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Hans May

Born: 11th July 1886, Vienna, Austria

Died: 31st December 1958, London UK

Nationality: Austrian

Hans May was an Austrian-born film composer who went into exile in Britain in 1936 after the Nazis came to power in his homeland, being of Jewish descent.

May 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 also wrote scores for silent movies in Berlin and Paris.

Initially most of his work was for short films and musicals, but once in the UK he began scoring full length feature films for the organisations such as Boulting Brothers and Rank/Gainsborough Pictures, most notably Thunder Rock (1942), Madonna of the Seven Moons (1945), The Wicked Lady (1945) and Brighton Rock (1948). May composed over a hundred film scores.

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