Louis Gruenberg

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Louis Gruenberg (born August 3, 1884 in Brest-Litowsk , then Russia , † June 9, 1964 in Los Angeles ) was an American pianist and composer .

life and work

Gruenberg, born in Brest-Litowsk in 1884, lived in the United States from the age of two. Here he also began his musical career and studied piano with Adele Margulies in New York . However, he then went to Europe and deepened his education here: In addition to studying composition in Berlin and Vienna , he became a pupil of Ferruccio Busoni and began a successful pianist career in 1912. With other students of Busoni, he also visited Heinrich Vogeler in Worpswede , who completed portraits of the pianist in 1913 and 1920. In 1919 Gruenberg returned to the USA and shifted the focus of his work to composition. He was also active in various composers' associations.

Gruenberg was an extremely productive and versatile composer. He composed twelve operas , ballet music, four symphonies , two piano concertos , one violin and one cello concerto , other orchestral works, chamber music for various ensembles, songs and piano music. He was not tied to a certain style in his works and tried to incorporate elements of jazz into contemporary classical music in many compositions. Thanks to his ingenuity and his technical compositional skill, he had some success with this style combination. His score earned him three Academy Award nominations.

For the director Robert Rossen 1949 he wrote the soundtrack to the film The man who wanted to rule ( All the King's Men ) with Broderick Crawford in the lead role, the one for his performance as Oscar won.

In 1947 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters .

Awards ceremonies

Filmography (selection)

Concert works

Opera

  • 1913: The Bride of the Gods , libretto by Busoni, translated by CH Meltzer
  • 1923: The Dumb Wife , libretto based on The Man Who Married a Dumb Wife by Anatole France based on Rabelais
  • 1931: Jack and the Beanstalk , libretto by John Erskine
  • 1931: Emperor Jones , libretto based on a play by Eugene O'Neill
  • 1936: Queen Helen
  • 1937: Green Mansions (Radio opera), libretto based on a novel by William Henry Hudson
  • 1938: Helena's Husband , libretto by P. Moeller
  • 1945: Volpone , libretto based on motifs by Ben Jonson
  • 1954: One Night of Cleopatra , libretto based on motifs by T. Gautier
  • 1955: The Delicate King , libretto based on motifs by Alexandre Dumas
  • 1955: Antony and Cleopatra , libretto based on motifs by Shakespeare

orchestra

  • 1919: The Hill of Dreams
  • 1925: The Daniel Jazz
  • 1944: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 47

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Films with the music of Louis Gruenberg in the two thousand and one film dictionary
  2. ^ Members: Louis Gruenberg. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed April 1, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Oscar nomination for Louis Gruenberg in the category "Best Score" at the award ceremony in 1941 for The Fight for Life
  4. ^ Oscar nomination for Louis Gruenberg in the "Best Score" category at the 1942 award ceremony for So Ends Our Night
  5. ↑ Oscar nomination for Louis Gruenberg in the “Best Score” category at the 1944 award ceremony for Commandos Strike at Dawn
personal data
SURNAME Gruenberg, Louis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American pianist and composer
DATE OF BIRTH August 3, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Brest-Litowsk , then Poland
DATE OF DEATH June 9, 1964
Place of death los Angeles