Edmund Meisel

'''Edmund Meisel''' (14 August 1894 – 14 November 1930) was an Austrian-born composer. He wrote the score to Walter Ruttmann's ''Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis'' (1927), ''The Battleship Potemkin'' (1925), and other films of Sergei Eisenstein.<ref>Ian Christie, Richard Taylor (1993). {{Google books|Wu8NAAAAQAAJ|Eisenstein Rediscovered: Soviet Cinema of the '20s and '30s}}, page 66. Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-04950-4}}.</ref> Meisel was one of the more important and pioneering figures in film music.<ref name="eder" /> Much of his work and the evidence of his significance was lost for more than fifty years.

== Biography == Meisel was born in Vienna to Abraham and Jeni née Herzbrunn. His family was Jewish.<ref>Index of the Jewish Records of Vienna and Lower Austria, birth record 2025 for 1894</ref> He began composing incidental music for the stage in the 1920s. Early credits included the scoring of plays by Bertolt Brecht.<ref name="eder">Bruce Eder, [https://www.allmovie.com/artist/edmund-meisel-163004 Edmund Meisel biography] Retrieved June 21, 2010</ref> His acquaintance with Erwin Piscator led to him writing music for films soon after. Meisel quickly came to be considered a talented composer, capable of working in a different styles, encompassing expressionism and jazz, as well as traditional orchestral modes.<ref name="eder" /> Writing during the turbulent years of the Weimar Republic, Meisel demonstrated a wry sense of humor, particularly regarding patriotic songs.<ref name="eder" />

In 1925, Meisel came to prominence with a new score for Sergei Eisenstein's ''Potemkin'', helping to turn the movie into a major hit from the modest success it had had in Russia. The opportunity arose when the German distributor decided to capitalize on the unexpected success the movie achieved in Berlin by improving the score. Meisel's music established an approach to scoring movies that came to dominate filmmaking, especially in Hollywood.<ref name="eder" /> Writing in just 12 days' time, his score more closely paralleled the movie, shot-by-shot and scene-by-scene, in a way that was novel for the time. Meisel's only guidance from Eisenstein was with the final reel, where Meisel was asked to rely on rhythm as the dominant element. Eisenstein was apparently pleased with Meisel's score, hiring him later for ''October'' in 1927.<ref name="eder" />

Meisel wrote full scores for Arnold Fanck's ''The Holy Mountain'' in 1926 and in 1927, was the composer on ''Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis'', writing a score to be played by an orchestra of 75 musicians. Meisel was so influential, he was sometimes credited simply with his last name.<ref name="eder" /> Meisel also wrote articles on film composition and the performance of his scores, a helpful resource for scholars. Although his name was known, Meisel's score to ''Potemkin'' was lost, and wasn't reconstructed until the 1990s, leading to renewed interest in his music.<ref name="eder" />

Meisel died in Berlin in 1930, at the age of 36. His widow Else went on to marry Ludwig Blattner.<ref>[http://umedia.lib.umn.edu/node/696724 letter from Jay Leyda] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220135201/http://umedia.lib.umn.edu/node/696724 |date=2016-12-20 }}, 17 December 1968, University of Minnesota Libraries, Arthur Kleiner Collection, retrieved 02 March 2017</ref>

Meisel's niece was the writer and member of the German Resistance, Hilde Meisel.

==Selected filmography==

* ''Battleship Potemkin'' (1925) * ''The Holy Mountain'' (1926) * ''Superfluous People'' (1926) * ''Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis'' (1927) * ''October: Ten Days That Shook the World'' (1928) * ''Deutscher Rundfunk'' (1928) * ''The Crimson Circle'' (1929) * ''The Blue Express'' (1929)

==External links== *{{IMDb name|0577016}} *{{cite web |url=https://www.filmportal.de/person/edmund-meisel_89a3669e02cf4f56a61028ce5d1f71f3 |title=Edmund Meisel |website=filmportal.de|language=German|accessdate=31 May 2020}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meisel, Edmund}} Category:1894 births Category:1930 deaths Category:20th-century Austrian composers Category:20th-century Austrian male musicians Category:20th-century German composers Category:20th-century German male composers Category:Austrian film score composers Category:20th-century Austrian Jews Category:German film score composers Category:Jewish composers Category:Austrian male film score composers