He was the son of feared Austrian music critic Julius Korngold and early on it was clear to his father that Erich was a child prodigy. At the age of 10 Gustav Mahler declared him “a musical genius”, and in his 20’s his first full-length opera premiered attracted audiences with “its Straussian musical language and Hitchcock-like plot.” Korngold was Jewish and the rise of Nazism resulted in his exile from Vienna to Hollywood.