Max Steiner

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Maximilian Raoul Walter "Max" Steiner (born May 10, 1888 in Vienna , † December 28, 1971 in Beverly Hills , California ) was an Austrian composer with US citizenship who is one of the most successful and influential film music composers in cinema history and also as "Father of film music" is described. It received a total of 24 Academy Award nominations and won the award three times. His scores for Gone with the Wind , King Kong and the White Woman , Casablanca are famousas well as for the summer island . With King Kong and the white woman he put dialogues with music for the first time in film history in 1933.

Life

Max Steiner's birthplace, the Hotel Nordbahn around 1910
Max Steiner's birthplace today ( Hotel Vienna since 2008 )

Steiner was in Vienna Leopoldstadt in Hotel Nordbahn born and came from a wealthy theater dynasty, was a friend of many composers. His grandfather Maximilian Steiner was, among other things, director at the Theater an der Wien , and his father Gabor Steiner also worked as a theater director in Vienna. Max Steiner was considered an extremely talented child, learned numerous instruments and attended the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts at the age of 16. At the age of 15, Steiner made his debut in 1903 with his operetta The Beautiful Greek . He received his training from among others Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss , the latter was also his godfather.

From 1904 to 1914 Steiner worked as a conductor and arranger in Great Britain, mostly in London, where he appeared in numerous prestigious concert halls and theaters. He then moved to America, where he initially worked as a composer, arranger and conductor on Broadway . On Broadway, he worked with greats such as Victor Herbert , Jerome Kern , Vincent Youmans and George Gershwin, among others . As early as 1916 he composed his first film music for a silent film.

When the talkies began in 1929, Max Steiner went to Hollywood , where he initially worked for the film company RKO Pictures . After he had already written the music for the Oscar-winning Western Pioneers of the Wild West , he increasingly found his style from the film Symphony of Six Million . His best-known scores include the music for King Kong and the White Woman from 1933, which put him in the top ranks of film composers in Hollywood. For the first time in the history of the film, Steiner and his orchestrator Bernhard Kaun added dialogues with music, which significantly increased the dramatic effect. In 1935 Steiner won his first Oscar for best film music for the music for Der Verräter . He won the award again in 1942 for Journey from the Past and in 1944 When you said goodbye . He also received 21 other nominations. Under contract with Warner Brothers since 1937 , Steiner wrote the music for Casablanca, among other things . He delivered his best-known work for Gone With the Wind from 1939, for which he also received an Oscar nomination. In Gone with the Wind, he highlighted the most important characters and locations with his own film themes. The orchestral version of Percy Faith of Theme from "A Summer Place" by Steiner to film the Summer Island was 1959/1960 for several weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 .

Steiner was best known for being able to finish his film scores at an exceptionally fast pace, usually in just a few weeks. This was due to a permanent staff of employees who took care of the orchestration for him . In 1953 Steiner founded his own music publisher and was able to market his works even better. The "Max Steiner Society" awards honorary memberships for particularly successful interpretations of his music. From Germany, the composer Martin Böttcher is an honorary member of the society. Max Steiner is considered one of the most productive and successful composers in Hollywood. In 2003 the US Post issued a 37-cent stamp with Steiner as a motif.

Max Steiner died in Beverly Hills at the age of 83 and found his final resting place in the Great Mausoleum of Forest Lawn Memorial Park , Glendale, California . He was married four times, most recently to Leonore Steiner from 1947 until his death. From his third marriage he had a son named Roland, who committed suicide in 1962. In 1975 he was posthumously awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his film work .

Trivia

In the 1932 film The Half Naked Truth by Gregory La Cava , Max Steiner can be seen several times as the conductor of the theater orchestra.

Filmography (selection)

Awards

Oscar nominations for best film music

  • 1934: dance with me! (The Gay Divorcee)
  • 1934: The Lost Patrol
  • 1936: The Garden of Allah
  • 1938: Jezebel - The Malicious Lady (Jezebel)
  • 1939: Victim of a great love (Dark Victory)
  • 1939: Gone with the Wind
  • 1940: The Secret of Malampur (The Letter)
  • 1941: Sergeant York
  • 1942: Casablanca
  • 1944: The Adventures of Mark Twain
  • 1945: Rhapsody in Blue
  • 1945: I think of you day and night (Night and Day)
  • 1947: My Wild Irish Rose
  • 1947: Life with Father
  • 1948: Silent Lips (Johnny Belinda)
  • 1949: Beyond the Forest
  • 1950: The Flame and the Arrow
  • 1952: The Jazz Singer
  • 1952: The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima
  • 1954: The Caine Mutiny (The Caine Mutiny)
  • 1955: Vacation Until You Wake Up (Battle Cry)

Oscar for best film music

  • 1935: The Informer
  • 1942: Journey from the Past (Now, Voyager)
  • 1944: Since You Went Away

Golden Globe

  • 1948: Life With Father

Laurel Awards

  • 1958: Golden Laurel for Best Composer: Marjorie Morningstar
  • 1960: Golden Laurel in the category Best Film Music: A Place in the Sun ( A Place in the Sun )
  • 1961: 2nd place at the Golden Laurel in the category Best Musical: The Dark at the Top of the Stairs
  • 1962: 3rd place at the Golden Laurel
  • 1963: 3rd place at the Golden Laurel

His film scores for King Kong and the White Woman and Gone with the Wind reached number 13 and number 2 in the list of the 25 greatest film scores in 100 years published by the American Film Institute . Together with Bernard Herrmann , Elmer Bernstein and Jerry Goldsmith, Max Steiner is one of those composers who are twice on the list. Only John Williams made three entries.

Appreciation

The Max Steiner memorial plaque in Praterstrasse 72, Vienna

  • Unveiling of the Max Steiner memorial plaque in Vienna in 1988 (from left R. Blumauer, H. Weißmann, H. Zilk)

  • The memorial plaque at the Hotel Vienna today

See also

Biography

  • Jacob Groll : The sound of Hollywood - Max Steiner and his heirs. Documentation, Austria, 45 Min, 2009 (with Hans Zimmer , Gerrit Wunder, among others )

literature

  • Barbara Boisits, Christian Fastl: Steiner, Maximilian Raoul Walter. In: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon . Online edition, Vienna 2002 ff., ISBN 3-7001-3077-5 ; Print edition: Volume 5, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-7001-3067-8 .
  • Christa Harten: Steiner, Max (Maximilian) Raoul Walter in the German biography
  • Raimund Saxinger: Max Steiner's 100th birthday - a symphony for millions , in: Filmharmonische Blätter. Issue 8 / February / March / April 1988, pp. 30-35.
  • Regina Schlagnitweit: I write what I see. Max Steiner Music, Vienna / Beverly Hills. In: Christian Cargnelli and Michael Omasta (eds.): Departure into the Unknown. Austrian filmmakers who emigrated before 1945. Volume 1. Waspennest, Vienna 1993, pp. 89–105.
  • Peter Wegele: The film composer Max Steiner. Böhlau Verlag, Vienna Cologne Weimar, 2012, ISBN 978-3-205-78801-0 .

Web links

Commons : Max Steiner  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Arnold Jacobshagen:  Steiner, Max, origin. Maximilian Raoul Walter Steiner. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 15 (Schoof - Stranz). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2006, ISBN 3-7618-1135-7  ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
  2. ↑ Kate Daubney, Janet B. Bradford:  Steiner, Max (imilian Raoul Walter). In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
  3. ↑ Max Steiner at Filmmusic Critics
  4. ↑ a b The history of the Austria Classic Hotel Wien , formerly: Hotel Nordbahn
  5. ↑ Hollywood in Vienna
  6. ↑ Max Steiner in the Register of the Max Steiner Collection
  7. ↑ Golden Globe Award 1948 to Max Steiner on goldenglobes.com
  8. ↑ Help with the search. Retrieved February 11, 2020 (Austrian German).
personal data
SURNAME Steiner, Max
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Steiner, Maximilian Raoul Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian-American composer
BIRTH DATE May 10, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna , Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH December 28, 1971
PLACE OF DEATH Beverly Hills , Hollywood, California, United States