Franz R. Friedl

Franz René Friedl (30 May 1892 – 5 December 1977), was an Austrian violist and composer.

He was born in Oberkappel, then part of Austria-Hungary. The son of a cooper he attended grammar school and then received artistic training from Rosé and Carl Flesch. Friedl then worked as concertmaster in Dortmund and Dresden. From 1923 to 1926 Franz Friedl was principal violist at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, since 1927 the Upper Austrian, worked as a composer and composed chamber music, overtures. From 1933 he was music composer for theatre and films, including The Eternal Jew, a film promoting Nazi ideology against Jews. He is listed on some recordings as the conductor of the "Berlin Symphony Orchestra", a pseudonym of an unidentified ensemble, but it is doubtful whether he actually was the conductor. From 1940 to 1945 he was musical director of Die Deutsche Wochenschau. The grandchild of his only daughter is Björn Stenvers.

He died in Essen, on 5 December 1977.

Read more about this composer on Wikipedia.