Mischa Spoliansky
Mischa Spoliansky (28 December 1898 – 28 June 1985) was a Russian-born composer who made his name writing cabaret and revue songs in the Weimar Republic of the 1920s and early 1930s, before he was forced to emigrate to London in 1933 when Hitler rose to power. He stayed in Britain for the rest of his life, re-inventing himself as a composer of film scores. Early life and education Spoliansky was born into a Jewish, musical family in Białystok, then part of the Belostok Oblast of the Russian Empire. His father was an opera singer and his sister would later become a pianist and his brother Alexander was a cellist. After the birth of Mischa the family moved to Warsaw, and later Kalisz. After the early death of his mother, the family moved to Vienna. Spoliansky's early musical education in piano, violin and cello began at the age of five and was continued in Dresden under Professor Mark Guensberg. He made his public debut aged 10. Shortly thereafter, his father died and Spoliansky moved to Königsberg (Prussia) where he had relatives. In 1914 however as a result of the war he had to flee to Berlin, where his brother worked