Rózsa, Miklós

Rózsa, Miklós , brilliant Hungarian-American composer; b. Budapest, April 18, 1907; d. Los Angeles, July 27, 1995. He studied violin in childhood with Lajos Berkovits. After training at the Leipzig Cons. with Straube and Grabner, he went to Paris in 1931 and established himself as a composer. In 1935 he went to London. In 1940 he emigrated to the U.S., and settled in Hollywood; was on the staff of MGM (1948–62); also taught at the Univ. of Southern Calif. in Los Angeles (1945–65). His autobiography was publ. as Double Life (London, 1982). His orch. and chamber music is cast in the advanced modern idiom in vogue in Europe between the 2 world wars; neo-Classical in general content, it is strong in polyphony and incisive rhythm; for his film music, he employs a more Romantic and diffuse style, relying on a Wagnerian type of grandiloquence. He won Oscars for his film scores to Spellbound (1945), A Double Life (1947), and Ben-Hur (1959).

Works

DRAMATIC: Film: Knight without Armour (1937); The Four Feathers (1939); The Thief of Bagdad (1940); Lydia (1941); That Hamilton Woman (1941); Jacare (1942); Jungle Book (1942); 5 Graves to Cairo (1943); Double Indemnity (1944); The Lost Weekend (1945); Spellbound (1945); The Killers (1946); The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946); Brute Force (1947); A Double Life (1947); The Naked City (1948); The Secret beyond the Door (1948); Madame Bovary (1949); The Asphalt Jungle (1950); Quo vadis? (1951); Ivanhoe (1952); Plymouth Adventure (1952); Julius Caesar (1953); The Story of Three Loves (1953); Knights of the Round Table (1954); Lust for Life (1956); A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958); Ben-Hur (1959); El Cid (1961); King of Kings (1961); The V.I.P.s (1963); The Green Berefs (1968); The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970); The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974); Providence (1977); Time after Time (1979); Eye of the Needle (1981); Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982). ORCH.: Rhapsody for Cello and Orch. (1929); Variations on a Hungarian Peasant Song for Violin and Orch. (1929; also for Violin and Piano); North Hungarian Peasant Songs and Dances for Violin and Orch. (1929; also for Violin and Piano); Symphony in 3 Movements (1930; rev. 1993); Scherzo (1930; originally a movement of the preceding); Serenade for Small Orch. (1932; rev. 1946 as Hungarian Serenade); Theme, Variations, and Finale (1933; rev. 1943); Concerto for Strings (1943; Los Angeles, Dec. 28, 1944; rev. 1957); The Vintner’s Daughter, 12 variations on a French Folk Song (1955; also for Piano, 1953); Violin Concerto (Dallas, Jan. 5, 1956; Jascha Heifetz soloist); Overture to a Symphony Concert (1957); Notturno ungherese (1964); Sinfonia concertante for Violin, Cello, and Orch. (1966); Piano Concerto (1966; Los Angeles, April 6, 1967); Cello Concerto (1969); Tripartita (1973); Viola Concerto (1979; Pittsburgh, May 4, 1984; Pinchas Zukerman, soloist). CHAMBER: Trio-Serenade for Violin, Viola, and Cello (1927); Piano Quintet (1928); Duo for Violin and Piano (1931); Duo for Cello and Piano (1931); Sonata for 2 Violins (1933; rev. 1973); 2 string quartets (1950, 1981); Flute Sonata (1983); Sonata for Solo Clarinet (N.Y., Jan. 14, 1987); various works for piano. VOCAL: Choral works; songs.

Bibliography

C. Palmer, M. R.: A Sketch of His Life and Work (N.Y., 1975).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire