Franz Waxman (born Wachsmann; December 24, 1906 – February 24, 1967) was a German-born composer and conductor who was Jewish. He is best known for his work in film music. His film scores include Bride of Frankenstein, Rebecca, Sunset Boulevard, A Place in the Sun, Stalag 17, Rear Window, Peyton Place, The Nun's Story, and Taras Bulba. He received twelve Academy Award nominations and won two Oscars in a row for Sunset Boulevard and A Place in the Sun. He also received a Golden Globe Award for Sunset Boulevard. Bernard Herrmann said that the score for Taras Bulba was "the score of a lifetime."

In addition to film music, Waxman composed concert works, such as the oratorio Joshua (1959) and The Song of Terezín (1964–65). The Song of Terezín is a piece for orchestra, chorus, and children's chorus based on poetry written by children in the Theresienstadt concentration camp during World War II. Waxman also started the Los Angeles Music Festival in 1947. He conducted many West Coast premieres of works by other film composers and concert composers.

Biography

Max Waxman was born Franz Wachsmann in Königshütte, which is now Chorzów, Poland. He was Jewish and lived in the Prussian Province of Silesia, part of the German Empire. At age three, he suffered a serious eye injury when boiling water was spilled from a stove, which caused permanent vision loss.

In 1923, when he was 16, Waxman joined the Dresden Music Academy to study composition and conducting. He earned money by playing popular music to support himself through school. While working as a pianist with the Weintraub Syncopators, a dance band, Waxman met Frederick Hollander, who later introduced him to Bruno Walter, a famous conductor.

Waxman worked as an orchestrator for German films, including Hollander’s score for The Blue Angel (1930). His first dramatic film score was for Liliom (1934). That year, he was beaten badly by Nazi sympathizers in Berlin, which led him to leave Germany. He moved to Paris with his wife and later to Hollywood.

In Hollywood, Waxman met James Whale, who was impressed by Waxman’s score for Liliom. His score for Bride of Frankenstein (1935) helped him become Head of Music at Universal Studios. However, Waxman preferred composing over musical direction, so he left Universal in 1936 to join MGM as a composer. His score for Rebecca (1940), directed by Alfred Hitchcock, made him famous. Hitchcock’s first Hollywood film under his contract with David O. Selznick, Rebecca was the first time he used a full symphonic score. Selznick also financed Gone With the Wind at the same time. Waxman’s score for Rebecca is described as eerie and ethereal, creating a mood that reflects the subconscious, as noted by Jack Sullivan.

In 1943, Waxman left MGM and joined Warner Bros., where he worked with composers like Max Steiner and Erich Wolfgang Korngold. He composed music for films such as Mr. Skeffington (1944) and Objective, Burma! (1945). A climactic scene in Objective, Burma! used a fugue, a technique Waxman later used again in The Spirit of St. Louis (1957) and Taras Bulba (1962).

In 1947, Waxman founded the Los Angeles Music Festival, where he served as music director and conductor for the rest of his life. His goal was to bring Los Angeles to "European cultural standards," as stated by Tony Thomas. He performed works by composers like Stravinsky and collaborated with colleagues such as Miklós Rózsa, conducting his Violin Concerto.

By 1947, Waxman left Warner Bros. to work as a freelance composer, choosing his projects freely. His score for Sorry, Wrong Number (1948) used a passacaglia, showing his creative use of classical forms. Earlier, his "Creation" cue in Bride of Frankenstein (1935) was described by Christopher Palmer as a "fantasia on one note."

Waxman won an Academy Award for his score to Sunset Boulevard (1950). The score is fast-paced and powerful, using techniques like low pulsing notes and trills to highlight the madness of Norma Desmond. Mervyn Cooke noted that Richard Strauss’s opera Salome inspired the wild trills in Desmond’s final performance.

He received a second Oscar for A Place in the Sun (1951). In the 1950s, Waxman shifted focus to serious concert works. His Sinfonietta for Strings and Timpani (1955) and Joshua (1959), an oratorio inspired by his wife’s death, showed his growth as a composer. Joshua includes strong Hebrew influences and complex musical structures.

Waxman continued to gain recognition as a composer. Christopher Palmer wrote that at his death in 1967, "Waxman was at the zenith of his powers." His 1960s output was less intense than earlier works, but he composed Taras Bulba (1962) and worked on TV shows like Gunsmoke (1966).

The Song of Terezín (1964–65), based on poetry by children in the Nazi Theresienstadt concentration camp, reflects Waxman’s connection to the Holocaust. The piece includes a mixed chorus, children’s chorus, soprano soloist, and orchestra.

Waxman had a son, John Waxman; John had two children, Josh and Alyce Waxman; and Josh had three children, Andrew, Christopher, and Grace Waxman.

Waxman died of cancer in February 1967, two months after his 60th birthday. His legacy includes over 150 film scores and many concert works.

Some of Waxman’s music has been recorded on LP and CD. In the 1970s, Charles Gerhardt and the National Philharmonic Orchestra performed highlights from his scores for an RCA Victor recording using Dolby surround sound. In the 1990s, Richard Mills recorded film suites with the Queensland Symphony for Varèse-Sarabande. The music for Taras Bulba has also been recorded by the City of Prague Philharmonic with Nic Raine.

The American Film Institute ranked Waxman’s score for Sunset Boulevard No. 16 on their list of the greatest film scores. His scores for the following films were also nominated:
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Selected concert works

• Carmen Fantasie (1946), for violin and orchestra
• Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra (1947)
• Tristan and Isolde Fantasy, for violin, piano, and orchestra
• Four Scenes from Childhood (1948), for violin and piano (written for Jascha Heifetz when his son Jay was born)
• Auld Lang Syne Variations (1947), for violin and chamber ensemble. Movements: "Eine kleine Nichtmusik," "Moonlight Concerto," "Chaconne a son gout," and "Hommage to Shostakofiev."
• The Song of Terezín (1964–65), based on poems written by children of Theresienstadt concentration camp
• Joshua (1959), Oratorio