Joseph Carl Breil (29 June 1870 – 23 January 1926) was an American

lyric tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below mi ...

, stage director,

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 def ...

and conductor. He was one of the earliest American composers to compose specific music for motion pictures. His first film was '' Les amours de la reine Élisabeth'' (1912) starring

Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including by Alexandre Dumas fils, ...

. He later composed and arranged scores for several other early motion pictures, including such epics as D. W. Griffith's ''

The Birth of a Nation ''The Birth of a Nation'' is a 1915 American Silent film, silent Epic film, epic Drama (film and television), drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. The screenplay is adapted from Thomas Dixon Jr.'s 1905 novel and ...

'' (1915) and ''

Intolerance Intolerance may refer to: * Hypersensitivity or intolerance, undesirable reactions produced by the immune system * ''Intolerance'' (film), a 1916 film by D. W. Griffith * ''Intolerance'' (album), the first solo album from Grant Hart, formerly ...

'' (1916), as well as scoring the preview version of '' The Phantom of the Opera'' (1925), a score that is now lost. His love theme for "Birth of a Nation", titled "The Perfect Song", was published by Chappell & Co. in an arrangement for voice and keyboard. It was later used as the theme for the radio show ''

Amos 'n' Andy ''Amos 'n' Andy'' was an American radio sitcom about black characters, initially set in Chicago then later in the Harlem section of New York City. While the show had a brief life on 1950s television with black actors, the 1928 to 1960 radio sho ...

''.M. Marks: ''Music and the Silent Film'' (New York, 1997)

Life

Joseph was the first of four children born to Joseph and Margaret Breil of Pittsburgh. (Joseph Sr., a lawyer, was an immigrant from Prussia and his wife was born in Pennsylvania.)1880 United States Federal Census
accessed 20 November 2012 (available through subscription). Breil graduated from

Duquesne University Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit ( ; also known as Duquesne University or Duquesne) is a Private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded by members of ...

(then the Pittsburgh Catholic College of the Holy Ghost) in 1888. He later composed the alma mater for the university, which was first performed in October 1920. He also pursued studies at St Fidelis College (Butler, Pennsylvania) and Curry Commercial College in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

before being sent by his family to the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

to study law. While in Leipzig he began to study music composition and singing at the Leipzig Conservatory. These were followed by singing lessons in Milan and Philadelphia (with Giuseppe del Puente). He toured as principal tenor of the Emma Juch Opera Company (1891–1892) before returning to Pittsburgh to teach singing and to direct the choir of

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

(1892–1897). From 1897 to 1903 he was music director for several theatre companies. An article in ''The

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', dated 12 June 1914, noted that he "...will conduct the orchestra at the Illinois Theatre,

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, during the engagement of the second presentation of Gabriele D'Annunzio's ''

Cabiria ''Cabiria'' is a 1914 Italian Epic film, epic silent film, directed by Giovanni Pastrone and shot in Turin. The film is set in ancient Sicily, Carthage, and Cirta during the period of the Second Punic War (218–202 BC). It follows the story o ...

'', which opens on Thursday night." Between 1903 and 1910 he was employed by the music publisher Chappell, for whom he composed many instrumental pieces and songs in addition to his role there as a staff arranger and music editor. His first critical success as a composer came in 1909 with his incidental music, including ''Song of the Soul'' (recorded by Marguerite Dunlap for Victor Records in 1910), for Edward Locke's three-act play, '' The Climax'', which premiered on 12 April 1909, at Joseph W. Weber's Music Hall, New York City. After this he spent the next decade composing mostly film music. It is his work in this medium that his legacy rests on. He also composed the one-act lyric opera, ''The Legend'', one of the first such works by an American. ''The Legend'', on which Breil had begun work in 1907, premièred at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

on 12 March 1919, to less-than-favorable reviews. He died of heart disease on 23 January 1926, following a nervous breakdown suffered on account of the failure of his final opera, ''Der Asra''.

Personal life

Breil married Alta (Dot) Gelvin.

Operas

*''Orlando of Milan'' (c. 1888) *''Love Laughs at Locksmiths'' (27 October 1910,

Portland, Maine Portland is the List of municipalities in Maine, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat, seat of Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolit ...

) *''Prof. Tattle'' (1913) *''The Seventh Chord'' (1913) *'' The Legend'' (12 March 1919,

) *''Der Asra'' (24 November 1925, Los Angeles Opera)

References and notes

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

. Sheet music
''The Perfect Song''
at th
Sheet Music Consortium.''Song of the Soul''
at th
Sheet Music Consortium.
Select ''view sheet music''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Breil, Joseph Carl 1870 births 1926 deaths 19th-century American male opera singers 20th-century American male opera singers American film score composers American male film score composers American opera composers American operatic tenors Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery Classical musicians from Pennsylvania Curry College alumni Duquesne University alumni Leipzig University alumni American male opera composers Singers from Pittsburgh

Life

Personal life

Operas

References and notes

External links