Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Maestro for the Movies

Maestro for the Movies:

Erich Wolfgang

KORNGOLD

(1897 - 1957)

Korngold conducting the Warner Brothers orchestra at a soundtrack recording session

Like Frederick Delius, Erich Wolfgang Korngold was an "apostle of romance, emotion, and beauty in music." But add to this a hearty dose of heroics! He wrote exquisite scores for such classic films as THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, THE SEA HAWK, and KINGS ROW, and also left a sizeable body of works for the concert hall and stage. Korngold's influence can be heard in the music of today's film composers such as John Williams and Alexander Courage.

Charles Gerhardt's recordings of Korngold for RCA in the 1970's (produced by George Korngold, the composer's son) began a Korngold renaissance that continues today. Varese Sarabande has released a number of new digital recordings, and Marco Polo has included him in its recent soundtrack series. Now available - digitally restored - are original soundtrack recordings conducted by the composer himself. Rhino has released a 2 CD collection of "Korngold Conducts Korngold", and the German TSUNAMI label has released several complete original soundtrack CD's. The four-volume CD series of Korngold's orchestral works (conducted by Werner Andreas Albert on the CPO label) has been re-released as a combined set at a discount price. More Korngold product is sure to follow - more to look forward to!

THE KORNGOLD SCHOLARSHIP FUND

The late Konrad Hopkins, co-founder of the International Korngold Society, died in May 2010 and one of his dearest wishes was for the establishment of a permanent Korngold Scholarship to benefit young musicians and students of musicology, who wished to either study the works of Erich Wolfgang Korngold or who sought assistance with their performance studies of his music. To this end, the executors of his estate have now established The Konrad Hopkins Memorial Korngold Fund in his memory, funds from which will be used to award this scholarship prize on a regular basis. In due course, an appropriate academic institution will be sought as partner for this initiative and matched funding from either a state body or other relevant organisation will eventually provide a substantial fund, enabling the scholarship to be awarded on at least a bi-annual basis. A small Scholarship Committee, chaired by the President of the International Korngold Society, Brendan G Carroll, will be established to consider applications for the scholarship and make the awards.

If individuals wish to make a donation to the The Konrad Hopkins Memorial Korngold Fund, they may do so using one of the following methods:

by sending a cheque (made out to The Konrad Hopkins Memorial Korngold Fund) to

        Mr John A.M. Armit
        Messrs Hunter & Robertson, Solicitors
        35 High Street,
        Paisley PA1 2AG
        Scotland, UK

via electronic bank transfer naming the same account.
Details of the codes and bank account details can be obtained by writing to Mr John Armit at the above address or by emailing to the Korngold Society website at www.korngold-society.org

via PayPal.

TO MAKE A DONATION BY PAYPAL YOU WILL FIRST NEED TO SET UP YOUR OWN PAYPAL ACCOUNT at

www.paypal.com
Once you have done that [& it's free], it's then easy and 100% secure to make payments to whomever you choose. All they neeed is a valid email account and their own paypal account.
The recipient will get an email telling them that you have sent them money.
The email address to send money for the Hopkins Korngold Scholarship Fund is:

korngold_hopkins@yahoo.co.uk

The e-mail and PayPal address is connected to the bank account for the Fund.

BOOKS ABOUT KORNGOLD:

All Korngold enthusiasts should read these books about Korngold:
"THE LAST PRODIGY: A Biography of Erich Wolfgang Korngold" by Brendan Carroll (ISBN 1574670298)

"HOLLYWOOD COMPOSERS: KORNGOLD"
Encore DVD 2910 (available from Berkshire Record Outlet)

This is a limited pressing DVD-R containing the BBC TV program which focuses on Korngold's score for the film "DECEPTION" and the Cello Concerto that figures in the film. Rare film clips and home movies of Korngold are included. There is also substantial material on Felix Slatkin, Eleanor Slatkin and the Hollywood String Quartet. The Cello Concerto is performed by Frederick Zlotkin with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin.

"THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD"
RELEASED ON DELUXE 2 DVD SET (2003)

Features of interest relating to Korngold:

Digitally restored soundtrack
Option of viewing film with MUSIC ONLY (no dialogue or sound effects)
Korngold segment in documentary about the making of the film
Korngold piano session with musical excerpts from 9 films
Radio broadcast which included Korngold's music

More information and reviews of this DVD (Amazon)

Review of the new Marco Polo CD release from "Music From the Movies" site

KORNGOLD VIDEOS ON "YOUTUBE"

Brendan Carroll's YouTube Channel has a lot of rare Korngold music! Check it out!