Mortimer Wilson

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

Mortimer Wilson (1876 to 1932) was an American composer of classical music who in the 1920s also wrote music for films. He was born in Chariton, Iowa, in a rural part of the south-central part of the state. He studied organ, violin and composition in Chicago and then in Leipzig with Max Reger. After returning to the United States in 1911 he taught at the Atlanta conservatory and conducted the Atlanta Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1916 he went to Brenau College in Georgia and in 1918 to New York, where he worked as an advisory editor for the National Academy of Music until his death.

Music and breakthrough

His style was late Romantic and European-influenced, comparable to that of contemporaries such as Henry Hadley and Frederick Converse. Much of his work still exists in manuscript, including five symphonies and a great deal of chamber music. The piano suite Silhouettes from the Screen of 1919 contains musical portraits of film stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks.

Influence

His best-known work for film is The Thief of Bagdad of 1924. Douglas Fairbanks encouraged him to write a full classical score, which was unusual at the time. Wilson made a leitmotif for each character and developed these symphonically. He also spent hours in the cutting room matching music and image. For Fairbanks he subsequently wrote the music for Don Q, Son of Zorro and The Black Pirate. He also wrote books, such as The Rhetoric of Music.

Listening

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