Werner Richard Heymann
| Werner R. Heymann | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
14 February 1896 Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany (now Kaliningrad, Russia) |
| Died | 30 May 1961 (aged 65) Munich, Germany |
| Occupation | Composer |
| Years active | 1912-1961 |
Werner R. Heymann (14 February 1896 – 30 May 1961) was a German composer active in Germany and in Hollywood.
He was the younger of 4 boys born to a corn merchant. His older brother Walther Heymann who died young wrote expressionistic poems for the magazine Der Sturm published by Herwalth Walden. Werner was a child prodigy, starting to sit at the piano at age 3, receiving violin lessons at age 5, and writing his own compositions at age 8.
He became a member of the Philharmonic at age 12 and presented his first work for orchestra at age 16. His Spring Nocturne For Orchestra was based on one of his brother's texts. Although he had served in the Prussian Army during World War I, he later became involved with the postwar radical politics and pacifism of the Berlin scene. Moving to composing for the stage, he wrote the music for the Ernst Toller play Transformation
When the theater impresario Max Reinhardt opened the satirical cabaret Sound And Smoke he became, with Friedrich Hollaender, one of its two main pianists. Later the film producer Erich Pommer introduced him to the UFA studio, where he wrote music that accompanied over a dozen silents, including Faust by F.W. Murnau and Spies by Fritz Lang.
When sound came in, the songs he wrote for the then popular musicals became hits and are the work for which he is most well known today. Among these films is The Congress Dances, directed by Erik Charell with whom he would work again soon on Caravan in Hollywood, after he had to quickly leave his country, along with other artists, when the National Socialists took power in 1933.
The emigre German director Ernst Lubitsch got him to work on 5 of his classic American comedies. He also scored 2 films by another great comedy director, Preston Sturges. Heymann was an Academy Award nominee four times in the early 1940s.
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