Joseph Kosma

Though perhaps most familiar for the standard "Autumn Leaves," composer Joseph Kosma also scored several of the greatest films in cinematic history, including a series of pictures for legendary director Jean Renoir. Born in Budapest, Hungary, on October 22, 1905, he studied at the Budapest Conservatory, earning a scholarship to the Berlin Opera before joining Bertolt Brecht's touring company in 1929. Working alongside Kurt Weill and Hanns Eisler proved a major influence on Kosma's own work as he began writing his earliest film scores. After settling in Paris in 1933, he began ...