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John Stepan Zamecnik
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
John Stepan Zamecnik was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1872, the son of Czech immigrants. In the mid-1890s he studied at the Prague Conservatory with Antonín Dvořák and completed his training in 1897. In 1899 he returned to the United States. In Cleveland he worked as a violinist and composer, and he played violin in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under Victor Herbert. He wrote much of his work under pseudonyms, including Dorothy Lee, Lionel Baxter and Hal Vinton.
Music and breakthrough
In 1907 he became music director of the new Hippodrome Theater in Cleveland. When silent films were shown there, he began writing music for them. Publisher Samuel Fox released it in the series Sam Fox Moving Picture Music. It consisted of separate pieces and motifs for pianists, organists and orchestras, such as Mysterious Burglar Music for the moment when a burglar comes into view. Fox was the first publisher in the United States to publish original film music. Zamecnik also wrote music for films such as The Covered Wagon and Wings and for wind bands, such as the march World Events from 1935.
Influence
His march World Events was given a second life when Jack Shaindlin, music director of Movietone News, used the first theme for the signature tune of the Movietone newsreels. Jackie Gleason used that version in the 1950s for a sketch. In 2011 Paramount received the original manuscript of Wings from the Library of Congress, after which a new recording was released in 2012 with the DVD and Blu-ray. Zamecnik died in 1953.
Listening
Discography
Studio albums
- 2012Wings (soundtrack)
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- The Dream Factory: Film Reel 1NL Reader
Mentioned in other articles
- Live accompaniment: cinema pianists, organists and cue sheets Genre
From 1913 the publisher Sam Fox brought out such collections, with music by John Stepan Zamecnik.