Richard Hageman

Nico de Villiers, Kathryn Kalinak, and Asing Walthaus met in 2015 in Leeuwarden, Richard Hageman's birthplace, at a celebration of Hageman's life and work. Nico first encountered Hageman as a graduate student and has since written his dissertation on the 69 songs Hageman composed, performing them on the concert stage and under the Richard Hageman Aqueduct in Leeuwarden. Kathryn comes to the project from a background teaching and writing about film music, including her book How the West Was Sung: Music in the Westerns of John Ford, where she first encountered Hageman's film scores. Asing is an investigative reporter and editor at the Leeuwarder Courant, and an authority on the history and cultural life of Leeuwarden who published the first biographical essay on Richard Hageman.

• List of Illustrations – Note on Sources – Acknowledgements – Introduction – Great Expectations – The Metropolitan Years – Opera Conductor and Pioneer – The Caponsacchi Years – Destination Hollywood – Bicycling between Assignments – The War Years – Back on Top in Hollywood – 3 Iconic Westerns – Twilight Years – Conclusion – List of Works – Index.

“In contrast to other European emigres who composed concert hall and Hollywood film-scores—like Erich Korngold and Miklós Rózsa—the musical careers of Dutch-American Richard Hageman have been gathering dust in the shadows—until this book. Solidly researched across two continents—and waggishly correcting the ‘feigned-casual’ accounts of Hageman himself—this impressive study finally gives the Oscar-winning composer the spotlight he deserves. Happy endings, take note!”—Caryl Flinn, Professor, Film-Television-Media, University of Michigan