Franz Waxman: Between Film Music and the Concert Hall

Ingeborg Zechner explores Waxman’s musical career as being situated ‘between film music and the concert hall’ by examining his biography his activities as musical director of the Los Angeles Music Festival, his international career as a conductor, and the film music that Waxman adapted for different contemporary media.

Franz Waxman (1906–1967) was a jazz musician, orchestrator, film composer, concert organizer, conductor, and a composer of concert and opera works. It was only after his emigration to the USA in the early 1930s that Waxman built himself a career in the concert hall – before this point he was exclusively working for the film and entertainment industries. Ingeborg Zechner explores Waxman’s musical career as being situated "between film music and the concert hall," highlighting the various intersections between these two areas by examining his biography – including his migration – his activities as musical director of the Los Angeles Music Festival, his international career as a conductor, and the film music that Waxman adapted for different contemporary media. Zechner shows that Hollywood composers, such as Waxman, perceived film music’s intermediality in the 1940s to 1960s as being crucial for the aesthetic identity of the film musical work, and, therefore, provides insights into not only Waxman’s career but also the historical and cultural context of American and international musical life.