Michael Small

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Michael Lewis Small (born May 30, 1939 in New York City , † November 24, 2003 in Manhattan , New York City) was an American composer. He is known to a wide audience for his film scores ; In a career spanning more than three decades, he set over 50 film and television productions, often thrillers, by well-known Hollywood directors.

Life

Michael Small was born in New York in 1939. His father, Jack Small, was an actor and in the 1950s he was the managing director of the traditional theater production company Shubert Organization . Small grew up in Maplewood (New Jersey) and came into contact with the theater early on through his father's work. He took piano lessons as a child, but at his father's insistence completed a solid education as an English teacher, which took him to Williams College and Harvard University (participation in a one-year master's program) in the late 1950s .

As a college student, Small wrote his own musical compositions for comedy shows. There he worked, among others, with Charles Webb , who later wrote the novel for the successful feature film Die Reifeprüfung (1967). Through his father's connections, Small got an invitation from Lehman Engel, who placed him in the BMI Musical Theater workshop for composers and songwriters . Small took private lessons from Meyer Kupferman , a professor at Sarah Lawrence College . He then began to write the music for commercials.

As a film composer, the autodidact began to appear in the late 1960s with Paul Williams' tragicomedy Out of it (1969) after the film producer Edward R. Pressman discovered his work. By 2002 Small had created the music for over 50 film and television productions. He became famous for his work on thrillers, including Alan J. Pakula's Oscar- winning film Klute (1971) and Witness to a Conspiracy (1974) and John Schlesinger's The Marathon Man (1976). Small had a long-term collaboration with film director Bob Rafelson , whose directorial work When the Postman Rings Twice (1981), The Black Widow (1987), Land of the Black Sun (1990) and Poodle Springs (1998) he set to music. Rafelson particularly appreciates Smalls talent to create romantic melodies. The director's favorite work was the film music for the land of the black sun . Smalls professional colleague and student, the Canadian Chris Dedrick, dubbed the American as a "master of paranoia" .

In addition to commercials and feature films, Small also wrote music for documentaries, including Pumping Iron (1977), in which Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared as a bodybuilder and gained notoriety.

Michael Small was married to his wife, Lynn (maiden name: Goldberg), from 1961 until his death in 2003, whom he met during a theater performance in college. Two sons were born from this connection. Small died of prostate cancer at the age of 64 , two days before the death of his mentor Meyer Kupferman.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d cf. Miller, Stephen: Michael Small, 64, Composer of Movie Soundtracks . In: The New York Sun , December 5, 2003, p. 14
  2. ↑ a b c d cf. Composer Michael Small, wrote lectures of film scores . In: The Star-Ledger, December 5, 2003, p. 48
  3. ↑ cf. AP : Film composer Michael Small dies at 64 . December 15, 2003 (accessed via LexisNexis Wirtschaft )
  4. ↑ cf. Michael Small . In: Daily Variety , December 10, 2003, p. 17
  5. ↑ cf. Huerta, Miguel Angel: Michael Small . In: El Mundo , December 9, 2003, p. 6
  6. ↑ cf. Jennings, Nicholas: The Music Man . In: Words & Music 12 (2005), No. 3
personal data
SURNAME Small, Michael
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Small, Michael Lewis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American composer
DATE OF BIRTH May 30, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City , USA
DATE OF DEATH November 24, 2003
Place of death Manhattan , New York City