Paul Lamkoff

Paul Lamkoff, (Plonsk, Russian Empire, 14 December 1888 - 11 March 1953) was a Polish-born American cantor and early Hollywood film composer. He is sometimes credited by the less anglicized name Paul Lampkovitz. Background Many details about Lamkoff’s early life prior to emigrating to the United States are uncorroborated, including his place of birth and his musical training, and professional engagements. His place of birth is listed variously as either Poland or Russia. He was said to have trained at the Petrograd Conservatory (now the St. Petersburg Conservatory), possibly at the same time as future fellow Hollywood composer Dimitrio Tiomkin and also under Glazunov and Rimsky-Korsakov. He may have conducted opera throughout eastern Europe, and played violin with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, and cantored. The popularity of “talkies” that exploded in the late 1920s allowed the professional musicians already established in Los Angeles, like Lamkoff, to profit on the burgeoning film music industry, although much of Lamkoff’s work went uncredited. At one point he transcribed “by dictation” a symphonic work that Fred Fisher was composing for a film sequence. Along with other talents