Hanns Eisler

Hanns Eisler was an Austrian and German composer, a pupil of Arnold Schoenberg and the first of his disciples to compose in the twelve-tone technique. In Berlin from 1925 he supported the Communist Party of Germany and began a collaboration with Bertolt Brecht that lasted until Brecht's death, writing music for The Decision and The Mother and the "Solidarity Song". Banned by the Nazis, he went into exile and in 1938 settled in the United States, where his scores for Hangmen Also Die! and None but the Lonely Heart were nominated for Oscars. Accused before the House Un-American Activities Committee, he was deported in 1948; in East Berlin he composed the national anthem of East Germany.