Hugo Riesenfeld | |
|---|---|
 Riesenfeld in 1920 | |
| Born | January 26, 1879 |
| Died | September 10, 1939 (aged 60) Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde |
| Occupation(s) | violinist, conductor, composer |
| Known for | film scoring |
| Spouse | Mabel Gertrude Dunning |
| Children | Janet Alcoriza |
| Awards | Oscar nominations for Musical Director and Best Music for Make a Wish (1937) |
Hugo Riesenfeld (January 26, 1879 – September 10, 1939) was an Austrian-American composer. As a film director, he began to write his own orchestral compositions for silent films in 1917, and co-created modern production techniques where film scoring serves an integral part of the action. Riesenfeld composed about 100 film scores in his career.
His most successful compositions were for Cecil B. DeMille's Joan the Woman (1917), The Ten Commandments (1923) and The King of Kings (1927); D. W. Griffith's Abraham Lincoln (1930); and the original scores to F. W. Murnau's Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) and Tabu (1931).