Background
George was born on July 8, 1900 in Trenton, New Jersey, United States. The son of Henry William and Wilhelmina (Huse) Antheil.
George was born on July 8, 1900 in Trenton, New Jersey, United States. The son of Henry William and Wilhelmina (Huse) Antheil.
Antheil was raised bilingually, writing music, prose, and poetry from an early age, and never formally graduated from high school or college. Antheil started studying the piano at the age of six. In 1916 he traveled regularly to Philadelphia to study under Constantine von Sternberg, a former pupil of Franz Liszt. Student Trenton High School, 1914-1918, Sternberg Cons., 1914-1918.
After studying with Ernest Bloch and others, Antheil resided in Europe for several years and there gained a reputation for experimental compositions in an ultra-modern vein, notably his Ballet mécaniquemecanique (1925). Antheil returned to the United States in 1933 and established himself in Hollywood, Calif., in 1936. In the latter place, although he was not exclusively connected with motion pictures, he wrote scores for The Plainsman (1936) and The Spectre of the Rose (1946). Notable among his other works are four symphonies and three operas, Transatlantic (1929), Helen Retires (1932), and Volpone (1953). He also wrote ballets, among them The Capital of the World (1953), as well as piano and violin concertos and chamber music. Antheil wrote an autobiography called Bad Boy of Music (1945).
George Antheil was married to Elizabeth Markus.