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Miklós Rózsa
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Miklós Rózsa was born in Budapest in 1907 and studied in Leipzig. Throughout his life he continued to write concert music as well and brought Hungarian folk music into his style. Via London, where he worked for the producer Alexander Korda, he came to Hollywood with The Thief of Bagdad (1940). In the 1940s he defined the sound of film noir, with harsh, sharp chords in Double Indemnity (1944) and The Killers (1946). For Spellbound (1945) he used the theremin, an electronic instrument, for the confused mind of the protagonist, and won an Oscar. Later he wrote music for monumental historical films, such as Ben-Hur (1959), which brought him his third Oscar.
Listening
Listening tip. Notice the sharp, dissonant chords and the eerie glissandi of the theremin, and compare them with the solemn marches from Ben-Hur.
The Love of the Princess · National Philharmonic Orchestra & Charles Gerhardt, 1940- Mrs. Dietrichson, The Conspiracy · National Philharmonic Orchestra & Charles Gerhardt, 1944
Parade of the Charioteers · Miklós Rózsa, 1959
Double Indemnity Suite · Miklós Rózsa, 1944
Overture · Miklós Rózsa, 1959- The Dream Sequence, The Mountain Lodge · Miklós Rózsa, 1945
Discography
Studio albums
- 1945Spellbound (soundtrack)
- 1951Quo Vadis (soundtrack)
- 1957Sayonara (soundtrack)
- 1958A Time to Love and a Time to Die (soundtrack)
- 1959"Lust For Life" Suite / Background To Violence (soundtrack)
- 1959Ben-Hur (soundtrack)
- 1959Rhapsody Under The Stars
- 1961King of Kings (soundtrack)
- 1963The V.I.P.s
- 1964Piano Trio, Op. 1, No. 1 / Divertimento for Cello and Orchestra / Tema con Variazioni
- 1966Rhapsody In Blue / An American In Paris / Concerto In F
- 1974The Golden Voyage of Sinbad: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (soundtrack)
- 1975Conducts His Great Film Music
- 1976Young Bess (Original Motion Picture Score) (soundtrack)
- 1980Knights of the Round Table (soundtrack)
- 1980Providence (soundtrack)
- 1981Eye of the Needle (soundtrack)
- 1983The Thief Of Bagdad (soundtrack)
- 1985Quo Vadis (soundtrack)
- 1987Time After Time (soundtrack)
- 1988Duo, op. 7 / String Trio, op. 1 / Piano Quintet, op. 2
- 1989El Cid (soundtrack)
- 1989Fedora / Crisis (soundtrack)
- 1991Eye of the Needle / Last Embrace (soundtrack)
- 1991Symphonic Hollywood
- 1992Herrmann / Waxman / Rózsa
- 1993Miklós Rózsa Film Music Vol. #2 (Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid) (soundtrack)
- 1994Ivanhoe (soundtrack)
- 1994Symphony in 3 Movements Op 6a / The Vintner's Daughter Op 23a
- 1995All the Brothers Were Valiant (soundtrack)
- 1995Julius Caesar (soundtrack)
- 1995Rózsa: The King's Thief / Young: Scaramouche / Korngold: Captain Blood / Steiner: The Three Musketeers
- 1996El Cid
- 1996Viola Concerto / Sinfonia Concertante
- 1998The Complete Orchestral Music, Volume 5: Concertos for Piano & Cello
- 1999Divertimento / Romanian Folk Dances / Concerto for String Orchestra (Virtuosi di Kuhmo feat. conductor: Petér Csaba)
- 1999Miklos Rozsa at M-G-M
- 2000Madame Bovary (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (soundtrack)
- 2000The Story of Three Loves (soundtrack)
- 2001The Two String Quartets / Sonata for 2 Violins
- 2002Ivanhoe: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
- 2002Lust for Life (soundtrack)
- 2002The Green Berets (soundtrack)
- 2002The Seventh Sin (soundtrack)
- 2002The World, the Flesh and the Devil (soundtrack)
- 2003Green Fire / Bhowani Junction (soundtrack)
- 2003Knights of the Round Table / The King's Thief (soundtrack)
- 2003Moonfleet (soundtrack)
- 2003Plymouth Adventure (soundtrack)
- 2003Tribute to a Bad Man (soundtrack)
- 2004Diane / Plymouth Adventure / Moonfleet (soundtrack)
- 2004Fantasy Film Music Of George Pal (soundtrack)
- 2004Miklos Rozsa Conducts His Epic Film Scores
- 2004Valley of the Kings / King Solomon's Mines / Men of the Fighting Lady (soundtrack)
- 2004Young Bess (Original Soundtrack) [1953] (soundtrack)
- 2005Atlantis: The Lost Continent / The Power (soundtrack)
- 2005Brute Force / The Killers and more... (Background Of Violence / Time Out Of Mind)
- 2005Sinfonia concertante / Tripartita
- 2006Blood on the Sun (soundtrack)
- 2007Sodom and Gomorrah (soundtrack)
- 2007Sonata for Solo Violin / Variations on a Hungarian Peasant Song / North Hungarian Peasant Songs and Dances
- 2007Violin Concerto / Sinfonia Concertante
- 2008Ludwig Quandt Solo
- 2008Orchestral Works, Volume 1: Overture to a Symphony Concert / Tripartita / Three Hungarian Sketches / Hungarian Serenade
- 2008The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad (The Complete Original Soundtrack Recording)
- 2008Viola Concerto / Hungarian Serenade
- 2009Last Embrace (soundtrack)
- 2010Rózsa: Viola Concerto / Serly: Rhapsody for Viola & Orchestra / Bartók: Viola Concerto
- 2011Orchestral Works, Volume 2: Variations on a Hungarian Peasant Song / The Vintner's Daughter / Notturno Ungherese / Cello Concerto
- 2011Three Hungarian Sketches / Cello Rhapsody / Hungarian Nocturne
- 2012A Time to Love and a Time to Die / Lust for Life (soundtrack)
- 2012Background to Violence / Orchestral Works (soundtrack)
- 2012Orchestral Works, Volume 3: Violin Concerto / Concerto for String Orchestra / Theme, Variations and Finale
- 2012The Red House (soundtrack)
- 2012The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (soundtrack)
- 2013String Quartets nos. 1 and 2 / String Trio (original version)
- 2013The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (soundtrack)
- 2014Clarinet Sonatas
- 2014The Film Music of Miklós Rózsa
- 2014The Man in Half Moon Street (soundtrack)
- 2014The Twelve Choruses (soundtrack)
- 2015Desert Fury (soundtrack)
- 2015Rózsa: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra / Benjamin: Romantic Fantasy
- 2015Sodom and Gomorrah
- 2015The Lost Weekend (soundtrack)
- 2016Five Graves To Cairo / So Proudly We Hail! (soundtrack)
- 2016The Thief Of Bagdad (soundtrack)
- 2017Ben-Hur (soundtrack)
- 2017Rozsa Conducts Rozsa
- 2018American Concertos
- 2020King of Kings (World Premiere Digital Recording of the Complete Film Score)
- 2024Exordium: 20th Century Guitar Sonatas
- 2024Overture to a Symphony Concert / Hungarian Serenade / Tripartita
- 2025Complete Piano Works
- 2025Sinfonia concertante, op. 29 / Rhapsody, op. 3 / Notturno ungherese, op. 28
- ?Double Life (soundtrack)
- ?Rozsa: Sonata & Sonatina for Solo Clarinet / Rochberg: Trio for Clarinet, Horn, and Piano / Schuller: Romantic Sonata for Clarinet, Horn, and Piano
Other work
- 1944Double Indemnity
- 1946The Killers
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- Film Music MapNL Map
- The Dream Factory: Film Reel 2NL Reader
- The Dream Factory: Film Reel 5NL Reader
- The Dream Factory: Film Reel 8NL Reader
Mentioned in other articles
- Film noir Genre
Miklós Rózsa, a classically trained Hungarian, used sharp dissonances and a menacing march figure in Double Indemnity (1944).
- Historical epic and sword-and-sandal film Genre
For Quo Vadis (1951), Miklós Rózsa researched ancient Greek and Roman melodies, and for Ben-Hur (1959) he wrote more than two hours of music, with fanfares, marches and chorales.
- Theremin, tape and electronic pioneers Genre
Miklós Rózsa used it in Spellbound (1945) for the troubled mind of the main character.