiter-Verlag, 1959, p. 267
  11. ↑ See Film-Dienst , Volume 55, Issues 20–26. ed. v. Catholic Institute for Media Information, Catholic Film Commission for Germany, 2002
  12. ↑ Werner Fischer (wf): Once . In: Südkurier from December 31, 2014

Remarks

  1. ↑ See Löwenhof in Sauldorf (around 1900 to 1901) in: Alfred Boos: “The lion is a wild animal” . In: Südkurier of September 3, 2003; Cf. Stark's villa in Meßkirch in: Alfred Thaddäus Heim: The blackest day of Meßkirch . In: Südkurier of February 22, 2010
personal data
SURNAME Strong, Friedrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stark, Fritz (nickname); Strength, Fred; Frederic, Friedrich; Stark, Frederick; Starck, Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-American pianist, conductor, composer and music arranger in Hollywood
DATE OF BIRTH November 16, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH Messkirch
DATE OF DEATH November 16, 1969
Place of death Merzhausen