Jerome Moross

Today marks the birthday anniversary of the American composer Jerome Moross, famous for sixteen classic film scores he wrote between 1948 and 1969, but also the creator of a handful of concert works, including this 1966 "Variations on a Waltz."

Moross was born in Brooklyn, began playing the piano and composing at an early age, and graduated from the New York University School of Music at 18. For a biographical dictionary published shortly before his death in 1983, Moross wrote:

"In my teens I was interested in sounds per se, as so many composers are today. By my late twenties I found myself interested in communicating with my audience… I feel that a composer should write what he feels, but in such a way that his audience experiences his emotions anew… In addition, the composer must reflect his landscape and mine is the landscape of America. I don't do it consciously; it is simply the only way I can write."

Speaking of landscapes, his best known film score