Giuseppe Becce


Giuseppe Becce was an Italian-born film score composer who enriched the German cinema.

Biography

Becce was born in Lonigo, province of Vicenza, Italy. He showed his musical talents early and was named the director of the student musical orchestra at the Pollini Conservatoire in Padua where he studied 'cello and flute, along with geography and philology. In 1906 he moved to Germany and studied musical composition with Arthur Nikisch and Ferruccio Busoni in Berlin. In the 1913 silent movie Richard Wagner, directed by Carl Froelich, Becce played the title role and wrote the accompanying music He continued to write such music for a series of subsequent movies. A collection of these pieces, the so-called "Kinothek" was published between 1919 and 1933 by the Verlag Schlesinger'sche Buchhandlung in Berlin.
From 1915 to 1923, Becce was the director of the little orchestra of the Berlin Mozartsaal cinema, located upstairs at the Neues Schauspielhaus in the Nollendorfplatz. After World War I, he was named to direct the music department of the Decla-Bioscop AG and chief director of its movie orchestra, later to become the Universum Film AG orchestra. He also worked at major movie theatres as director of the orchestras, among them the Ufa-Pavillon am Nollendorfplatz in 1921, the Tauentzien-Palast from 1923, and the Gloria Palast from 1926. In this position he worked with the famous directors of the German silent movie era, namely Fritz Lang, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, Georg Wilhelm Pabst, Ernst Lubitsch, Ludwig Berger, Joe May and Berthold Viertel; he arranged and composed music for their movies. In 1920 Becce published the magazine Film-Ton-Kunst. In 1927 he published, together with Hans Erdmann and Ludwig Brav, the Allgemeines Handbuch der Filmmusik; it was based on his Kinothek, amongst other items, and enabled the pianist of silent movies to accompany movies in the generalized style and motifs of renowned composers.
With the arrival of sound movies Becce worked on musical movies and movies covering opera or operetta themes. He worked with Leni Riefenstahl, Luis Trenker, and Harald Reinl whose mountain films he scored. Becce was very prolific providing music to movies for more than four decades; he commonly mixed his own compositions with creations of other composers.
Becce died in Berlin and is buried in the cemetery of Friedhof Wilmersdorf, Berliner Straße.

Selected filmography

Richard Wagner No Sin on the Alpine Pastures Frau Eva The Robber Bride The Queen's Love Letter Mountain Air The Man in the Mirror The Marriage of Luise Rohrbach The Giant's Fist The Princess of Neutralia Countess Kitchenmaid The Salamander Ruby The Blue Lantern Father and Son The Lady, the Devil and the Model Doctor Schotte Agnes Arnau and Her Three Suitors The Adventure of a Ball Night The Victors Precious Stones Put to the Test The Ringwall Family The Son of Hannibal Her Sport A Drive into the Blue The Living Dead Ruth's Two Husbands Rose Bernd The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Monika Vogelsang Mascotte Christian Wahnschaffe Hamlet The Vulture Wally Shattered Destiny Sodom and Gomorrah The Stone Rider Der letzte Mann Comedy of the Heart The Wonderful Adventure The Other Woman Peter the Pirate Destiny The Telephone Operator One Minute to Twelve Shadows of the Metropolis Wege zu Kraft und Schönheit The Fiddler of Florence The Last Horse Carriage in Berlin People to Each Other Tartüff Uneasy Money Secrets of a Soul Am Rande der Welt The Catwalk Heaven on Earth Queen of the Boulevards Always Be True and Faithful Doña Juana The Prince of Pappenheim Leontine's Husbands The Secret Courier Folly of Love The Last Night The Serfs Sajenko the Soviet The Burning Heart Fight of the Tertia The Woman One Longs For The Son of the White Mountain Scandalous Eva Mountains on Fire Different Morals Between Night and Dawn The Rebel Under False Flag Raid in St. Pauli Das Blaue Licht Ekstase The Marathon Runner The Peak Scaler Spies at Work Hans Westmar. Einer von vielen The Eternal Dream Peer Gynt The Prodigal Son Artist Love Miracle of Flight The Hour of Temptation Der Kaiser von Kalifornien Madame Bovary The Voice of the Heart Der Berg ruft Woman in the River The Fire Devil With the Eyes of a Woman Much Ado About Nixi Clarissa The Jester's Supper The White Angel The Courier of the King Mountain Crystal Veronika the Maid Nacht am Mont-Blanc Behind Monastery Walls The Crucifix Carver of Ammergau Marriage Strike Young Heart Full of Love Tiefland Das Schweigen im Walde
  • ''Der Edelweißkönig''

List of Kinothek works


  • – Situazione Pericolosa
  • Kinothek 12 – Emotional Conflict
  • Kinothek 13 – Battle-Tumult-Blaze
  • – Tragic Moments
  • Kinothek 15 – Agony of the Soul
  • – Insequimento E Fuga
  • Kinothek 17 – Largo Tragico
  • – Notte Misteriosa
  • Kinothek 19 – Grave Humor
  • Kinothek 20 – Patience Under Pain
  • – In a Critical Situation
  • Kinothek 22 – Agitato Misterioso
  • – The Hour of Ghosts
  • – Battle and Disturbance
  • – Andante Appassionato
  • – Mob-Rule
  • – Fanatic Derwish Dance
  • – Lynch-Law
  • – Disperazione
  • – Sinister Agitato
  • – Insurrezione
  • – Grand Appassionato
  • – Facing Death
  • – Semi Oriental Maetoso
  • – A Critical Moment
  • – Cryptic Shadows
  • Kinothek 42 – Dramatic Climax
  • Kinothek 43 – Wild Chase
  • Kinothek 44 – Threatening Danger
  • Kinothek 45 – Happy Ending
  • Kinothek 46 – Infatuation
  • Kinothek 47 – Witchcraft
  • Kinothek 48 – Anticipation of Danger
  • Kinothek 49 – Emotional Climax
  • Kinothek 50 – Chariot Race

Other musical works

Literature

  • Hans Erdmann, Giuseppe Becce, Ludwig Brav: Allgemeines Handbuch der Film-Musik. Schlesinger'sche Buchh., Berlin-Licherfelde 1927.Film-Ton-Kunst. Eine Zeitschrift für die künstlerische Musikillustration des Lichtbildes. Gegr. v. G. Becce. Schlesinger'sche Buchhandlung, Berlin 1.1920–6.1927.