Waxman (real name, Wachsmann)

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Waxman (real name, Wachsmann)

Waxman (real name, Wachsmann ), Franz, German-American composer and conductor; b. Königshütte, Dec. 24, 1906; d. Los Angeles, Feb. 24, 1967. He studied in Dresden and Berlin. He went to the U.S. in 1934 and settled in Hollywood, where he took lessons with Schoenberg. Waxman became a successful composer for films; his musical score for Sunset Boulevard won the Academy Award for 1950; also was active as a conductor; was founder-conducter of the Los Angeles Music Festival (1947-67). His other film scores included Magnificent Obsession (1935), Captains Courageous (1937), The Philadelphia Story (1940), Sunset Boulevard (1950), Stalag 17 (1953), Sayonara (1957), and Sunrise at Campobello (1960). He also composed the orch. works Athaneal the Trumpeter, overture (1945), a Trumpet Concerto (1946), Carmen Fantasy for Violin and Orch., after Bizet (1947), Sinfonietta for Strings and Timpani (1955), Goyana for Piano and Strings (1960), and a Cello Concerto as well as some vocal pieces, including Joshua, oratorio for Narrator, Solo Voices, Chorus, and Orch. (Dallas, May 23, 1959).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire