Alexander (Sándor) Lászlò (November 22, 1895 Budapest (Hungary) - November 17, 1970 Los Angeles, California) was a Hungarian-American pianist, musical

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

and

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

. He was born Sándor ("San") Totis, but used the professional name of Alexander Lászlò as a composer and music publisher. After training at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Lászlò studied piano with Szendy and composition with Herzfeld and started as a pianist at the

Blüthner Orchestra The Blüthner Orchestra was a German symphony orchestra based in Berlin. Founded in 1907, it operated until 1925 when it was absorbed into the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra specialised in engaging young players. Its first leader (conce ...

in Berlin in 1915. As pianist Sándor Lászlò, in Freiburg, about 1920, he recorded 31 reproducing piano rolls for Welte Mignon, of the piano music of mostly 19th Century Classical composers. He gave piano recitals in Germany and Europe in the 1920s, and was a music director and professor of film music in Berlin. According to the studies of the psychologist

Georg Anschütz Georg Ernst Anschütz (15 November 1886 – 25 December 1953) was a German psychologist, who worked especially in the field of music psychology and synaesthesia. Due to his exposed role during the National Socialism period, he was dismissed from un ...

, the mentor of the synaesthesia research of this time, Lászlò developed an apparatus for the combination of colored light, slides, moving amorphous and geometrical forms. The first demonstration of it took place under the name "Sonchromatoskop" in 1924. Although this sonicism was developed by music, it should neither serve the intensification of the musical life, nor should individual keys be illustrated by clearly related colors. Rather, it was a new art genre in which abstract images and sound do not behave supplementarily, but enter into an original and inviolable unity. Lászlò built a professional Sonchromatoskop and it was controlled by the pianist. In 1925 Laszlo wrote a text called Color-Light-Music, and toured Europe with a color organ. Smith & Howe refer to him constructing a 'Fablichtklavier' (Color pianoforté) and publishing a book , 'Fablichtmusic', in 1925 which describes the genre. He also participated in many Jewish lead charities. In 1938 he came to the United States, starting in Chicago as music professor at the IIT Institute of Design. In the 1940s he was music director at

NBC Radio The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (known as the NBC Red Network prior to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in operation from 1926 through 2004. Along with the NBC Blue Network it was one of the first t ...

. In Hollywood from about 1944, he wrote the music for several films such as '' One Body Too Many'' (1944), ''Charlie Chan and the Chinese Cat'' (1944), ''Scared Stiff'' (1945) and ''Yankee Kafir'' (1947). Also, ''

The Great Flamarion ''The Great Flamarion'' is a 1945 film noir mystery film directed by Anthony Mann starring Erich von Stroheim and Mary Beth Hughes. The film, like many films noir, is shot in flashback narrative. The film was produced by Republic Pictures.. This ...

'' (1945), '' The Amazing Mr. X'' (1949), '' Tarzan's Magic Fountain'' (1948), ''

Night of the Blood Beast ''Night of the Blood Beast'' is a 1958 American science-fiction horror film about a team of scientists who are stalked by an alien creature, which implants its embryos in an astronaut's body during a space flight. Produced by exploitation filmmak ...

'' (1958), '' Attack of the Giant Leeches'' (1959), ''

Beast from Haunted Cave ''Beast from Haunted Cave'' is a 1959 horror/ heist film directed by Monte Hellman and starring Michael Forest, Frank Wolff and Richard Sinatra. It was produced by Gene Corman, Roger Corman's brother. Filmed in South Dakota at the same time a ...

'' (1959) and '' The Atomic Submarine'' (1959), and television series including ''

Rocky Jones, Space Ranger ''Rocky Jones, Space Ranger'' is an American science fiction television serial originally broadcast in syndication from February to November 1954. The show lasted for only two seasons and, though syndicated sporadically, dropped into obscurity. ...

'' and '' My Little Margie''. He established a publishing company to collect

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

royalties under the name "Alexander Publications."

References

External links

* Th
Alexander Laszlo papers
at th
American Heritage Center
* The reproducing piano rolls may be heard a

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laszlo, Alexander 1895 births 1970 deaths American film score composers American music arrangers Hungarian emigrants to the United States Musicians from Budapest Franz Liszt Academy of Music alumni Hungarian classical pianists Hungarian male musicians Male classical pianists Illinois Institute of Technology faculty 20th-century composers American male film score composers 20th-century American male musicians