Breil, Joseph Carl

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Breil, Joseph Carl

Breil, Joseph Carl, American composer; b. Pittsburgh, June 29, 1870; d. Los Angeles, Jan. 23, 1926. He studied voice in Milan and Leipzig, and for a time sang in various opera companies. He was the composer of one of the earliest motion picture scores, Queen Elizabeth (Chicago, 1912); he also wrote the music for D.W. Griffith’s film The Birth of a Nation (1915), as well as the words and music for the comic operas Love Laughs at Locksmiths (Portland, Maine, Oct. 27, 1910), Prof. Tattle (1913), and The Seventh Chord (1913). His serious opera, The Legend, was produced by the Metropolitan Opera in N.Y. on March 12, 1919. His opera Asra (after Heine) had a single performance, in Los Angeles (Nov. 24, 1925).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire