North, Alex

Alex North's contribution to cinema was marked by 15 Academy Award nominations and an Oscar honorary award for his contribution to cinema. He was also awarded the Golden Globe (Fisherman's Shoes) and Emmy (Rich, Poor) Prizes. One of the most recognizable compositions by Alex North is the song “ Unchained Melody ”, written in 1955 and gaining a second youth thanks to the painting “ Ghost ”.

Alex North was born in Chester (PA) into a Jewish family of Russian immigrants Jesse and Baila Soifer. He early left without a father, who died after an unsuccessful operation to remove appendicitis. Mother worked hard, maintained a grocery store to provide a family of four sons, and directed all her efforts to give her children a musical education ^[6] . The first piano lessons at the age of 7 were given to him by his elder brother Joseph ^[7] .

Until the age of 12, he studied at a local music school, then at Settlement Music School. In 1928-1929 completed a course at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. The young man was greatly impressed by his acquaintance with jazz and swing, trips to Atlantic City and visiting the performances of the Paul Whiteman and Ted Weems orchestras ^[8] . North teacher George Boyle recommended that the talented young man continue his studies at a serious educational institution - the Juilliard School ^[9] .

In 1929, Alex moved to New York and auditioned with Frank Damrosh from the country's leading conservatory, receiving a scholarship in it ^[10] . Alex studied at the walls of Juilliard for three years and earned high marks in the certificate in the theory of music, harmony and other subjects. In 1932, Alex met Anna Sokolova ( en ), a dancer from Martha Graham 's troupe. Young people had much in common: Russian and Jewish roots, a love of music. They began to meet, maintaining a professional relationship. Alex helped Anna organize the first independent production of the Antiwar Trilogy, for which he wrote music, one of his first experiments in composition ^[11] .

From childhood, Alex did not disdain any work, helping his mother make ends meet. He was a handyman, an employee of the newspaper, even sold freshly squeezed orange juice. After moving to New York, Alex attended telegraph courses and got a job at Western Union . The scholarship was not enough to live in a big city. The pianist believed that the morse code on the key has at least something in common with a sense of rhythm and will help in his main profession. For about three years he studied during the day and worked at night, which deprived Alex of all strength ^[12] .

At the end of 1932, Alex unexpectedly decided to go to the USSR. He heard that there you can completely focus on learning. In addition, North idolized Prokofiev . In order to get into the socialist camp, an American student had to go for a little trick. During industrialization, the USSR lacked qualified specialists and the corresponding exchanges for hiring labor were opened in the United States. North got a job as a telegraph operator with a salary of 250 - 350 rubles per month ^[13] .

At the beginning of 1934, North moved to Moscow. There, however, it quickly became clear that his qualifications were not enough for the work for which he was hired. Nevertheless, Alex managed to make acquaintances. The famous musicologist Grigory Schneerson recommended the American to continue his studies at the Moscow Conservatory . In 1934 - 1935, North studied composition in the class of teachers Victor Bely and Alexander Veprik ^[14] . In 1934, North invited Anna Sokolova to Moscow. North actively participated in the creative life of the capital, went to Leningrad. He sent articles to American publications, where he spoke highly of the Soviet way of life and the possibilities of getting a free education in the Land of Soviets. He composed some compositions commissioned by the Union of Composers of the USSR and even became a member of this organization ^{[15] [16]} . Anna tried to teach art nouveau choreography in Moscow, but did not succeed. At the end of 1935, North began to feel homesick and decided to return to the United States ^[15] .

After returning, North plunged into an active creative life. Then Isador took the new name Alex North after his elder brother. The first name North took his brother Joseph, who then worked as a reporter in the small newspaper “North of New York” (“North of New York”) ^[10] . Alex continued to work with leading troupes of modern dance performers: Marta Graham, Agnes de Mill and Hani Holm ( en ) ^[17] . Continuing her creative collaboration with Anna Sokolova, the composer composed the choreographic suite “Ballad in a popular style” for her, which, according to critics, became, in a way, its hallmark ^[18] . At the same time, Alex continued to study with the leading composers Aaron Copland and Ernst Toch . Thanks to the joint work with Copland, in the works of North began to appear his recognizable melodic and melancholic style ^[18] . This period includes the creation of the first significant achievements of the composer in symphonic music: the symphonic suite Quest (1937), Woodward Trio (1938), string quartet (1939) ^[18] .

In 1936, Alex North began his many years of collaboration with the cinema, making his debut in documentary films. His first picture was the film "China Strikes Back" and, then, a series of paintings followed from 1936 to 1950. Among them, an important achievement was the work on the film "People from Cumberland" ( en ). The director’s assistant in the film was the future Academy Laureate Elia Kazan , with whom he later worked a lot ^[19] .

In the late 1930s, North joined the Federal Theater Project. In 1939, together with the Anna Sokolova collective, he made a tour to Mexico. In Mexico City, Alex met with the country's leading composer Sylvester Revueltas and they became close friends. Unfortunately, Sylvester passed away a few months after they met and North dedicated the memory of his friend Rhapsody to the piano and orchestra. Mexican folk music greatly influenced the composer's work. After the tour, Anna and Alex parted ways. Anna Sokolova decided to stay in Mexico, while Alex returned to the United States ^[20] .

In the early 1940s, North continued to work in several theater projects, began to write for musicals. The most notable work of that period was the musical “'Tis of Thee” ^[21] . He works trying himself in various genres: jazz, symphonic music, in vocal compositions, in ballet ^[22] . In 1941, on the production of the musical “'Tis of Thee,” Alex met with entrepreneur Shirley Hart and at the end of the year they got married. Such a rush was caused by the fact that North wanted to receive a deferment from draft in the army. However, in 1942 he was called up and spent 4 years in the armed forces. As leader of the 23rd Army choir, he rose from private to captain. The army choir was involved in the psychological rehabilitation of the wounded, and North wrote several works for this purpose. In 1946, he retired to the reserve ^[23] .

The end of the 1940s was another period of the composer's hobby for the theater. In 1947, producer Kermit Bloomgarden ( en ) drew him to stage the play Queen of Sheba, where she played Molly Day Thatcher, wife of Ellie Kazan. The creative paths of the director and composer crossed again. In 1949, Kazan staged Arthur Miller 's recently written play Death of a Salesman and drew North to create music ^[24] . The premiere of the performance in February 1949 at the Broadway Morosco Theater became an event in the theatrical life of America in the 20th century. The production received the highest press reviews and the music of Alex North earned special recognition. The next success of the composer was the production of a play based on the novel “ Turn of the Screw ” in 1950 ^[25] .

In 1951, Elia Kazan invited North to write a soundtrack to several of his paintings at once. Warner Bros was the first to launch Desire Tram , which became Alex North's full-length debut. Among 12 Oscar nominations, one was for the best music for the film. This film was followed by “ Viva Zapata! "And" The Death of the Salesman . " In the 1950s, North was extremely sought after and forced to spend time on constant flights between New York and California. He was completely busy creating soundtracks and only occasionally found time for symphonic music ^[26] .

In 1960, North was commissioned to create music for one of the most expensive Spartak films of that time, Stanley Kubrick . If before that he was considered a specialist in dramas, now he is expanding genre diversity. “Spartacus” and, later, “ Cleopatra ”, the production of which was very time-consuming, gave the composer the opportunity to study the material more and create music of antique sound, in the spirit of the time of the paintings ^[27] . Alex North started back in the studio era of Hollywood, but always remained an independent agent, without signing an agreement with film studios. One of the reasons was that the composer preferred to live in New York and not bind himself with long-term obligations with Hollywood. Nevertheless, he had no problems with work and some directors constantly turned to him. North's most successful collaboration was with directors such as John Houston and Daniel Mann. ^[28]

One of the most difficult moments in his career and deep disappointment, the composer considered failure with the film " Space Odyssey of 2001 ". In 1967, the composer wrote material for the science fiction film Kubrick with a total duration of about 2 hours 15 minutes. North compared efforts to create this soundtrack with the writing of two symphonies ^[29] . However, at the last moment before the release of the rental, the director radically reworked the concept of the film. He removed from him a 10-minute prologue, a whole storyline about aliens, all offscreen commentary and all of North's music, replacing it with a selection of avant-garde works of the 19th and 20th centuries ^{[28] [30]} . The composer found out about this only at the premiere of the picture ^[31] .

Today it’s hard to imagine a “Space Odyssey” without Strauss’s music , but there are different opinions. Jerry Goldsmith called Kubrick's decision "idiotic." Goldsmith got acquainted with the work of North and believed that with her the film Kubrick would have acquired additional quality. Goldsmith participated in the posthumous edition of Alex North's soundtrack for the 2001 Space Odyssey in 1993 and conducted the orchestra during its execution ^[31] . Another disappointment of North was the work on the painting "Dragon Slayer." Director Matthew Robbins reacted very freely to the material prepared by North. He changed it, changed the themes of the heroes of the picture, completely violating the composer's plan ^[32] .

For many years, the composer preferred to fly to Los Angeles from New York, admitting that he works easier and quieter on the Atlantic coast, and the opportunity to go to Broadway is always inspiring. North eschewed parties and banquets, remaining outside the conventional "Hollywood family" ^[33] . In 1967, North, while working on the Africa documentary filmed by ABC , traveled to Europe. In Munich, he met Annemarie Helger, accompanist of the local symphony orchestra, and they began an affair ^[34] . In 1970, North divorced Shirley. Alex and Annemarie moved to a new home in Pacific Palisades (a suburb of Los Angeles). In 1972, they got married ^[35] . In two marriages, two sons and a daughter were born in his family ^[36] . Alex North died on September 8, 1991 at his home in a suburb of Los Angeles from cancer ^[36] .

In the mid-1980s, the composer did not work so actively. The composer worked in a variety of genres from comedy to horror films. North preferred to abandon projects with an excessive image of violence and sex on the screen, because of which, at the end of his career, his services were accessed much less frequently ^[27] . On account of North music to about 80 feature films and documentaries, television series. The result of a fruitful career was 14 Oscar nominations and one nomination for the best song in the period from 1952 to 1985. Alex North holds the record in this field among filmmakers. In 1986, the composer received an honorary figurine for his contribution to cinema with the wording: “ In recognition of his brilliant artistry in the creation of memorable music for a host of distinguished motion pictures ) ^[37] . Along with him, only Ennio Morricone was awarded the honorary Oscar among composers ^[38] .

North has always been considered a leftist in Hollywood, although he eschewed politics. His entourage has always been close to communist ideas. Elder brother Joseph North collaborated with left-wing publications such as The Daily Worker and The New Masses . Teacher North Aaron Copland adhered to communist views. North was sympathetic to the activities of the Degatera Club, the music division of the US Communist Party . Called to meetings of HUAC and his protege Elia Kazan. North, although it did not fall into the focus of the commission’s attention, it was believed that he was dangerously close to it ^[39] .

Along with Leonard Rosenman , Bernard Herrman , Jerry Goldsmith , Alex North in the postwar years brought the ideas of modernism in film music ^[40] . His soundtracks such as “Streetcar Desire”, “ Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” "," Bad Blood "sounded like a new word and set the tone for music in cinema in the second half of the 20th century ^[41] . North recognized the great influence that European and Russian composers had on him by the avant-garde artists Ravel , Debussy , Prokofiev ^[36] . His other idol was jazz classic Duke Ellington . The soundtrack “Tram“ Desire “” for the first time clearly sounded jazz motifs, a characteristic somewhat melancholic author's style ^[42] . Modern and avant-garde, unusual combinations of instruments, elements of jazz and atonal music, in the interpretation of North, were unusual for film music of that time ^[41] . One of the first he began to offer producers and directors to abandon the habit of inviting a full symphony orchestra to voice, giving preference to the sound of individual instruments ^[33] . North especially managed to connect the music and the characters of the picture into a single whole, creating a specific theme and selection of instruments that convexly presents the hero. He did not write music for the picture, but music for the heroes. Vivid examples of such works were Spartak and The Death of a Salesman ^[43] .

• Sanya Shoilevska Henderson. Alex North, Film Composer: A Biography, with Musical Analyses of a Streetcar Named Desire, Spartacus, The Misfits, Under the Volcano, and Prizzi's Honor . - McFarland, 2003 .-- 264 p. - ISBN 9780786414703 .
• Annette Davison. Alex North's A Streetcar Named Desire: A Film Score Guide . - Scarecrow Press, 2009 .-- 250 p. - ISBN 9781461739883 .
• Peter Krämer. 2001: A Space Odyssey . - Palgrave Macmillan, 2010 .-- 96 s. - ISBN 9781844575589 .
• David Hughes. The Complete Kubrick . - Random House, 2013 .-- 320 p. - ISBN 9781448133215 .
• Paul S. Boyer. The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Cultural and Intellectual History . - OUP USA, 2013 .-- 1550 s. - ISBN 9780199764358 .
• Keith M. Booker. Historical Dictionary of American Cinema . - Scarecrow Press, 2011 .-- 508 p. - ISBN 9780810874596 .
• Catherine Gunther Kodat. Don't Act, Just Dance: The Metapolitics of Cold War Culture . - Rutgers University Press, 2014 .-- 228 p. - ISBN 9780813565286 .
• Stanley C. Pelkey, Anthony Bushard. Anxiety Muted: American Film Music in a Suburban Age . - Oxford University Press, 2015 .-- 298 p. - ISBN 9780199936175 .
• Thomas S. Hischak. The Encyclopedia of Film Composers . - Rowman & Littlefield, 2015 .-- 836 p. - ISBN 9781442245501 .

• Alex North on the Internet Movie Database