Hanns Eisler Werkverzeichnis Filmmusik 1927-1962

Between 1927 and 1962, Hanns Eisler (1898-1962) composed music for a total of 45 films - a significant part of the versatile oeuvre of the Schönberg student and close collaborator of Brecht. Starting with Walther Ruttmann's experimental film Opus III and the leftist film classic Kuhle Wampe, through ambitious Hollywood productions by Fritz Lang and Jean Renoir, to post-war films by DEFA and the poignant concentration camp documentary Nuit et brouillard by Alain Resnais - Eisler was always keen to give the music its own, independent function within the overall cinematic context. But why did his brilliant compositions for Joris Ivens' Rain or for the Chaplin film The Circus never make it to the cinemas? And why do so many passages from Eisler's film scores reappear in the composer's concert and stage works? Answers are provided by the new catalog of film music from the International Hanns Eisler Society (IHEG) by Peter Deeg, who has subjected all of Eisler's film music to a detailed examination.