Irwin Kostal (October 1, 1911 - November 23, 1994) was an Academy Award-win… Read Full Bio ↴Irwin Kostal (October 1, 1911 - November 23, 1994) was an Academy Award-winning American musical arranger of films and an orchestrator of Broadway musicals.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Kostal opted not to attend college, instead teaching himself musical arranging by studying the symphonic scores available at his local library. His first professional job was as a staff arranger for Design for Listening, an NBC radio show based in his hometown [1].
After moving to New York City, Kostal was hired for Sid Caesar's popular variety series Your Show of Shows, and followed this with a stint at The Garry Moore Show. In the latter part of the decade he began working on Broadway, orchestrating for Shinbone Alley, The Music Man, Fiorello!, and West Side Story. His work on the latter resulted in his being hired to score the 1961 screen adaptation with Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, and Sid Ramin. The quartet won both an Oscar and a Grammy Award for their contributions. Kostal later went on to collaborate with Saul Chaplin for the 1965 film adaptation of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music and won an Oscar for Best Music Scoring.
For the remainder of his life, Kostal divided his time primarily between stage and screen, with an occasional detour into television to work with such people as Carol Burnett, Lucille Ball, and Leonard Bernstein. He supervised the five Sherman Brothers musical film scores at four different movie studios between 1964 and 1978. In 1982, he conducted the digital re-recording of the music to Walt Disney's 1940 animated feature Fantasia. Although he used Leopold Stokowski's original arrangements, many purists were upset by the change, and the studio reinstated the original Stokowski recordings in 1990.
Kostal died of a heart attack in Studio City, California. In 2004 he was named a Disney Legend in recognition of his contributions to films released by the studio.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Kostal opted not to attend college, instead teaching himself musical arranging by studying the symphonic scores available at his local library. His first professional job was as a staff arranger for Design for Listening, an NBC radio show based in his hometown [1].
After moving to New York City, Kostal was hired for Sid Caesar's popular variety series Your Show of Shows, and followed this with a stint at The Garry Moore Show. In the latter part of the decade he began working on Broadway, orchestrating for Shinbone Alley, The Music Man, Fiorello!, and West Side Story. His work on the latter resulted in his being hired to score the 1961 screen adaptation with Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, and Sid Ramin. The quartet won both an Oscar and a Grammy Award for their contributions. Kostal later went on to collaborate with Saul Chaplin for the 1965 film adaptation of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music and won an Oscar for Best Music Scoring.
For the remainder of his life, Kostal divided his time primarily between stage and screen, with an occasional detour into television to work with such people as Carol Burnett, Lucille Ball, and Leonard Bernstein. He supervised the five Sherman Brothers musical film scores at four different movie studios between 1964 and 1978. In 1982, he conducted the digital re-recording of the music to Walt Disney's 1940 animated feature Fantasia. Although he used Leopold Stokowski's original arrangements, many purists were upset by the change, and the studio reinstated the original Stokowski recordings in 1990.
Kostal died of a heart attack in Studio City, California. In 2004 he was named a Disney Legend in recognition of his contributions to films released by the studio.
Overture And Preludium
Irwin Kostal Lyrics
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@koreboredom4302
Every transition to a different tune sends chills down my spine.
@MrBongers
Thank orchestrator Irwin Kostal, who adapted the Rodgers and Hammerstein songs for the film version.
@jenpeterson3712
The violin playing in the song "Something Good" was outstanding in the overture.
@UserName-xi8rm
The “something good” part actually gave me chills , I cant put into words how much this movie means to me, it reminds me of my nannys cottage in the countryside.
@bala06111
I'm from Hungary, and this film is broadcasted almost every year at Christmas. The youngest and the oldest generations love it also. The message of this movie can be effective every era, as I think.
@emilyrox9263
bala06111 What about the generations in between? :)
@fourwindsmw
+bala06111 Hungary, and in many parts of the world I think. It gets to the point where I can tell (when i see the movie on TV) which parts have been edited out for the broadcast. Not sure if that is healthy or not :)
@numanzorpregradoubo
Yes. I'm from Chile and my family an I see this movie every Christmas on TV
@hyphxyz5581
Bro ... !
@jasonbeard4713
The arrangement of ' My Favorite Things' is perfection. The flute work is Heavenly.