Hanns Eisler was a German-Austrian-American composer and lyricist. He was known for his "Das Lied von der Moldau" ("La Chanson du Moldau", "The Song of the Moldau") used in the TV film Schweyk im zweiten Weltkrieg (1961) and also sang by Zarah Leander on TV. He did so many more songs in Hollywood, France, Austria and Germany.
Stephanie Wolf (m. 1958–1962), Lou Eisler (m. 1937–1955), Charlotte Eisler (m. 1920–1934)
Parents
Rudolf Eisler, Marie Fischer
Albums
Keiner oder alle, Works for String Quartet
Star Sign
Cancer
#
Quote
1
Someone who knows only music, understands nothing about it.
#
Fact
1
Father of painter Georg Eisler.
2
He was a member of the German Communist Party, which he joined in 1926, though he later told the House Un-American Activities Committee that he was never really a member as he was never very active in the Party. His brother Gerhart Eisler, a top agent of the Moscow-controlled Comintern, reportedly was the USSR's top man in the US during World War II and has been active as an agent in the US since at least 1933. Ironically, it was Eisler's sister Ruth Fischer (the former Elfriede Eisler), a German Communist Party leader and co-founder of the Austrian Communist Party who had become disillusioned with Stalinism and had been expelled from the party, who outed their brother. Hans Eisler's fealty remained with his brother and he denounced his sister. Dubbed "The Karl Marx of Music," he was deported from the US after being deemed an unfriendly witness after his 1947 testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee. There are substantive claims that Gerhart Eisler was the man to whom Hollywood communists owed their fealty. After being deported from the US, he was expelled from Great Britian. (The British Secret Service had opened a file on Eisler when he briefly lived in London in 1936 as he associated with many known communists.) He eventually settled in what became the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), as did his friend, Bertolt Brecht, with whom he socialized in Hollywood.
3
After being deported from the US and expelled from the UK, he settled in Vienna. In 1950, he moved to East Berlin, where he took a faculty appointment as a professor at the German Academy of Music. His musical work "Faustus" was attacked by the East German Communist Party, and Eisler announced in 1952 that he had no longer had any desire to be a composer.
4
A faithful communist, he wrote the national anthem of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), 'Auferstanden aus Ruinen.' While in official circles he was held up as a celebrated cultural figure, Eisler's avant-garde music was rejected by Communist authorities. Eisler would slip away from East Berlin to go bar-hopping in the Allied sectors of the city, a form of recreation cut short by the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961.
5
Wrote the national anthem of East Germany (German Democratic Republic or DDR).
6
Driven out of Hollywood by the anti-communist "witch hunts" led by Parnell Thomas.
Composer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Die Tage der Commune
1966
TV Movie
Das Stacheltier - Gisela May singt und spricht Kurt Tucholsky
1963
Short
Esther
1962
TV Movie
Leben des Galilei
1962
TV Movie
Aktion J
1961
Documentary
Schweyk im zweiten Weltkrieg
1961
TV Movie
Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti
1960
Les arrivistes
1960
Geschwader Fledermaus
1958
Katzgraben
1957
The Crucible
1957
uncredited
Night and Fog
1956
Documentary short
Bel Ami
1955
Bel-Ami Der Frauenheld von Paris
1955
Schicksal am Lenkrad
1954
as Hans Eisler
Frauenschicksale
1952
Krízová trojka
1952
Wilhelm Pieck - Das Leben unseres Präsidenten
1951
Documentary
Der Rat der Götter
1950
Our Daily Bread
1949
Leben des Galilei
1947
Short
So Well Remembered
1947
The Woman on the Beach
1947
A Scandal in Paris
1946
Deadline at Dawn
1946
The Spanish Main
1945
Jealousy
1945
None But the Lonely Heart
1944
Hangmen Also Die!
1943
A Child Went Forth
1941
Short documentary
The Forgotten Village
1941
Documentary as Hans Eisler
Pete-Roleum and His Cousins
1939
Short
The 400 Million
1939
Documentary
Abdul the Damned
1935
Le grand jeu
1934
as H. Eisler
Nieuwe gronden
1933
Documentary short
Song of the Streets
1933
Pesn o geroyakh
1932
Documentary
Kuhle Wampe oder: Wem gehört die Welt?
1932
Hell on Earth
1931
as Hans Eisler
Opus III
1924
Short 1927
Solidarity Song: The Hanns Eisler Story
1995
TV Movie
Die Mutter
1981
TV Movie
Berlin - Auguststraße
1980
Documentary
Kennst du das Land... Eine politische Revue
1979
Documentary
Svejk toisessa maailmansodassa
1979
TV Movie
Deutschlandgeschichten
1979
Documentary
Das Leben des Galileo Galilei
1978
TV Movie
Galileo
1975
Der Oktober kam...
1970
Documentary
Anno Populi - Im Jahr des Volkes 1949
1969
Documentary short
Die Gesichte der Simone Machard
1968
TV Movie
Soundtrack
Title
Year
Status
Character
Kommunisten
2014
writer: "National Anthem of the German Democratic Republic"
Art on the Bridge
2011
Documentary short writer: "Lied von der Moldau", "An den Deutschen Mond"
Mrs. Ratcliffe's Revolution
2007
writer: "National Anthem of the German Democratic Republic"
Kenen joukoissa seisot
2006
Documentary writer: "Solidaarisuus"
Führer Ex
2002
writer: "Auferstanden aus Ruinen"
Robinson in Space
1997
Documentary writer: "Kuhle Wampe" Suite No.3 Op.26
No Comments
1985
Documentary writer: "Rauhanlaulu"
Laulu Leninistä
1970
Documentary short writer: "Leninin sanat"
Red, White and Zero
1967
music: "Resolution der Kommunarden"
A Scandal in Paris
1946
music: "Flame Song"
Hangmen Also Die!
1943
music: "No Surrender" - uncredited
La vie est
1936
Documentary music: "Appel du Komintern"
Abdul the Damned
1935
music: "Sultan's Hymn", "Song of Freedom", "Teresa's Song", "I Bring a Song", "Kan-Kan"
Music Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
Claudia disparue
2005
music
Hundert Jahre Brecht
1998
songs by
Mies varjossa
1994
TV Series documentary music - 1 episode
Die Rundköpfe und die Spitzköpfe
1985
TV Movie music by
Die Mutter
1971
TV Movie music by
Bertolt Brecht - gelesen und gesungen von Therese Giehse
1967
TV Movie
Fidelio
1956
music adaptor
Gasparone
1956
music adaptor / music arranger
Blue Bandanas in the Summer Wind
1952
Documentary composer: song "Lied der Thälmannpioniere"
A Clown Must Laugh
1936
music arranger
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Gasparone
1956
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
La neuvième
2004
TV Movie documentary
Himself (uncredited)
Chaplin Today: Monsieur Verdoux
2003
TV Short documentary
Himself (uncredited)
Nominated Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
1945
Oscar
Academy Awards, USA
Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture
None But the Lonely Heart (1944)
1944
Oscar
Academy Awards, USA
Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture
$19 Million
