Alexandre Tansman
Alexandre Tansman ( Aleksander Tansman, born June 11, 1897 in Łódź, † November 15, 1986 in Paris) was a Polish-French composer.
Life
Tansman was born in Łódź, the son of Jewish parents and raised on. The age of four, he began playing the piano and composing at age eight. He studied composition at the Academy of Music in Łódź and Warsaw Academy of Music. In 1919 he won the Polish National Composition Competition, which he had submitted two compositions under pseudonyms ( the first prize was awarded his Fantasy for violin and piano, the second a piano sonata ). He then moved on to France and took French citizenship in 1920. 1932 to 1933 he undertook a world tour. In 1940 he fled to the south of France and in 1941 he managed to escape via Lisbon to the United States.
In Hollywood he worked mainly as a composer for movies. There he became friends with Igor Stravinsky, who influenced him greatly. At the Academy Awards in 1946 he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Music, and indeed for the staged by Gregory Ratoff war drama Paris Underground (1945 ) with Constance Bennett, Gracie Fields and George Rigaud in the lead roles. Overall, he was responsible for the musical background and accompaniment for fifteen films.
In 1946, Tansman returned to Paris, where he died on 15 November 1986. In 1947 he wrote a biography of Stravinsky. Married since 1937 Tansman was with pianist Colette Cras ( -1953 ), the daughter of the French composer Jean Cras, they had two daughters.
Works
Tansman wrote, among other nine symphonies, two piano concertos, the Stele in memory of d' Igor Stravinsky, the oratory Isaïe, le prophète, chamber and piano music. His compositions are - characterized among other things by reminiscences of Polish folk music - in addition to influences of Stravinsky.