Gerard Carbonara (8 December 1886,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

– 11 January 1959,

Sherman Oaks Sherman Oaks is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California located in the San Fernando Valley, founded in 1927. The neighborhood includes a portion of the Santa Monica Mountains, which gives Sherman Oaks a lower population density than ...

) was an American composer, conductor, opera coach and concert violinist. He received his formal music education at the National Conservatory of Music in New York on a scholarship. In 1908 he travelled abroad to

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, where he continued his studies at the Naples Conservatory with composer Martucci Dworczak. He was employed as an opera coach in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

in 1910. Later, he toured

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

as a concert violinist and conducted operas throughout Europe and, later, the US. Carbonara began his film music career at the end of the

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...

era. In the 1930s and 1940s he scored numerous films at Paramount Pictures, including ''

American Empire American imperialism refers to the expansion of American political, economic, cultural, and media influence beyond the boundaries of the United States. Depending on the commentator, it may include imperialism through outright military conquest ...

'', '' The Shepherd of the Hills'', as well as a series of ''

Mutt and Jeff ''Mutt and Jeff'' was a long-running and widely popular American newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Bud Fisher in 1907 about "two mismatched tinhorns". It is commonly regarded as the first daily comic strip. The concept of a newspape ...

'' cartoons (with co-composer James Bradford). Carbonara composed several cues for '' Stagecoach'' (1939), but did not receive screen credit because of a clause in his contract. Although the score, which featured the music of several composers, won an

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

, Carbonara was not counted among the winners. However, he was nominated for '' The Kansan'' in 1943. In the 1940s, especially after World War II, he composed and arranged music for

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

s. Carbonara often worked closely with his colleague

John Leipold John Leipold (February 26, 1888 – March 8, 1970) was an American film score composer. Selected filmography * ''Behind the Make-Up'' (1930) * ''Playboy of Paris'' (1930) * '' Monkey Business'' (1931) * ''Horse Feathers'' (1932) * '' It’s a Gift ...

. In addition to his film scores Carbonara's oeuvre includes many serious works, among them an opera ("Armand"), individual pieces for solo piano ("Danse Fantastique", "Rhapsodie", "Hollywood Boulevard", "An American Tone Sketch", "Minuet" and "Petite Valse"), duos for violin and piano ("Aria", "Serenata Gotica", "Alla Tarantella" and "Dusk") and symphony orchestra ("Ode to Nature", "Concerto Orientale" and "Scherzetto Fantasia").

Filmography

* '' Adoration'' (1928) * '' Waterfront'' (1928) * ''

Warming Up 'Warming up' is a part of stretching and preparation for physical exertion or a performance by exercising or practicing gently beforehand, usually undertaken before a performance or practice. Athletes, singers, actors and others warm up before s ...

'' (1928) * ''

Wolf Song ''Wolf Song'' is a 1929 American silent Western romance film directed by Victor Fleming and starring Gary Cooper and Lupe Vélez. Based on a story by Harvey Fergusson, the film is about a man who heads out west in 1840 looking for adventure and ...

'' (1929) * '' Chinatown Nights'' (1929) * '' The Hole in the Wall'' (1929) * ''

Young Eagles The Young Eagles is a program created by the US Experimental Aircraft Association designed to give children between the ages of 8 to 17 an opportunity to experience flight in a general aviation airplane while educating them about aviation. The pr ...

'' (1930) * '' Forgotten Faces'' (1936) * ''

Big Brown Eyes ''Big Brown Eyes'' is a 1936 American crime comedy film. In the film, police officer Danny Barr (Cary Grant) is chasing jewel robbers. His girlfriend Eve Fallon (Joan Bennett) is initially working as a manicurist, but quickly takes a job as a re ...

'' (1936) * '' The Texas Rangers'' (1936) * ''

Spendthrift A spendthrift (also profligate or prodigal) is someone who is extravagant and recklessly wasteful with money, often to a point where the spending climbs well beyond his or her means. "Spendthrift" derives from an obsolete sense of the word "thrift" ...

'' (1936) * ''

The Case Against Mrs. Ames ''The Case Against Mrs. Ames'' is a 1936 mystery-drama film written by C. Graham Baker and Gene Towne based on a serial of the same name by Arthur Somers Roche originally published in ''Collier's Weekly'' magazine in 1934, and then as a novel ...

'' (1936) * '' Racketeers in Exile'' (1937) * '' The Mysterious Rider'' (1938) * '' Arrest Bulldog Drummond'' (1939) * ''Dr. Cyclops (1939) o-composer with Dr Ernst Toch and Albert Hay Malotte' * '' The Shepherd of the Hills'' (1941) * ''

The Monster and the Girl ''The Monster and the Girl'' is a 1941 American black-and-white horror film directed by Stuart Heisler and released by Paramount Pictures. Plot The film revolves around a small-town church organist named Scot Webster ( Philip Terry) attempti ...

'' (1941) * '' The Night of January 16th'' (1941) * ''

'' (1942) * ''

Tombstone, the Town Too Tough to Die ''Tombstone, the Town Too Tough to Die'' is a 1942 American Western film about the Gunfight at the OK Corral. It is directed by William McGann and stars Richard Dix as Wyatt Earp, Kent Taylor as Doc Holliday and Edgar Buchanan as Curly Bill ...

'' (1942) * '' The Kansan'' (1943) * ''

The Town Went Wild ''The Town Went Wild'' is a 1944 American comedy film directed by Ralph Murphy and starring Freddie Bartholomew and Edward Everett Horton Plot Like Romeo and Juliet, next door neighbours David Conway and Carol Harrison are deeply in love wi ...

'' (1944) * '' Gunfighters'' (1947) * '' The Big Wheel'' (1949)

References

Jürgen Wölfer Jürgen Wölfer (25 December 1944 – 24 July 2015) was a German music writer and historian with focus on Jazz. Life Born in Eisleben, Wölfer studied education, graduated with a diploma and worked for a long time in the record industry, where ...

and Roland Löper: „''Das grosse Lexikon der Filmkomponisten. Die Magier der cineastischen Akustik - von Ennio Morricone bis Hans Zimmer''“. Schwarzkopf&Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2003, . (German) 1886 births 1959 deaths American male classical composers American classical composers American film score composers American male film score composers Musicians from New York City Classical musicians from New York (state) 20th-century American male musicians {{US-composer-19thC-stub