Will Grosz(1894-1939)

Dr. Wilhelm Grosz was born on August 11th, 1894, in Vienna, Austria. The only child of Bernhard and Mathilde Grosz, who owned a jewelry shop in Vienna, he studied theory and composition at the Vienna State Academy and graduated with honors. He received his Ph.D in Musicology in 1920. He married Elisabeth Schön on February 10th, 1927, who had a son from a previous marriage. In 1927, they moved to Berlin and Dr. Grosz became artistic manager of Ultraphon Gramophon Company, which later became Telefunken. He began to write less classical pieces and more popular music. On March 16th, 1930, Elisabeth gave birth to a daughter, their only child Eva Anneliese. In 1933, Dr. Grosz became conductor of the Kammerspiel Theater in Vienna after being forced to leave Berlin due to his being Jewish and Adolf Hitler having become Chancellor of Germany that same year. In 1934, he moved his family to London, where he befriended lyricist Jimmy Kennedy. Together, they composed several songs which have become standards over the years, including "Harbor Lights", "Red Sails in the Sunset", and "Isle of Capri". Grosz wrote under the name of Will Grosz, but later under the name Hugh Williams, and then Hugh Grant. In 1939, Grosz and his wife went to New York City with the intention of him eventually succeeding in Hollywood as a composer. With help from a friend from pre-WWII Vienna who had already found Hollywood success, composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Grosz signed a contract with Warner Brothers. As Hugh Williams, Grosz composed "Along the Santa Fe Trail" in 1939 for the Errol Flynn film, Santa Fe Trail. Although success seemed possible, the outbreak of WWII stranded him and his wife in New York while daughter Eva Anneliese and her half-brother, Peter, were still in London, where they would remain with family members until the end of the war. The tragedy of losing a homeland, family and friends, combined with the excitement of being on the precipice of success in America, all put tremendous stress on his already congenitally weak heart. Only two weeks after having signed the contract with Warner Brothers, on December 10th, 1939, Grosz gave a private recital at the home of his friend, Werner Liebman, in Forest Hills, a suburb of New York City. While accompanying a trio of ladies in the final scene of Der Rosenkavelier, he collapsed at the piano of a massive heart attack and fell backwards into the arms of friends, just as the Marschallin sang 'Im Gottes Namen!' (In the name of God!)