From the cinematic viewpoint, the careers of Max Steiner, Franz Waxman and Erich Wolfgang Korngold seem to have parallels in that they all moved to Hollywood from a traditional classical musical education in Europe. Out of this group, though, Korngold was by far the most promising classical composer. His father Julius was a music critic in Vienna and the young Erich Wolfgang was a precocious child prodigy impressing composers of the stature of Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss and Giacomo Puccini with his composition skills at age 9. He then studied under Zemlinsky among others. By the early 30s, Korngold was firmly on the map as a classical composer of note with a number of operas in the grand Wagnerian style established in the repertoire, and Korngold himself was professor at the Vienna State Academy of Music. However at this time anti-Semitism was on the increase in Europe, and therefore Korngold readily accepted an invitation from director Max Reinhardt to move to Hollywood initially to adapt Mendelssohn's "A Midsummer Night's Dream".
His subsequent film scores were a major success in Hollywood with his wonderful command of the orchestra and sweeping romantic sounds which have influenced many later composers such as John Williams. He did much of his work for the swashbuckler movies (most often featuring Errol Flynn as the hero) which were popular in his day, including "Captain Blood", "The Adventures of Robin Hood" and "The Sea Hawk" and "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex", and also "King's Row" with Ronald Reagan. Two of his scores were rewarded with Oscars, namely "The Adventures of Robin Hood" and "Anthony Adverse". After World War II, Korngold returned to Vienna and was to incorporate some music from his films (e.g. "Anthony Adverse") into other works, but never quite managed to recreate his earlier classical successes. Whether this was because his romantic style was now out of vogue or because the "film composer" label had now tarnished his image of respectability is not clear.
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Some of Korngold's music can be found on compilation CDs, but increasingly there are releases of original soundtracks or restored scores. If you are new to the film music of Korngold, these albums are a good place to start exploring.
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