Author:
Smith, Steven C. author.
ImprintNew York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2020]
Descriptionxvi, 480 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.
Note:Foreword / by Gary Giddins -- Prologue -- Part one: The little prince. Elegant revolutions ; Heir apparent -- Part two: The wanderer. Come over here ; Stairway to paradise ; Roaring in the twenties -- Part three: The apprentice. Where does the music come from? ; Revolution ; Startling, unusual sensation ; Orchids in the moonlight ; Working night and day -- Part four: Emperor. Monarch of sound ; Exodus ; Battles won and lost ; The right place to be ; Fighting for Steiner ; The South is dead ; Breaking point ; Voyage into fog ; Yours, Herman Hupfeld ; Sucker ; Au revoir and bonjour ; Indian summer ; Falling star -- Part five: Twilight of the gods. A Jewish aloha ; Götterdämmerung ; Coda.
Bibliography Note:Includes bibliographical references (pages 457-461) and index.
Note:"During a seven-decade career that spanned from 19th century Vienna to 1920s Broadway to the golden age of Hollywood, three-time Academy Award winner Max Steiner did more than any other composer to introduce and establish the language of film music. Indeed, revered contemporary film composers like John Williams and Danny Elfman use the same techniques that Steiner himself perfected in his iconic work for such classics as Casablanca, King Kong, Gone with the Wind, The Searchers, Now, Voyager, the Astaire-Rogers musicals, and over 200 other titles. And Steiner's private life was a drama all its own. Born into a legendary Austrian theatrical dynasty, he became one of Hollywood's top-paid composers. But he was also constantly in debt--the inevitable result of gambling, financial mismanagement, four marriages, and the actions of his emotionally troubled son. Throughout his chaotic life, Steiner was buoyed by an innate optimism, a quick wit, and an instinctive gift for melody, all of which would come to the fore as he met and worked with luminaries like Richard Strauss, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, the Warner Bros., David O. Selznick, Bette Davis, Frank Sinatra, and Frank Capra. In Music by Max Steiner, the first full biography of Steiner, author Steven C. Smith interweaves the dramatic incidents of Steiner's personal life with an accessible exploration of his composing methods and experiences, bringing to life the previously untold story of a musical pioneer and master dramatist who helped create a vital new art with some of the greatest film scores in cinema history."-- Provided by publisher.
