Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Director William Dieterle's film biography of classical composer Richard Wagner stars Carlos Thompson, Yvonne De Carlo, Rita Gam, Alan Badel and Valentina Cortese.

A promotional short to hype the production of A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935).

Hollywood film music has its roots in Europe. Three composers who fled war and National Socialism to the USA created the sound that still shapes film music today: Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Max Steiner and Franz Waxman. In the early 20th century, these classically trained composers transformed the methods acquired in Vienna and Berlin into a new American art form: film music. They balanced the relationship between image and sound and developed techniques and dramaturgical tricks to achieve the greatest possible effect on the viewer. Their influence is visible in the work of contemporary US composers such as John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith. Today, Oscar winner Hans Zimmer, Ramin Djawadi and Harold Faltermeyer continue this tradition. Their melodies are part of humanity's collective memory and reflect the combined traditions of European and American musical history. The documentary accompanies composers in their work and explores the European roots of Hollywood.

How do artists keep creating even in the darkest of times? How did the life-altering events of World War II shape our musical landscape up to today? This documentary uncovers the poignant stories of Mieczyslaw Weinberg and Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Two 20th-century composers of profound artistry, whose legacy is only recently being rediscovered after having been overshadowed in the aftermath of the Holocaust.

Following the death of his young wife, a widower has isolated himself from the outside world. He lives solely for her memory, until one day he encounters a dancer who looks remarkably familiar. Working together with the General Music Director Ainārs Rubiķis, Canadian star director Robert Carsen stages his production at the Komische Oper Berlin with Korngold’s musical psycho-thriller, one of the greatest hits of the 1920s.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold's "Die tote Stadt" in a Bayerische Staatsoper production from 2019, directed by Simon Stone. Kirill Petrenko is conducting Jonas Kaufmann and Marlis Petersen.