Franz Reizenstein

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Franz Reizenstein

Franz Reizenstein (June 7, 1911-October 15, 1968) was a German-born

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
and concert-pianist

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard instrument. Widely used in Western music for solo performance, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to musical composition and rehearsal....
.

Life and work
Franz Reizenstein's father was Dr. Albert Reizenstein (January 17, 1871 - November 19, 1925) and his mother was Lina Kohn (June 17, 1880 - ), both of Nuremberg

Nuremberg

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Franz Reizenstein (June 7, 1911-October 15, 1968) was a German-born

Germany

United Kingdom

Composer

Piano

Life and work

Franz Reizenstein's father was Dr. Albert Reizenstein (January 17, 1871 - November 19, 1925) and his mother was Lina Kohn (June 17, 1880 - ), both of Nuremberg

Nuremberg

Nuremberg is a city in the Germany State of Bavaria, in the Regierungsbezirk of Middle Franconia. It is situated on the Pegnitz River river and the Rhine?Main?Danube Canal and is Franconia's largest city....
, Germany. The family was Jewish and counted many professionals and musically-inclined people among its members.

Reizenstein grew up in Nuremberg and was considered a child prodigy. He composed his first pieces when he was 5, and by the age of 17 he had written a string quartet. His well-to-do and artistic family encouraged him to play chamber music

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber....
at home. Eventually he was sent to study under Paul Hindemith

Paul Hindemith

Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and Conducting....
at the Berliner Hochschule für Musik. He emigrated to England

England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
in 1934 to escape the Nazis. Once in England, he furthered his studies under Ralph Vaughan Williams

Ralph Vaughan Williams

Ralph Vaughan Williams Order of Merit was an England composer of symphony, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film Film score. He was also a collector of England folk music and folk song; this also influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, which began in 1904, many folk song arrangements being set as hymn tunes,...
at the Royal College of Music

Royal College of Music

The Royal College of Music is a college or university school of music located in the South Kensington district of London, England, and historically one of the most influential music institutions in Europe....
, eventually becoming a professor at the Royal Northern College of Music

Royal Northern College of Music

The Royal Northern College of Music or RNCM is a music school in Manchester, England. It is located on Oxford Road in Manchester city centre, and is at the western edge of the campus of the University of Manchester....
(then the Royal Manchester College of Music) in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. Manchester was granted City status in the United Kingdom in 1853....
. He later became Visiting Professor of Composition at Boston University

Boston University

Boston University is a private nonsectarian university located in Boston, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States. Although chartered by the Massachusetts Legislature in 1869, Boston University traces its roots to the establishment of the Newbury Biblical Institute in Newbury, Vermont in 1839....
.

He composed several chamber

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber....
and piano works, as well as a number of concerto

Concerto

The term Concerto usually refers to a three-part musical work in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra. The concerto, as understood in this modern way, arose in the Baroque period side by side with the concerto grosso, which contrasted a small group of instruments with the rest of the orchestra....
s - most notoriously the Concerto Popolare composed for Gerard Hoffnung

Gerard Hoffnung

Gerard Hoffnung was an artist and musician, best known for his humorous works.Born in Berlin, he was the only child of a well-to-do Jewish couple, Hilde and Ludwig Hoffnung....
's first music festival in 1956. The premise behind Concerto Popolare is that the orchestra believes it is playing the Tchaikovsky piano concerto, but the pianist believes he or she is playing the Grieg piano concerto. A musical pitched battle ensues, dragging in other themes (notably from Rhapsody in Blue

Rhapsody in Blue

Rhapsody in Blue is a musical composition by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band written in 1924, which combines elements of European classical music with jazz-influenced effects....
and the music-hall song Roll out the barrel

Beer Barrel Polka

Beer Barrel Polka, also known as Roll Out the Barrel, is a song which became popular world-wide during World War II. The music was originally composed by the Czech people musician Jarom?r Vejvoda in 1927....
). The soloist at the premiere was Yvonne Arnaud

Yvonne Arnaud

Yvonne Arnaud was a France-born pianist, singer and actress.Germaine Yvonne Arnaud was born in 1892. From 1905 to 1911 she performed with leading orchestras throughout Europe and United States....
(otherwise a renowned actress), who had been chosen after Hoffnung's first choice, Eileen Joyce

Eileen Joyce

Eileen Alannah Joyce Order of St Michael and St George was an internationally celebrated Australian pianist of transcendental skills and an enormous repertoire, and whose career spanned over 30 years and took her to every continent....
, declined. Also popular was his set of Variations
Variation (music)

In music, variation is a formal technique where material is altered during repetition: reiteration with changes. The changes may involve harmony, melody, counterpoint, rhythm, timbre or orchestration....
on The Lambeth Walk
The Lambeth Walk

"The Lambeth Walk" is a song from the 1937 musical theater Me and My Girl . The song takes its name from a local street once notable for its street market and working class culture in Lambeth, an area of London, England....
(a popular song of the 1930s), for solo piano, each variation being a pastiche

Pastiche

The word pastiche describes a literary or other artistic genre. The word has two competing meanings, meaning either a "wikt:hodgepodge" or an imitation....
of the style of a major classical

Classical music

Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to mainstream music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of Western art history Religious music and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times....
composer. The composers pastiched are Chopin, Verdi, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Wagner and Liszt

Liszt

Liszt may refer to:*Franz Liszt, Hungarian composer and pianist*Anna Liszt, mother of composer Franz Liszt*Adam Liszt, father of composer Franz Liszt...
. He also wrote two operas Men against the Sea (1949) and Anna Kraus (1952).

Reizenstein is also noted for his lavish orchestral score to Hammer Studios' 1959 horror film

Horror film

Horror films are movies that strive to elicit responses of fear, horror and terror from viewers. Their plots frequently involve themes of the supernatural....
The Mummy.

Through his mother's family, the Kohns, Franz Reizenstein is a relative of the writer Catherine Yronwode

Catherine yronwode

Catherine "Cat" Yronwode is a writer and editor with an extensive career in the comic book industry and the field of folk magic....
.

External links

at the Jewish Music Institute