George Antheil Biography

American composer George Antheil scored many films during the '30s, '40s, and '50s. He began studying music at age six, and as a young man studied composition under Ernest Bloch. He was a successful concert pianist during the early 1920s, and after a successful European tour ended up living in Paris where he began composing experimental music. His early compositions were considered quite shocking with jazz rhythms and the use of mechanical devices not usually used for music. Antheil's most famous piece is his Ballet Mecanique from 1924 in which machines ranging from player pianos to electric bells to airplane propellers were used. A few years later Antheil began making more conventional music utilizing standard instruments. Even after he began scoring films, Antheil continued to write concert music. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi