A film from long ago

Weinberg composed a large number of scores for films, nearly 40 in total. The money he earned from his film scores gave him the freedom to compose, instead of the teaching posts that other composers usually had to accept in order to make money.

The very earliest example of Weinberg's film work is from 1936, with the Polish film 'Fredek uszczesliwia swiat' ('Freddy makes the world happy'). The film's score shows an already remarkable prowess for film scoring, even at the age of 16. Happily for us, the entire film is available on youtube (links below).

 The plot revolves around the engineer Fredek, who invents the video telephone only to destroy it once he sees his girlfriend being affectionate with another man while using it. After several episodes where Fredek's friends try to cheer him up, all is resolved when it turns out that the man he saw was only his girlfriend's brother.

   Apart from the opening titles and a morning song at the beginning, the music consists of a few episodes to illustrate the action onscreen (with a few cabaret songs for good measure). Watch the film and bear in mind that this was written after Weinberg's first opus-numbered work, 'Lullaby' for piano (in 1935), but that it also precedes his subsequent output entirely. All the more remarkable that it is uploaded in full on youtube, for us to enjoy!

Part one
Part two
Part three
Part four
Part five
Part six
Part seven