Pub Date : 2020-06-18DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190623272.003.0025
Steven C. Smith
The strands of Steiner’s life emphasized in earlier chapters—his yearning for commercial success, his growing debts, and his emotional neglect of his son—reach their fulcrum here in ways both triumphant and tragic. After an anxious year of unemployment, Steiner found a sympathetic partner in director Delmer Daves. Daves’s 1959 film of a racy bestseller, A Summer Place, inspired 71-year-old Max to write a pastiche of dreamy ’50s rock ballads. Steiner had no commercial expectations for the tune, but a recording of the theme rose to Number One on the charts, won a Grammy (beating Elvis and Sinatra), and became the best-selling instrumental of the rock ’n’ roll era. Almost simultaneously, Steiner won his decades-long battle with ASCAP, which agreed to collect royalties on film music. Max would soon receive millions. But in 1962, Steiner received shattering news from which he’d never fully recover: his 22-year-old son, Ronald, had committed suicide.
{"title":"Götterdämmerung","authors":"Steven C. Smith","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190623272.003.0025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190623272.003.0025","url":null,"abstract":"The strands of Steiner’s life emphasized in earlier chapters—his yearning for commercial success, his growing debts, and his emotional neglect of his son—reach their fulcrum here in ways both triumphant and tragic. After an anxious year of unemployment, Steiner found a sympathetic partner in director Delmer Daves. Daves’s 1959 film of a racy bestseller, A Summer Place, inspired 71-year-old Max to write a pastiche of dreamy ’50s rock ballads. Steiner had no commercial expectations for the tune, but a recording of the theme rose to Number One on the charts, won a Grammy (beating Elvis and Sinatra), and became the best-selling instrumental of the rock ’n’ roll era. Almost simultaneously, Steiner won his decades-long battle with ASCAP, which agreed to collect royalties on film music. Max would soon receive millions. But in 1962, Steiner received shattering news from which he’d never fully recover: his 22-year-old son, Ronald, had committed suicide.","PeriodicalId":158266,"journal":{"name":"Music by Max Steiner","volume":"20 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125308744","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-06-18DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190623272.003.0026
S. Smith
Steiner was devastated by his son’s death. He was also now legally blind. But the ever-loyal Delmer Daves convinced Steiner to score his latest film—even though Max could not see it. The joy of composition revitalized Steiner, who would regain much of his sight via successful operations. More scoring projects followed; but by 1965, the 77-year-old was ailing and unable to find work. Steiner’s last years were ones of reluctant retirement, mentorship, and tribute—including a celebration of his work on the 1968 Academy Awards. This biography concludes with a summation of Steiner’s legacy. Not only is he the single most important figure in film music history, thanks to his pioneering development of the scoring process, his gift for intensifying emotion and character psychology through memorable themes, innovative orchestration, and other devices produced scores that remain essential components of many of the greatest films ever made.
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Pub Date : 2020-06-18DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190623272.003.0008
S. Smith
Before leaving RKO in late 1932, David O. Selznick greenlit the studio’s most costly and ambitious production: King Kong. The result was a landmark in Hollywood special effects and storytelling; its influence continues today, in the fantasy/action films that dominate the industry. Just as significantly, Kong inspired a Steiner score that is still cited by many directors, screenwriters, and composers as the work that first made them aware of the power of film music. This chapter aims to provide a definitive account of the score’s creation, from Steiner’s use of lyrical melodies and startling dissonance to humanize and add credibility to the title character; through the challenges of recording music whose orchestral richness tested the limits of 1933 sound technology. King Kong’s box office success, at the height of the Depression, temporarily saved RKO. It also launched Steiner into a new era of creative experimentation.
在1932年底离开RKO之前，大卫·o·塞尔兹尼克(David O. Selznick)为工作室最昂贵、最雄心勃勃的作品《金刚》(King Kong)开了绿灯。其结果是好莱坞特效和叙事的里程碑;时至今日，它的影响力仍在幻想/动作电影中占据主导地位。同样重要的是，孔令海启发了斯坦纳的配乐，许多导演、编剧和作曲家仍然认为这是他们第一次意识到电影音乐的力量。这一章的目的是提供一个配乐创作的明确说明，从施泰纳使用抒情旋律和惊人的不和谐来人性化和增加标题人物的可信度;通过录制音乐的挑战，其丰富的管弦乐测试了1933年声音技术的极限。在大萧条时期，《金刚》的票房成功暂时拯救了RKO。这也让斯坦纳进入了一个创造性实验的新时代。
{"title":"Startling, Unusual Sensation","authors":"S. Smith","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190623272.003.0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190623272.003.0008","url":null,"abstract":"Before leaving RKO in late 1932, David O. Selznick greenlit the studio’s most costly and ambitious production: King Kong. The result was a landmark in Hollywood special effects and storytelling; its influence continues today, in the fantasy/action films that dominate the industry. Just as significantly, Kong inspired a Steiner score that is still cited by many directors, screenwriters, and composers as the work that first made them aware of the power of film music. This chapter aims to provide a definitive account of the score’s creation, from Steiner’s use of lyrical melodies and startling dissonance to humanize and add credibility to the title character; through the challenges of recording music whose orchestral richness tested the limits of 1933 sound technology. King Kong’s box office success, at the height of the Depression, temporarily saved RKO. It also launched Steiner into a new era of creative experimentation.","PeriodicalId":158266,"journal":{"name":"Music by Max Steiner","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134448216","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-06-18DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190623272.003.0001
S. Smith
This chapter focuses on the theatrical and musical dynasty into which Steiner was born. It begins by introducing his father, Gabor, a visionary entrepreneur honored by Emperor Franz Joseph. Gabor created one of Austria’s most popular attractions of the late 19th century: Venice in Vienna, an amusement emporium a third the size of Buckingham Palace. Its centerpiece, the Riesenrad (Ferris Wheel), remains one of Vienna’s most iconic attractions. Gabor’s father, Maximilian, was an influential theater manager who did much to launch the era of Viennese operetta. It was Maximilian who convinced Johann Strauss Jr. to write for the stage, leading to such enduring works as Die Fledermaus. In this chapter, we see how the Steiner family’s championing of both “high” and “low” culture profoundly shaped Max, who later combined symphonic forms with accessible melodies in his own musical language.
{"title":"Elegant Revolutions","authors":"S. Smith","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190623272.003.0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190623272.003.0001","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter focuses on the theatrical and musical dynasty into which Steiner was born. It begins by introducing his father, Gabor, a visionary entrepreneur honored by Emperor Franz Joseph. Gabor created one of Austria’s most popular attractions of the late 19th century: Venice in Vienna, an amusement emporium a third the size of Buckingham Palace. Its centerpiece, the Riesenrad (Ferris Wheel), remains one of Vienna’s most iconic attractions. Gabor’s father, Maximilian, was an influential theater manager who did much to launch the era of Viennese operetta. It was Maximilian who convinced Johann Strauss Jr. to write for the stage, leading to such enduring works as Die Fledermaus. In this chapter, we see how the Steiner family’s championing of both “high” and “low” culture profoundly shaped Max, who later combined symphonic forms with accessible melodies in his own musical language.","PeriodicalId":158266,"journal":{"name":"Music by Max Steiner","volume":"489 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126709417","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-06-18DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190623272.003.0005
S. Smith
Now established as a Broadway musical director, Steiner would spend the rest of the 1920s living large—and often beyond his means—with New York’s most celebrated stage talents. He also co-orchestrated and conducted the show often cited as a turning point in American musical comedy: the Gershwins’ Lady, Be Good! starring Fred Astaire. This chapter offers a wide-angle view of the evolution of American music in the 1920s, while focusing on Steiner’s continuing growth as a musical dramatist. Particularly noteworthy was his skill at orchestration: by hiring musicians who could play multiple instruments, Steiner made his Broadway pit ensembles sound larger than they actually were. In 1929 this gift drew the attention of RKO Studios in Hollywood. The chapter concludes with a recounting of cinema’s rocky transition from silent films to talkies, and with Steiner accepting an offer to head west to join RKO’s fledgling music department.
{"title":"Roaring in the Twenties","authors":"S. Smith","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190623272.003.0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190623272.003.0005","url":null,"abstract":"Now established as a Broadway musical director, Steiner would spend the rest of the 1920s living large—and often beyond his means—with New York’s most celebrated stage talents. He also co-orchestrated and conducted the show often cited as a turning point in American musical comedy: the Gershwins’ Lady, Be Good! starring Fred Astaire. This chapter offers a wide-angle view of the evolution of American music in the 1920s, while focusing on Steiner’s continuing growth as a musical dramatist. Particularly noteworthy was his skill at orchestration: by hiring musicians who could play multiple instruments, Steiner made his Broadway pit ensembles sound larger than they actually were. In 1929 this gift drew the attention of RKO Studios in Hollywood. The chapter concludes with a recounting of cinema’s rocky transition from silent films to talkies, and with Steiner accepting an offer to head west to join RKO’s fledgling music department.","PeriodicalId":158266,"journal":{"name":"Music by Max Steiner","volume":"75 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125991803","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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