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Gottfried Huppertz

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Gottfried Huppertz was a German composer, born on 11 March 1887 and died on 7 February 1937. He is best known for his music for German Expressionist silent films, such as the science fiction film Metropolis (1927). He studied at the Cologne conservatory and worked in Coburg during the First World War, where in 1910 he made his debut as a singer and actor. In 1920 he went to Berlin as an opera singer at the Nollendorfplatz Theatre.

Music and breakthrough

He dedicated his first composition, Rankende Rosen, to the actor Rudolf Klein-Rogge, who in the early 1920s introduced him to the director Fritz Lang and to Thea von Harbou. He wrote his first film music for Lang's Die Nibelungen (1924). While working on the music for Zur Chronik von Grieshuus, in 1925, he began the score for Metropolis, which became his best-known work. He also wrote songs, but only part of his music has been recorded. He died suddenly of a heart attack in 1937.

Influence

Huppertz wrote orchestral music for silent films, which was played by a live orchestra during the screening. The piece Maschinen from Metropolis belongs to the work in which he set the sound of a factory and the menace of the machines to music. In this he is an early forerunner of the film composers who later bound image and sound so closely together that the music itself carries the story.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Maschinen and notice the repetitive, stamping rhythm in the orchestra that evokes the sound of machines. Can you hear how the piece grows ever more menacing and fuller?

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Mentioned in other articles

See also

Categories: ArtistsSymphonic silent film scores (Hollywood and Weimar)