Joseph Carl Breil

Joseph Carl Breil (29 June 1870 – 23 January 1926) was an American lyric tenor, stage director, composer and conductor. He was one of the earliest American composers to compose specific music for motion pictures. His first film was Les amours de la reine Élisabeth starring Sarah Bernhardt. He later composed and arranged scores for several other early motion pictures, including such epics as D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916), as well as scoring the preview version of The Phantom of the Opera (1925), a score that is now lost. His love theme for "Birth of a Nation", titled "The Perfect Song", was published by Chappell & Co. in an arrangement for voice and keyboard. It was later used as the theme for the radio show Amos 'n' Andy.

Life Joseph was the first of four children born to Joseph and Margaret Breil of Pittsburgh. (Joseph Sr., a lawyer, was an immigrant from Prussia and his wife was born in Pennsylvania.) Breil graduated from Duquesne University (then the Pittsburgh Catholic College of the Holy Ghost) in 1888. He later composed the alma mater for the university, which was first performed in October 1920. He also pursued studies at St Fidelis College (Butler, Pennsylvania) and Curry Commercial College in Pittsburgh before being sent by his family to the University of Leipzig to study law. While in Leipzig he began to study music composition and singing at the Leipzig Conservatory. These were followed by singing lessons in Milan and Philadelphia (with Giuseppe del Puente). following a nervous breakdown suffered on account of the failure of his final opera, Der Asra.

Personal life Breil married Alta (Dot) Gelvin.

Operas Orlando of Milan (c. 1888) Love Laughs at Locksmiths (27 October 1910, Portland, Maine) Prof. Tattle (1913) The Seventh Chord (1913) The Legend (12 March 1919, Metropolitan Opera) Der Asra (24 November 1925, Los Angeles Opera)

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