Hanns Eisler Werkverzeichnis Filmmusik 1927-1962

Between 1927 and 1962, Hanns Eisler (1898-1962) composed music for a total of 45 films - no small part of the versatile oeuvre of the Schönberg student and close Brecht employee. From Walther Ruttmann's experimental film OPUS III and the left-wing film classic Kuhle Wampe to ambitious Hollywood films by Fritz Lang and Jean Renoir, post-war DEFA films and the moving concentration camp documentary Nuit et brouillard by Alain Resnais - Eisler was always keen to give music its own independent function in the overall cinematic context. But why did his congenial compositions for Joris Ivens' Regen or the Chaplin film The Circus never make it to the cinemas? And why are so many passages from Eisler's film scores to be found in the composer's concert and stage works? Answers are provided by the new catalogue of works of film music by the International Hanns Eisler Society (IHEG) by Peter Deeg, who has subjected all of Eisler's film scores to a detailed autopsy.