Erich Wolfgang Korngold, born May 29, 1897, in Brünn, Margraviate of Moravia, Austria-Hungary (present-day Brno, Czech Republic), was an Austrian-born American composer, conductor, and pianist. The second son of music critic Julius Korngold, he demonstrated musical talent as a child, composing the pantomime ballet Der Schneemann at age 11 in 1908 and his Piano Trio in D major, Op. 1, at age 12, while studying under Alexander von Zemlinsky. His opera Die tote Stadt, premiered in 1920, established his reputation across European opera houses. In 1934, he moved to Hollywood at the invitation of director Max Reinhardt to adapt Mendelssohn's score for A Midsummer Night's Dream, settling permanently in California in 1936 to escape Nazi persecution in Austria. He scored 16 Hollywood films for Warner Bros., winning the Academy Award for Best Original Score for Anthony Adverse in 1936 and The Adventures of Robin Hood in 1938, alongside nominations for Captain Blood in 1935 and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex in 1939. He became a naturalized United States citizen in 1943. Following World War II, he returned to classical composition, completing his Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35, in 1945 and his Symphony in F-sharp major, Op. 40, in 1952. Korngold died in Los Angeles, California, on November 29, 1957, at age 60.
