Walter Schumann (October 8, 1913 — August 21, 1958) was an American composer for film, television, and the theater. His notable works include the score for The Night of the Hunter and the Dragnet Theme. (The Dragnet theme was lifted, inadvertently according to Schumann, from Miklos Rozsa's score from the 1946 film The Killers.)
Following the outbreak of World War II, Schumann enlisted, eventually becoming the musical director of the Armed Forces Radio Service. He worked with most of the major acts of the war on all the radio shows AFRS produced during this time. After the war, he returned to Los Angeles and worked in the movie and television industry as a composer and arranger, mostly on several Abbott & Costello films. In 1949, Schumann was asked to compose a new theme for a police detective show about to make its debut on the NBC Radio network. He began his theme with a four note motif—quite possibly the second most famous four-note motif after Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Dragnet became a smash hit on the radio, and then television, and Schumann's theme quickly became instantly recognizable.
He wrote one opera, John Brown's Body, which premiered in Los Angeles in 1953 and subsequently ran for sixty-five performances on Broadway at the New Century Theatre.
Around this time, Schumann gathered together 20 talented vocalists and The Voices Of Walter Schumann was born. The ensemble recorded several easy-listening albums, similar to those recorded by Jackie Gleason, for both Capitol Records and RCA. By 1955, Schumann was busy composing and conducting the score to the classic Robert Mitchum film The Night of the Hunter and won an Emmy for his wildly popular "Dragnet" theme. He recorded a space-age themed, spoken-word album titled "Exploring the Unknown," and his "Voices" troupe recorded a popular, 19-track Christmas album, "The Voices of Christmas".
The 1955 album was reissued on compact disc by Collector's Choice Music in November 2007 — 52 years after its initial debut both as an LP and 3-record 45 RPM set.
Category:American film score composers Category:Opera composers Category:1913 births Category:1958 deaths Category:Deaths from surgical complications Category:Musicians from New York City Category:University of Southern California Law School alumni
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