Biography
Hugo Riesenfeld (26 January 1879 – 10 September 1939) was an Austrian-American composer, conductor and violinist. Born in Vienna, he studied at the Conservatory of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, graduating at 17 with degrees in piano, violin and composition. He played in the Vienna Philharmonic and emigrated to New York in 1907.
Riesenfeld began composing for silent films in 1917. He wrote scores for approximately 100 films, including Cecil B. DeMille productions such as Joan the Woman (1917), The Ten Commandments (1923) and The King of Kings (1927); D. W. Griffith's Abraham Lincoln (1930); and F. W. Murnau's Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) and Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931). He received Oscar nominations for Make a Wish (1937).
