75th Anniversary Season 2007/08 in the Royal Festival Hall Return to articles menu page > Korngold and his world Or perhaps the title 'Korngold and his worlds' would be more appropriate - because this eminently un-pigeonholeable composer straddled the most unlikely of musical styles whilst working in the most contrasting of compositional spheres. What's remarkable is that Korngold's musical voice is consistent and unmistakable across the genres he worked in, and it's a voice which fifty years on from his death remains, in the words of the composer's biographer and long-time champion Jessica Duchen, 'warm, tender, regretful, idealistic and fully human.' 'Korngold', she continues, 'had it all'. If the conservatism of Korngold's music-critic father can be seen at all in his music then perhaps it's in his harmonic language: they might not be atonal or overtly dissonant, but Korngold's harmonies are riveting and highly romanticised. The opening bars of his fourth opera Das Wunder der Heliane (1927) constitute the immediate opening of a door to another world, and as the score continues, Wagner, Puccini and Debussy are all recognisably present, alongside uncanny prophecies of the career of John Williams. After visits to the USA in the early thirties Korngold was snapped up by Warner Brothers in 1934 (seven years after Heliane) with whom he signed a deal unprecedented for a world-renowned composer; a plethora of scores (and two Oscars) followed. Korngold was pioneering a new style of illustrative but independent film scoring that coloured the action on screen, whilst employing a cinematic answer to the Wagnerian concept of the 'leitmotif' (a musical theme associated with a dramatic one). For the studio, he was proving one hell of a catch. But Korngold was straddling two worlds. He was desperate to retain his concert and operatic presence in Europe and after the Second World War turned his back on the studios to concentrate on chamber and orchestral works, for which he plundered his dozens of film scores for thematic material. He returned to Vienna in 1947, but was unprepared for the musical climate that awaited him - styles in the city had moved on. His return was a failure, and he died ten years later in Hollywood, believing himself forgotten in Europe. Join us and you'll discover that Korngold's world is all his own - and what an alluring world it is. Korngold for your diary Friday 2 November 2007 works for film An audio sample of Korngold's music for film can be accessed from the performance calendar page > Wednesday 14 November 2007 Violin Concerto An audio sample of Korngold's Violin Concerto can be accessed from the performance calendar page > Wednesday 21 November 2007 Das Wunder der Heliane > Return to articles menu page > Back to top >