20th-century German composers

Gustav Heinrich Ernst Martin Wilhelm Furtwängler (UK: FOORT-veng-glər, US: -⁠lər, German: [ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈfʊɐ̯tvɛŋlɐ]; 25 January 1886 – 30 November 1954) was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. He was a major influence for many later conductors, and his name is often mentioned when discussing their interpretative styles.Furtwängler was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic between 1922 and 1945, and from 1952 until 1954. He was also principal conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra (1922–26), and was a guest conductor of other major orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic.
Although not an adherent of Nazism, he was the leading conductor to remain in Germany during the Nazi regime. Despite his open opposition to antisemitism and the ubiquity of Nazi symbolism, the regime did not seek to suppress him, at Joseph Goebbels' insistence, for propaganda reasons. This situation caused lasting controversy, and the extent to which his presence lent prestige to Nazi Germany is still debated.

Georg Haentzschel ( 23 December 1907, Berlin – 12 April 1992, Cologne) was a German pianist, broadcaster, composer and arranger.
Haentzschel studied at the Stern Conservatoire in Berlin and made a career which eventually left him as the last remaining representative composer from what he considered the golden age of German film music. He worked equally happily as a jazz pianist, regularly collaborating with the similarly gifted Peter Igelhoff. He directed the Deutsche Tanz-und-Unterhaltungsorchester (German Dance and Entertainment Orchestra). After the war, he moved to West Germany and worked in Cologne.
Haentzschel's most famous film score, for the wartime extravaganza Münchhausen (1943) recalls his mentor Theo Mackeben. The score is flooded with romantic melody and effective scoring. Representative work may be heard in many other film scores, such as Via Mala (released 1948), Annelie (1941) and Robinson soll nicht sterben.
He was killed during the 1992 Roermond Earthquake.

Werner Friedrich Emil Eisbrenner (2 December 1908, Berlin – 7 November 1981, West Berlin) was a German composer and conductor, best known for his film music.

Eisbrenner studied church music and musical education from 1927 to 1929 at the Berlin Staatlichen Musikademie. He then worked as a pianist, arranger, Kapellmeister and conductor, as well as composing violin concertos, orchestral music, the musical comedy Von Hand zu Hand and the music for film, radio and television for which he is best known. This includes the theme for Hans Albers's film Große Freiheit Nr. 7.
Eisbrenner was a member of the jury at the 1st Berlin International Film Festival.Eisbrenner also headed a private "Lehrinstitut für Kirchen- und Schulmusik". In 1974, he received the Filmband in Gold for his long and outstanding contributions to German film. On 23 April 1998 a plaque was unveiled at his former home at Wohnung Bismarckallee 32a in Berlin. He was married to Kathe (née Jacobi) Eisbrenner (b. ?? – d. 11 March 1974). He is buried in the Waldfriedhof Dahlem.

Ernst Hermann Ludimar Meyer (8 December 1905 – 8 October 1988) was a German composer and musicologist, noted for his expertise on seventeenth-century English chamber music.

Günter Raphael (30 April 1903 – 19 October 1960) was a German composer. Born in Berlin, Raphael was the grandson of composer Albert Becker. His first symphony was premiered by Wilhelm Furtwängler in 1926 in Leipzig with the Gewandhaus Orchestra. From 1926 to 1934 he taught in Leipzig, but illness and the rise of Fascism – he was declared a "half-Jew" – made this difficult for him. He received the Franz Liszt Award for composition in 1948. His students include Kurt Hessenberg.
His compositions include five symphonies, concertos for violin and for organ, six string quartets, numerous solos and duos for strings and winds with and without piano of which several have been recorded. Raphael also composed organ, piano and choral works. He was also responsible for arranging a performance version of Antonín Dvořák's Cello Concerto in A major (1865) when its piano and cello score was discovered in 1918.He was also an editor of classical and baroque scores for Breitkopf and Härtel, preparing editions of, for example, flute sonatas by Frederick the Great and works by Vivaldi and Johann Sebastian Bach (some of these can be found in the Cornell University Library).

Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt (5 May 1900 – 28 May 1973) was a German conductor and composer. After studying at several music academies, he worked in German opera houses between 1923 and 1945, first as a répétiteur and then in increasingly senior conducting posts, ending as Generalmusikdirektor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
After the Second World War, Schmidt-Isserstedt was invited by the occupying British forces to form the Northwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra, of which he was musical director and chief conductor from 1945 to 1971. He was a frequent guest conductor for leading symphony orchestras around the world, and returned to opera from time to time, including appearances at Glyndebourne and Covent Garden as well as the Hamburg State Opera.
Schmidt-Isserstedt was known for his transparent orchestral textures, strict rhythmic precision, and rejection of superfluous gestures and mannerisms on the rostrum. His extensive recorded legacy features the Austro-German classics with which he was widely associated, but also includes works by Czech, English, French, Italian and Russian composers.

Walter Gronostay (1906–1937) was a German composer noted for his work on film scores. Gronostay studied under Arnold Schoenberg. From the late 1920s he began working on film music for a mixture of feature films and documentaries. Along with Herbert Windt he composed the music for Leni Riefenstahl's 1938 documentary Olympia, but died unexpectedly at the age of 31 before the film was released.

Will Meisel (17 September 1897 – 29 April 1967) was a German composer, who wrote more than fifty film scores during his career. He also wrote several operettas including A Friend So Lovely as You (1930) (Eine Freundin so goldig wie du).

Herbert Ludwig Sandberg (26 February 1902 – 7 January 1966) was a Swedish conductor, librettist, and composer of Polish Jewish descent.

Richard Mohaupt (14 September 1904 – 3 July 1957) was a German composer and Kapellmeister.