April 4 - Elmer Bernstein (The Musical Birthday Series, 8th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for April 4th may be found here: Elmer Bernstein (2019), Stephen Storace (2020), Sheku Kanneh-Mason (2021), Pierre Monteux; Eugène Bozza (2022), Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli (2023), Arthur Murray (2024), and Hans Richter (2025)

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Elmer Bernstein (4 April 1922 – 8 August 2004) was a hugely prolific and successful film composer and conductor.  His credits include over 150 films (The Tenth Commandments, To Kill a Mockingbird, Ghostbusters, Animal House), many TV shows, and Broadway musicals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On and On

In total, Bernstein wrote 2½ hours of music for The Ten Commandments, which proved a massive hit and cemented his status as a top score composer. – Wikipedia

A film by Cecil B. DeMille

Has quite a lot of time to fill,

And Elmer Bernstein showed his powers

By backgrounding those epic hours.

 

 

 

 

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November 10 - Martin Luther; Carl Stalling; Billy May; Ennio Morricone (The Musical Birthday Seris, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for November 10th are here: Martin Luther; Carl Stalling (2019), Johann Christian Schieferdecker (2020), François Couperin; Friedrich Schiller (2021), Idabell Smith Firestone (2022), and Friedrich Schiller; John David Marks (2023)

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Martin Luther (10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German theologian and religious reformer, who was also a competent musician and occasional composer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A New Song

“But any who remain unaffected [by music] are clodhoppers indeed and are fit to hear only the words of dung-poets and the music of pigs.” - Martin Luther

Martin Luther, blunt of tongue,

Preached that music should be sung

By the elders and the young;

 

So if you find yourself among

The Lutherans, sing with lusty lung.

Or be condemned to barnyard dung.

 

♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪

 

Ennio Morricone  (10 November 1928 – 6 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, trumpeter, and pianist remembered for his more than 400 scores  for cinema and television.

Billy May (November 10, 1916 – January 22, 2004) was an American composer, arranger and trumpeter, known for film, and especially, TV scores.

Carl Stalling (10 November 1891 – 29 November 1972) was an important composer for animated films.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unlikely Trio

Composing for the silver screen

Requires a very special gene,

And yet today we are recalling

Morricone, May, and Stalling.

And thus I think the day’s bonanza

Deserves a festive birthday stanza!

 

If you enjoy these posts, please help me, and consider sharing.  [Also, please visit my other blog: Alternate Tales: Great Art Repurposed.]

 

 

May 29 - Erich Wolfgang Korngold; Danny Elfman (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for May 29th are available here: Isaac Albéniz (2019), Iannis Xenakis (2020), Erich Wolfgang Korngold (2021), Iannis Xenakis (2022), and Iannis Xenakis (2023)

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Erich Wolfgang Korngold (29 May 1897 – 29 November 1957) was an Austrian-born American composer and conductor.  He was the first composer of international stature to write Hollywood scores.

Danny Elfman (b. 29 May 1953) is an American film composer, singer, songwriter, and musician. He came to prominence as the lead singer and primary songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two Roads Diverged

Today our birthday honors hit

  On two colossi of their trade,

Whose bios show a polar split

  In how a career in film is made.

Korngold was precocious and

  Was weaned on classics from the start,

While Elfman led an new wave band

  As his apprenticeship in art.

Our bio’s earliest episodes

  Cannot predict what might emerge,

And different folks on different roads

  Can, in the course of time, converge.

 

 

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March 17 - Alfred Newman (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous postings for March 17th may be found here: Josef Rheinberger (2019), Michael Finnissy (2020), Élisabeth-Claude Jacquet de La Guerre (2021), Nat King Cole (2022), and Rudolf Nureyev (2023)

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Alfred Newman (17 March 1900 – 17 February 1970) was an American composer, arranger, and conductor of film music. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Close, but No Cigar

He won nine Academy Awards and was nominated 45 times.  — IMDb

Alfred Newman shouldn’t be

Confused with Neuman, Alfred E.

One won Oscars for his work,

The other teases with his smirk,

And only one of them is human,

And that, of course, is Alfred Newman.

 

 

If you enjoy these posts, please help me, and consider sharing.  [Also, please visit my other blog: Alternate Takes: Great Art Repurposed.]

 

February 28 -- Jake Bugg; Charles Bernstein (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for February 28th are here: Jean-Baptiste Arban (2020), Geraldine Farrar (2021), Tommy Tune; John Alden Carpenter (2022), and Bernadette Peters (2023)

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 Jake Bugg (b. 28 February 1994) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Bugg’s Life

“I get stressed because I want to maintain what I have, and I don’t really know how to do anything else. I sat around for a year writing songs, and then I got signed. I’ve never had a job, so I just hope I can give people something they enjoy listening to.” — Jake Bugg at hungertv.com

It’s never certain what it means

To have success when in your teens;

Can talent latent in your genes

Survive the stress of career routines?

 

 

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Charles Bernstein (b. 28 February 1943) is an American composer of film and television scores. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eek!

 

During the 1980s, Bernstein scored the music for the horror films The Entity (1982), Cujo (1983), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), April Fool's Day (1986), and Deadly Friend.  (1986). -- adapted from Wikipedia

Charles Bernstein was the scorer

For many famous films of horror.

 

 

If you enjoy these posts, please help me, and consider sharing.  [Also, please visit my other blog: Alternate Takes: Great Art Repurposed.]