Wilhelm Grosz
Wilhelm Grosz was a successful Viennese composer who had pioneered the integration of jazz into classical music, Grosz was forced to abandon his promising career twice - first fleeing Berlin in 1933, then Vienna in 1934. His final years were marked by the practical difficulties of working under pseudonyms in London's commercial music industry, followed by the devastating separation from his young daughter when war prevented family reunification in New York. His sudden death from a heart attack in 1939, at age 45, came just as Hollywood opportunities beckoned but while his family remained scattered across continents.
Born into a middle-class Jewish family of jewellers on Vienna's prestigious Graben in 1894, Wilhelm Grosz received an exceptional musical education that positioned him among Austria's most promising young composers. He studied piano with Richard Robert, whose students included Georg Szell and Rudolf Serkin, and composition with Franz Schreker at the Vienna State Academy. His academic achievement was equally impressive - he graduated with honours in 1920, earning his doctorate in musicology under Guido Adler with a dissertation on "The Use of Fugue in Mozart's Vocal and Orchestral Works."
By 1918, prominent critic Julius Korngold was already noting Grosz's talent, reviewing his early settings of Japanese poems which displayed clear Mahlerian influences. These works appeared in the 'Anbruch' concert series, literally meaning 'Dawn' in the sense of a new beginning for young Austrian composers. The following year, Grosz accompanied the distinguished violinist Arnold Rosé in a performance of his violin sonata in E major, though critic Joseph Reitler noted Grosz's theatrical piano accompaniment as "veritable pantomime carried on behind the back of the sedate and dignified Rosé" - an early indication of the playful streak that would characterise his later work.
In 1924, Julius Korngold proclaimed that among the young generation attempting to follow Mahler's footsteps, "Wilhelm Grosz rises far above and is already much more established" than his contemporaries. By the mid-1920s, Grosz had established himself as genuinely multi-talented: a brilliant pianist, sought-after conductor, passionate musicologist, and versatile composer. The City of Vienna awarded him a special music prize in 1927, recognising compositions that ranged from symphonic song cycles to his opera "Sganarell" based on Molière.
In 1927, Grosz married Elisabeth Schön and moved to Berlin, where he took up the position of artistic director at Ultraphon Gramophone Company, effectively becoming one of the first recording producers. This move to Germany's cultural capital allowed him to develop his most innovative work, seamlessly incorporating jazz elements into classical composition years before his contemporaries Ernst Krenek and Max Brand attempted similar fusions.
His most ambitious project during this period was "Afrika Singt," a symphonic setting of poetry by African-American writers including Langston Hughes and James Weldon Johnson. The work required a large chamber orchestra with jazz capability - saxophone, trumpet, trombone, sousaphone and jazz percussion. When premiered on Radio Breslau in 1930, critics declared it "music that represented the Zeitgeist of the age." One conservative reviewer admitted: "If today's art has any spirit, then this work of art is the perfect expression of our Zeitgeist of today."
Grosz also composed the burlesque operetta "Achtung! Aufnahme!" (Standby! Recording!), which became a significant contribution to the Zeitoper genre - contemporary opera featuring flappers, radios, and jazz bands rather than historical subjects. The work was not merely a snapshot of contemporary life but reflected his own experience in the recording industry.
In March 1930, Elisabeth gave birth to their daughter Eva Anneliese. However, this period of professional success and personal happiness was about to be shattered by political events beyond their control.
Forced Exile and Professional Reinvention
With Hitler's appointment as Chancellor in 1933, Grosz, who was Jewish, was forced to abandon his thriving Berlin career and return to Vienna. He managed to continue working there, conducting at the Kammerspiele Theater, but the attempted Nazi coup in Austria in 1934 convinced him that the family needed to leave immediately.
The move to London in 1934 presented entirely new challenges. British Musicians' Union restrictions prevented foreign composers and performers from working under their own names. Grosz was forced to adopt pseudonyms - Will Grant, Hugh Williams, and André Milos - to find employment in London's Tin Pan Alley music industry.
Publisher Bert Feldman paired him with Irish lyricist Jimmy Kennedy, recognising that Grosz's melodic classical training might translate into commercial success with proper guidance. Kennedy later described their first meeting: Grosz sat at the piano "fiddling with the keys, strumming half a dozen phrases, halting, and then starting again. Suddenly, his fingers pressed out a phrase which had me on my feet in a flash... he had struck out a snatch of melody which was going to sell over a million copies of sheet music and millions of records."
This partnership produced some of the era's most enduring popular songs: "Isle of Capri," "Red Sails in the Sunset," and "Harbour Lights." These compositions reflected the escapist mood of Depression-era Britain, offering listeners dreams of exotic locations most could never afford to visit. Grosz also wrote music for children's productions, collaborating with Rose Fyleman on "Red-Riding-Hood" (1938) and "Fairy Tales" (1937).
In 1938, Warner Studios invited Grosz to Hollywood. He and Elisabeth travelled to New York in April 1939, leaving Eva in London with family members. The separation was intended to be temporary while contract negotiations were completed, but the outbreak of war in September 1939 made reunion impossible. Eva, having been born in Berlin, carried a German passport and was classified as an "enemy alien" by British authorities, preventing her from travelling to America.
Meanwhile, back in Vienna, Nazi authorities were systematically documenting and confiscating Jewish property. Among the documents discovered in Grosz's estate were Nazi forms detailing the dispossession of his family's assets, including their home and jewellery shop. One document contained an apology from a father for late documentation because he was under "Schutzhaft" (protective custody) of the Gestapo. Another revealed an inventory of jewels that Grosz's mother had secretly carried when forced to leave Vienna.
The stress of family separation, combined with the knowledge of escalating persecution in Europe, took its toll on Grosz's health. He had successfully negotiated his Hollywood contract and begun composing music for "The Santa Fe Trail," which would star Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, and a young Ronald Reagan. The song "Along the Santa Fe Trail" represented his entry into what might have been a successful film career, following the path of fellow Austrian émigré Erich Wolfgang Korngold.
Death in Exile
On December 10, 1939, just eight months after arriving in New York, Grosz was accompanying three singers in the final scene of Strauss's "Der Rosenkavalier" at a private recital in Forest Hills. As the Marschallin sang "Im Gottes Namen!" ("In God's name!"), Grosz collapsed at the piano with a massive heart attack. He died instantly at age 45.
His death occurred at a moment of professional opportunity but personal anguish. He had been separated from his beloved daughter for months, with no prospect of reunion due to wartime restrictions. The strain of displacement, family separation, and worry about relatives still in Nazi-occupied territory had proven fatal.
Eva and her stepbrother Peter remained in London until 1945, when they were finally able to join Elisabeth in New York. The family had preserved Grosz's estate for 78 years before donating the materials to the ExilArte Zentrum in Austria, ensuring that his story and compositions would be available for future study.
Grosz's death in 1939 meant he was spared knowledge of the full extent of the Holocaust, but the documents discovered in his estate reveal the systematic persecution his family faced. His story illustrates not only the artistic losses inflicted by Nazi cultural policies but the human cost of forced migration and family separation that preceded the war's more widely documented atrocities.
Today, while his popular songs continue to be performed and recorded, his serious compositions - including the groundbreaking "Afrika Singt" - are only beginning to receive the scholarly attention they deserve, more than 80 years after his premature death cut short one of Europe's most innovative musical careers.
Sources
Haas, Michael. Forbidden Music: The Jewish Composers Banned by the Nazis. United Kingdom, Yale University Press, 2013.
Publicity portrait of Wilhelm Grosz, Vienna.