Walter Arlen’s First Century

Exile music is not written by those who life left unchallenged. Walter Arlen is now almost 100 years old - and the entire century comes to life again in his music. From the “blue light of the last streetcar” of his youth in Vienna, to the golden sunsets in Los Angeles, WALTER ARLEN’S FIRST CENTURY paints an affectionate and multifaceted picture of a musician exiled in 1938, who only much later saw his works performed on stage. Born in Vienna in 1920, the composer spent most of his professional life in the USA. There he worked as a music critic for the L.A. Times before he became a composer who dealt with the horrors of the Nazi era.

Keywords

  • Austrian Films
  • Award Winning
  • Creatives: Make Music!
  • Diagonale - Festival of Austrian Film
  • Location: Vienna
  • Politics: Human Rights
  • classical
  • filmdelights
  • history
  • homecoming
  • migration
  • religion

Director

  • Stephanus Domanig

Biography, Documentary


1h 34min


16+

DE


DE

Austria
2019
Multifaceted portrait of the composer and music critic Walter Arlen, who musically processed the horrors of the Nazi era.

Multifaceted portrait of the composer and music critic Walter Arlen, who musically processed the horrors of the Nazi era.


Exile music is not written by those who life left unchallenged. Walter Arlen is now almost 100 years old - and the entire century comes to life again in his music.


From the “blue light of the last streetcar” of his youth in Vienna, to the golden sunsets in Los Angeles, WALTER ARLEN’S FIRST CENTURY paints an affectionate and multifaceted picture of a musician exiled in 1938, who only much later saw his works performed on stage.


Born in Vienna in 1920, the composer spent most of his professional life in the USA. There he worked as a music critic for the L.A. Times before he became a composer who dealt with the horrors of the Nazi era.

Award
Diagonale
Viennale

Festivals

Cast & Crew