Hans May

Hans May (11 July 1886 – 31 December 1959) was an Austrian-born composer who went into exile in Britain in 1936 after the Nazis came to power in his homeland, being of Jewish descent. Born in Vienna, May studied there with Anton Door (piano) and Richard Heuberger (composition). He gave his first piano recital at the age of 10 and had qualified as an operatic conductor by 18, touring extensively from Berlin to Cairo and Istanbul. He first gained attention as a composer during the 1920s and 1930s, writing German language songs such as Ein Lied geht um die Welt (1933) and Es wird im Leben dir mehr genommen als gegeben (1936), gaining considerable popularity in Europe through recordings by Joseph Schmidt and Richard Tauber. He was one of the pioneers of film music, writing scores for silent movies in Berlin and Paris, and associated with the Kinothek catalogued library of music intended to accompany silent films. Initially most of his work was for short silent films as well as musicals. He arranged the music for the German presentation of the Russian silent classic Panzerkeuzer Potemkin. But May survived the change-over from silent to sound films. Two early examples (both for British Inte... ()