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Eugene Zador

Biography

Eugene Zádor was born on November 5, 1894, in Bátasék, Hungary.  He studied with Richard Heuberger at the Vienna Conservatory (1911) and under Max Reger in Leipzig (1912-1914).   After completing his doctoral degree at the University of Münster, he returned to Vienna where he taught at the Neues Wiener Konservatorium from 1922 until 1938.  While there, he composed operas, orchestral works (including two symphonies), ballets, choral music, songs and music for chamber ensemble.  In 1935 he was made honorary professor of music at the Budapest Academy of Music; that year, he was also awarded the Hungarian National Prize for his Piano Quintet.

Zádor was one of many composers with European roots who emigrated to the United States in the 1930’s and 40’s, settled in Los Angeles, and made a living in motion pictures while continuing to write music for the concert hall. Unlike Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Franz Waxman, and Miklós Rózsa, Zádor’s original work for films was sparse – and mostly uncredited. Instead, he earned his living in Hollywood as an orchestrator, turning detailed sketches by other composers into full orchestral scores. From 1941 to 1963, he worked almost exclusively for Rózsa, who admired his fellow Hungarian’s skill so much that he made it a condition of his first contract with MGM (in 1948) that Zádor be retained as his orchestrator. In all, Zádor orchestrated over a hundred film scores. While working as an orchestrator, he continued to compose prolifically for the concert hall; and, upon retiring from the industry in 1963, devoted himself full-time to composition and never ceased writing music until his death on April 4, 1977.

His final catalog comprises numerous works for orchestra, twelve operas, chamber music, piano pieces, choral works, songs, and concertos for what he liked to call “underprivileged instruments” -- including trombone, cimbalom, double bass, and accordion.  Eminent conductors who performed Zádor’s works include Furtwängler, Dohnányi, Stokowski, Monteux, Ormandy, Szell, Barbirolli and Mehta.