JEWISH SONGWRITERS & COMPOSERS

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CLASSICAL COMPOSERS

Charles Alkan Erich Wolfgang Korngold

David Amram William Kraft
Lera Auerbach Hans Krsa
Milton Babbitt Fritz Kreisler 3
Leonard Bernstein Gyrgy Kurtg
Marc Blitzstein Gyrgy Ligeti
Ernest Bloch Gustav Mahler
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco Fanny Mendelssohn
Aaron Copland Felix Mendelssohn
Richard Danielpour Giacomo Meyerbeer
Mario Davidovsky Darius Milhaud
David Diamond Jacques Offenbach
Jacob Druckman Shulamit Ran
Paul Dukas Steve Reich
Hanns Eisler 1 George Rochberg
Morton Feldman Anton Rubinstein
Gerald Finzi Alfred Schnittke 4
Lukas Foss Arnold Schoenberg
 Hans Gl Franz Schreker 5
George Gershwin Ervn Schulhoff
Philip Glass William Schuman
Karl Goldmark Robert Starer
Osvaldo Golijov Oscar Straus
Louis Moreau Gottschalk 2 Ernst Toch
Morton Gould Viktor Ullmann
Jacques Halvy Emil Waldteufel
Mauricio Kagel Kurt Weill
Emmerich Kalman Henryk (Henri) Wieniawski
Aaron Jay Kernis Stefan Wolpe
Leon Kirchner John Zorn

POPULAR SONGWRITERS
For more Jewish songwriters, see also lists of Jewish-composed SONGS and MUSICALS.

Harold Arlen Jerome Kern

Burt Bacharach Carole King
Lionel Bart Herbert Kretzmer
Alan and Marilyn Bergman Burton Lane
Irving Berlin Jerry Leiber
Leonard Bernstein Mitch Leigh
Don Black Alan Jay Lerner
Jerry Bock Jay Livingston
 Alain Boublil Frank Loesser
Sammy Cahn Frederick Loewe 7
Eric Carmen Johnny Mandel
Leonard Cohen Barry Mann
Cy Coleman Melissa Manchester
Betty Comden Barry Manilow
Hal David Michael Masser
Neil Diamond Alan Menken
Howard Dietz Anthony Newley 8
Ervin Drake Randy Newman
Al Dubin Laura Nyro 9
Isaak Dunaevsky Jerzy Petersburski
Bob Dylan Richard Rodgers
Fred Ebb Sigmund Romberg
Ray Evans Harold Rome
Sammy Fain Carole Bayer Sager
Dorothy Fields Claude-Michel Schnberg 10
Charles Fox Arthur Schwartz
George and Ira Gershwin Stephen Schwartz
Norman Gimbel Neil Sedaka
Adolph Green Naomi Shemer
Johnny Green Carly Simon 11
Marvin Hamlisch Paul Simon
Oscar Hammerstein II 6 Stephen Sondheim
E. Y. Harburg Mike Stoller
Sheldon Harnick Charles Strouse
Lorenz Hart Jule Styne
 Jerry Herman Cynthia Weil
James Horner Kurt Weill
Billy Joel Frank Wildhorn
John Kander Maury Yeston
Victor Young

FILM SCORE COMPOSERS

For more Jewish film music composers, see:
Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Motion Picture
Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Elmer Bernstein Alfred Newman

Saul Chaplin Thomas Newman 14
Adolph Deutsch Alex North
Danny Elfman Michael Nyman
Ernest Gold 12 Andr Previn
Jerry Goldsmith David Raksin
Johnny Green Leonard Rosenman
Marvin Hamlisch Mikls Rzsa 15
Bernard Herrmann Lalo Schifrin
James Horner Howard Shore
James Newton Howard 13 Max Steiner
Erich Wolfgang Korngold Morris Stoloff
Irwin Kostal Dimitri Tiomkin
 Johnny Mandel Franz Waxman
Alan Menken Victor Young
Stanley Myers Hans Zimmer 16

NOTES
1. Jewish father, non-Jewish mother.
2. Jewish father, non-Jewish mother.
3. Kreisler never acknowledged his Jewish background, but both of his parents came from Jewish families. Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB)
lists his religion as "israelitisch dann katholisch" ("Jewish, then Catholic"). Amy Biancolli's biography Fritz Kreisler: Love's Sorrow, Love's
Joy (Amadeus Press, Portland Oregon, 1998) contains an extensive discussion of Kreisler's Jewish background (see Chapter 8: "Kreisler the
Catholic, Kreisler the Jew"). She cites a 1992 interview with Franz Rupp, Fritz Kreisler's piano accompanist in the 1930s, which was
conducted by David Sackson. Rupp is quoted as stating that he once asked Kreisler's brother, the cellist Hugo Kreisler, about their Jewish
background, to which Hugo responded simply, "I'm a Jew, but my brother, I don't know." Viennese Jewish communal archives contain the
birth records of both Fritz and Hugo Kreisler, as well as Hugo's 1929 burial record. They also contain the marriage record of their parents, Dr.
Samuel Kreisler and Anna Reches. The birth records of Fritz and Hugo give Anna Reches' Jewish name as "Chaje Riwe" (rendered as "Chaje
Ribe" in Hugo's record). There are numerous other individuals surnamed "Reches" in the Jewish archives. Biancolli indicates that Fritz's
mother was most probably not of Jewish origin, but this assertion is apparently incorrect. According to Louis Lochner's 1950 biography Fritz
Kreisler, Kreisler was reared as a Roman Catholic. However, according to unpublished parts of the manuscript uncovered by Biancolli in the
Library of Congress, he was baptized only at the age of twelve. The bottom line seems to be that Kreisler was entirely Jewish by descent and
his reticence on the subject primarily an attempt to placate his highly anti-Semitic wife Harriet. ("Fritz hasn't a drop of Jewish blood in his
veins!" she is said to have vehemently responded to an inquiry from Leopold Godowsky. Godowsky retorted: "He must be very anemic.")
4. Jewish father, non-Jewish mother. See http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/long-bio/Alfred-Schnittke.
5. Jewish father, non-Jewish mother.
6. Jewish father, non-Jewish mother.
7. Jewish father.
8. Jewish mother, non-Jewish father. In an interview with Francine Cohen published in the Arts and Leisure Guide of the November 4, 1994
issue ofThe Jewish Chronicle (London), Newley stated concerning his 'Jewish genes': "My mum's side is Jewish and so is Joan Collins's dad's
side, so I suppose you could say we had a full set between us. We both always used to say that whatever talent we had came from our Jewish
backgrounds."
9. Jewish mother, non-Jewish father.
10. See Broadway Babies Say Goodnight: Musicals Then and Now, by Mark Steyn (Routledge, NY, 1999, p. 87). According to Steyn, "Cameron
Mackintosh isn't Jewish, but his writers on Les Miz and Miss Saigon, Boublil and Schnberg, are. 'Claude-Michel Schnberg,' he says, 'is
Hungarian-Jewish.'"
11. Jewish father (publisher Richard Simon), non-Jewish mother.
12. Claims found elsewhere that Ernest Gold was only one-quarter Jewish are simply incorrect. His grandparents were Moritz and Alice (ne
Jeiteles) Goldner and Dr. Siegmund and Anna (ne Spitzer) Stransky. The marriages of both sets of grandparents were performed at the
Stadttempel in Vienna and recorded in the Jewish communal archives of that city.
13. Jewish father, non-Jewish mother.
14. Jewish father, non-Jewish mother. In addition to Thomas Newman's father, Alfred Newman, his uncles Lionel and Emil Newman were also
prominent film composers, as are his brother David and his cousin Randy Newman.
15. See Ismerjk''oket?: zsid szrmazs nevezetes magyarok arckpcsarnoka, by Istvn Remnyi Gyenes (Ex Libris, Budapest, 1997, p. 144).
16. Not widely known to be Jewish; see, however: http://www.jewishjournal.com/culture/article/hans_zimmer_proud_to_say_my_people.

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