Hans Sommer (composer, 1904)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hans Sommer , pseudonym Kurt Schmidt (born May 22, 1904 in Berlin ; † October 22, 2000 in Pacific Palisades , California , USA ) was a German-American film composer .

Life

Hans Sommer began his training as a free student at the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory and studied at the Berlin University of Music before Max Reinhardt brought him to the theater. He received his first engagement in 1928 at the Großer Schauspielhaus in Berlin, before that in late 1927 he recorded nineteen piano roles for the Welte-Mignon reproduction piano . Sommer worked as a conductor and composer as well as a revue pianist for Erik Charell and Rudolf Nelson, among others .

In 1933, Sommer switched to talkies. He wrote the music for a number of successful film productions. His best-known work is the hit “Jawohl, Meine Herr'n” from the Ufa film “ The man who was Sherlock Holmes ” with Hans Albers and Heinz Rühmann . Because Sommer was married to a Jew, he was banned from working at the beginning of 1938. With a special permit issued by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels , he was initially able to continue working from July 1938, but emigrated in 1939 with his wife Anna-Susanne, née. Reichenheim, a granddaughter of the industrialist Oscar Huldschinsky , to the USA, where Anna-Susanne's uncle Paul Huldschinsky worked as a film architect. Warner Bros. signed him there in 1943 . However, Sommer was unable to build on his successes in Germany. His last known work is the cinema music for the religious drama "Confession of a Doctor" (The First Legion), shot in 1950 by émigré Douglas Sirk .

Filmography

literature

  • Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 7: R - T. Robert Ryan - Lily Tomlin. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Frank-Altmann: Tonkünstler-Lexikon , Heinrichshofen Verlag, Wilhelmshaven, 1936; Reprinted 1983, p. 590
  2. ↑ Gerhard Dangel and Hans-W. Schmitz: Welte-Mignon -Reproduktionen / Welte-Mignon Reproductions. Complete catalog of the recordings for the Welte-Mignon Reproduction Piano 1905-1932 / Complete Library Of Recordings For The Welte-Mignon Reproducing Piano 1905-1932 , pp. 496–497. Stuttgart 2006. ISBN 3-00-017110-X
personal data
SURNAME Summer, Hans
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schmidt, Kurt (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German film composer
DATE OF BIRTH May 22, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH October 22, 2000
Place of death Pacific Palisades , California , USA