John Stepan Zamecnik

John Stepan Zamecnik (Cleveland, Ohio, May 14, 1872 - Los Angeles, California, June 3, 1953) was an American composer and conductor, most notably of "photoplay music." (music used by silent film theater orchestras)

He used many pseudonym, including Dorothy Lee, Lionel Baxter, R.L. (Robert) Creighton, Arturo de Castro, "Josh and Ted", J. (Jane) Hathaway, Kathryn Hawthorne, Roberta Hudson, Ioane Kawelo, J. Edgar Lowell, Jules Reynard, F. (Frederick) Van Norman, Hal Vinton and Grant Wellesley.[1]

Contents

Career

From 1887 to 1892 Zamecnik studied at Prague Conservatory of Music under Antonín Dvořák. He went to the National Conservatory of Music of America in 1895, but returned to Prague.

In 1899 Zamecnik finally returned to the United States to live. He joined the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as a violinist and concertmaster with Victor Herbert. In 1907, Zamecnik became music director of the newly constructed Hippodrome Theater in Cleveland, Ohio. When the Hippodrome began showing motion pictures, Zamecnik began writing musical scores which were published by Samuel Fox[2], whose company was the first to publish original film scores in the United States.[3]

Compositions

Works for orchestra

Works for band

Vocal music

Film

Orchestra

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ Mont Alto: Composer Profile: J.S. Zamecnik (1872-1953);www.mont-alto.com
  3. ^ "Sam Fox, 89, Dies; Music Publisher";New York Times;Dec. 1, 1971.

External links