Peter Paul Kreuder (18 August 1905 – 28 June 1981) was a Germans-Austrians pianist, composer and conductor.
In 1925 he was employed as Kapellmeister at the Deutsches Theater München, and conducted theatre ensembles, first in Munich and then in Berlin, where he worked with Max Reinhardt. In 1930 he met with Friedrich Hollaender, whom he assisted arranging the musical score of Josef von Sternberg's film The Blue Angel starring Marlene Dietrich. During the 1930s and 40s he became one of the most sought-after German musical film composers; his credits run to some 150 movies. Several songs, performed by stars like Zarah Leander or Marika Rökk, are popular and covered up to today.
Kreuder joined the Nazi Party in 1932, however, he resigned his membership in 1934.Michael H. Kater, Different Drummers: Jazz in the Culture of Nazi Germany, Oxford University Press, 2003, p. 99 His compositions added to the intended development of a "German" light music genre as contrasted to the US big band style, though they contained a large deal of jazz and Swing music elements. He emigrated to Sweden in 1939, but returned to Germany two years later after threats against his relatives were launched by the Nazi Germany authorities.
After World War II Kreuder adopted Austrian citizenship and conducted radio orchestras in Brazil and Argentina. In the second half of the 1950s, he was sometimes the pianist of Joséphine Baker. 88 notes pour piano solo, Jean-Pierre Thiollet, Neva Editions, 2015, p. 296. He died in Salzburg and is buried in Munich Ostfriedhof, grave number 55-19-2.
In addition to his film work, Kreuder also wrote popular songs and art pieces, including a piano concerto, , musical theatre, and two operas, Der Zerissene (1940) and Der Postmeister (1966). He wrote two memoirs, Schön war die Zeit (1955) and Nur Puppen haben keine Tränen (1971).
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