Samuel Yakovlevich Pokrass (Самуил Яковлевич Покрасс) (1894 in Kiev – June 15, 1939 in New York City) was a Soviet composer of Russian and Jewish origin. In 1920, during the Russian Civil War, he and the poet P. Grigoryev wrote fighting songs for the Red Army, including "White Army, Black Baron". That song's melody was used for the song "Die Arbeiter von Wien" ("The Workers of Vienna") in Red Vienna.
Pokrass later emigrated to the United States, where he worked as a composer in Hollywood from 1934 to 1939, and was known primarily for the 1939 musical film The Three Musketeers.
References
- A. V. Shilov, Из истории первых советских песен (1917–24), М., 1963
- A. Sokhor, Как начиналась советская музыка, "МЖ", 1967, No 2.
External links
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- 1894 births
- 1939 deaths
- Musicians from Kyiv
- People from Kievsky Uyezd
- Jewish composers
- Soviet composers
- Soviet male composers
- 20th-century composers
- People of the Russian Civil War
- Soviet emigrants to the United States
- American male film score composers
- Jews from the Russian Empire
- Soviet Jews
- Russian composer stubs