VIENNA (EJP)---The name of Erich Wolfgang Korngold probably still carries more resonance in Hollywood today than in Europe despite the fact that the composer was born into the life of the highest musical credentials of Central European culture in 1897.

Although officially Austrian he was actually born in Brno, Czechoslovakia, in 1897.

His father Julius Korngold was considered both the most influential and dreaded journalist of the time, writing for none other than Theodor Herzl, who employed him as music critic of one of the leading German language newspapers of the day, Die Neue Freie Presse.

His son, Erich, was a child prodigy whose talents were, at an early age, compared to those of Mozart...no doubt having a father as a critic did him no harm according to the gossip of the day. His father coached him in the early days and by age 12 his Piano Trio was performed and published soon after.

A career in the concert life of Vienna was cut short by the annexation of Austria in 1938 but Korngold had already established himself in California as an assistant to the eminent director Max Reinhardt as early as 1934 where he had arranged Mendelssohn’s music for the film of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

He was granted American citizenship in 1943.

Altogether he composed music for 17 films including Anthony Adverse, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Captain Blood and the Sea Hawk almost all from Warner Brothers.

He was awarded at least two Oscars and found financial success in a manner which was never to be experienced by other exiled musicians...

In Europe his most important composition has been the fine opera ’Die Tote Stadt’ which was premiered in Hamburg in 1920.

Apart from that it has taken many years to re-establish his work as a "serious" composer amongst the musical "cognoscenti". It appears this has now come.

The Vienna exhibition which will show the life and times of the man behind the music, includes clips, both visual and musical of his films and has been curated by Michael Haas, the music historian, whose work on ’Entartete Musik’ has brought many composers whose work died alongside them to long-deserved recogntion today.

The Korngolds, Critic and Composition
The Jewish Museum, Dorotheergasse 11, Vienna
From November 28, 2007 until May 18, 2008