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Miklos Rozsa

Miklós Rózsa
Miklós Rózsa Portrait.jpg
Born Miklós Rózsa
(1907-04-18)18 April 1907
Budapest, Austria-Hungary
(now Hungary)
Died 27 July 1995(1995-07-27) (aged 88)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation composer, conductor
Years active 1918–89
Spouse(s) Margaret Finlason (1943–1995; his death; 2 children, d.1999)
Children Juliet Rozsa, Nicolas Rozsa
Website www.miklosrozsa.org

Miklós Rózsa (Hungarian: [ˈmikloːʃ ˈroːʒɒ]; 18 April 1907 – 27 July 1995) was a Hungarian composer trained in Germany (1925–1931), and active in France (1931–1935), England (1935–1940), and the United States (1940–1995), with extensive sojourns in Italy from 1953. Best known for his nearly one hundred film scores, he nevertheless maintained a steadfast allegiance to absolute concert music throughout what he called his "double life."

Rózsa achieved early success in Europe with his orchestral Theme, Variations, and Finale (Op. 13) of 1933 and became prominent in the film industry from such early scores as The Four Feathers (1939) and The Thief of Bagdad (1940). The latter project brought him to America when production was transferred from wartime Britain, and Rózsa remained in the United States, becoming an American citizen in 1946. His notable Hollywood career earned him considerable fame, including Academy Awards for Spellbound (1945), A Double Life (1947), and Ben-Hur (1959), while his concert works were championed by such major artists as Jascha Heifetz, Gregor Piatigorsky, and János Starker.

Miklós Rózsa was born in Budapest of Jewish heritage and was introduced to classical and folk music by his mother, Regina Berkovits, a pianist who had studied with pupils of Franz Liszt, and his father, Gyula, a well-to-do industrialist and landowner who loved Hungarian folk music. Rózsa's maternal uncle Lajos Berkovits, violinist with the Budapest Opera, presented young Miklós with his first instrument at the age of five. He later took up the viola and piano. By age eight he was performing in public and composing. He also collected folksongs from the area where his family had a country estate north of Budapest in an area inhabited by the Palóc Hungarians.


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