B: April 3, 1918 in Toronto, Ontario
D: April 20, 2000 in Toronto, Ontario
Louis Applebaum was perhaps Canada’s most prolific composer of film music. He studied at the University of Toronto where he completed his work for a Bachelor of Music, but didn’t take the final examinations. Instead, he moved to New York to study composition in the early 1940s. It is thought that it was here, in New York, that he fell in love with the worlds of theatre and movies. He wrote over 250 scores for NFB films, where he was the musical director from 1942 to 1948 and a staff composer right up until 1960. His score for The Story of G.I. Joe earned him an Academy Award nomination in 1946. While still composing for the NFB he became the first musical director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in 1953 and founded the Stratford Ontario Music Festival in 1955. Applebaum resigned from administrative duties at Stratford in 1960, although he continued to provide incidental music to the festival until 1999. It was in 1960 that Applebaum launched his first private company, Group Four productions, where he served as President. That effort closed its doors in 1966. Comfortable in a wide range of styles, from full symphonic works to choral pieces and modern classical, Applebaum also composed jazz. Horror film buffs and Canadian film historians often remember him for his groundbreaking work on the 1961 feature, The Mask. Applebaum was awarded the Order of Canada in 1976 and was elevated to Companion of the Order of Canada in 1995, just five years before his death. Although not impossible, it would be extremely difficult to catalogue every Louis Applebaum composition. This listing is but a small representation of his considerable output. |
Features & TV Movies: 13 Platoon (1942) Around is Around (1950) The Mask (1961) The Discoverers (1972) The Love of Gardens (1984)
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