Biography

Austrian composer and orchestrator. Left Vienna after the Nazis came to power and worked first in France and then in England. Many of the films he worked on during this time were operettas. He reached his creative peak in the early 1940's, scoring films for the Boulting Brothers and Rank/Gainsborough, notably prestige pictures like "The Wicked Lady" and "Brighton Rock".

Despite the enormous success of "Ein Lied geht um die Welt" (33) the fate of his Jewish did not pass him by. Already in 1933 he went back to Austria where he continued his career, three years later he fled to England.

He belonged to the co-founders of the cabaret "Die Gondel".

By 1944, May was employed by The Rank Organisation, the largest film production company in England. He scored a string of prominent films, including the mystical romance Madonna of the Seven Moons (1944).

Hans May managed what only few fugitives was granted in the emigration. He was able to continue his career in his professional environment and in the next years he composed many film compositions for British productions.