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Oliver Wallace

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

Oliver Wallace · Oliver George Wallace was a British-American composer and conductor from London, born on 6 August 1887 and died on 15 September 1963. He became known above all for film music for animated, documentary and feature films from the Walt Disney Studios. After his musical training he emigrated first to Canada and shortly afterwards, in 1904, to the United States, where he became a citizen ten years later. He first worked in Seattle as a conductor of theatre orchestras and as an organist for silent films.

Music and breakthrough

With the arrival of sound film he increasingly worked for Hollywood studios in the 1930s. In 1936 he joined Disney and soon became one of the most important composers for animated shorts: he wrote the music for 139 of them, including the Oscar-winning Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom from 1953. One of his best-known pieces is Der Fuehrer's Face from the 1942 Donald Duck propaganda film, although he was not credited. That song, a parody of a Horst Wessel song, became, especially through the version by Spike Jones and His City Slickers, one of the biggest hits of the Second World War. For feature films he wrote the music for Dumbo in 1941, for which he won an Oscar with Frank Churchill in 1942, and later Victory Through Air Power, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and Lady and the Tramp.

Influence

Wallace shows how the music of the great animated films of the 1940s and 1950s came about: craftsmanship from the theatre and the silent film, translated into cartoons. His scores are an important part of the sound of Disney.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to the music of Dumbo and notice how orchestra and songs move along with the feelings of the little elephant. Hear how the music accompanies almost every movement on screen.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Categories: Artists