Willy Schmidt-Gentner

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Memorial plaque for the film composer Schmidt-Genter in his birthplace Neustadt am Rennsteig

Willy Schmidt-Gentner , born Wilhelm Schmidt , (born April 6, 1894 in Neustadt am Rennsteig ; † February 12, 1964 in Vienna ) was one of the most successful German film composers . In his most productive times, the composer, who moved to Vienna in 1933, set up to ten films a year - including numerous classics and masterpieces from German-language film history. (He had added the family name of his first wife Katharina "Käthe" Gentner since 1928).

Live and act

During his childhood he made some experience playing the violin and took composition lessons from Max Reger . After the First World War , Schmidt-Gentner worked as an officer to monitor the tax compliance of cinema owners. Through a client he got a job as Kapellmeister at cinema screenings. This increased his interest in film, and in 1922 he wrote his first composition to accompany a silent film . He performed some of his pieces personally on the piano at the cinema screenings. At that time he was already responsible for setting several German film classics to music. For example for Alraune (1928), The White Hell from Piz Palü (1929) and Hokuspokus (1930)

With the dawn of the sound film era, he quickly became one of the most sought-after film composers in Germany, so that at times he set up to ten films to music each year. Here he preferred lightweight comedies and light-hearted musical romances - every now and then as well as dramatic material with a political background, such as the Nazi propaganda film Vienna 1910 (1943) or history film Spy (1955) over the kuk -Spion Colonel Redl .

After the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists , he became a member of the NSDAP in May 1933 , but was removed in 1934. In 1933 he moved to Vienna, where he directed his only two times for Mondial Film : Die Pompadour (1935) and Der Weg des Herzens (1936). For Sascha-Film he composed the music for the highlights of the Viennese film , including Masquerade (1934) and High School (1934). After Austria's annexation to Germany, he became the “house composer” for the now National Socialist Wien-Film , which had emerged from Sascha-Film , for which he wrote both the comedies and some of the few relevant propaganda films such as Heimkehr (1941), Vienna 1910 (1942 ) or The Heart Must Be Silent (1944) set to music. Vienna's top directors at the time, Willi Forst and Gustav Ucicky , with whom he was already known from earlier works, have also repeatedly chosen him for setting their sophisticated productions to music - e.g. Der Postmeister (1940), Operetta (1940), Wiener Blut (1942 ) and Wiener Mädeln (1944/1945) - commissioned.

After the end of the war, Schmidt-Gentner remained loyal to Vienna and continued to successfully compose the music for numerous mostly homeland and music films until he retired into private life in 1955. In total, Willy Schmidt-Gentner composed for around 200 feature films. His final resting place is at the Hietzinger Friedhof in Vienna - Gr. 16 / No. 121

Filmography (selection)

Silent films

Sound films

literature

  • Stefanie Job : The neglected muse. Biography of the novel of the film musician and UFA general music director Willy Schmidt-Gentner. Frieling, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-89009-804-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rennsteigverein, Chronik ( Memento of the original from March 31, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed March 30, 2017; the biographical information is given there for 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.neustadt-rennsteig.org
  2. ↑ Stefanie Job: The neglected muse. Biography of the novel of the film musician and UFA general music director Willy Schmidt-Gentner , p. 43
  3. ^ Fred K. Prieberg : Handbook of German Musicians 1933–1945. CD-Rom Lexicon. sn, Kiel 2004, p. 9.443. "Wilhelm Schmidt-Gentner", party number 3.083.719.
  4. ^ Ernst Klee : The culture lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-10-039326-5 , p. 530.
personal data
SURNAME Schmidt-Gentner, Willy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schmidt, Wilhelm (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German film composer
DATE OF BIRTH April 6, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Neustadt am Rennsteig
DATE OF DEATH February 12, 1964
Place of death Vienna