Stephen Cohn

Morris E. Cohn was my father. He was born in Rumania in 1906 and came to America when he was four months old. He was raised in St. Louis, Missouri and attended Washington University in his home town studying law. He came to Los Angeles around 1930 to practice law and married my mother Bernice, shortly after arriving.

He had notable success as an attorney. He was Chief Counsel for the Screen Writer's Guild in the fifties and defended writers who were called in front of The House Un-American Activities Committee. He wrote briefs for The America Civil Liberties Union. He also handled the sale of Reprise Records to Warner Bros. and worked for Frank Sinatra on this and other matters. He was highly respected for having an exceptionally clear and insightful legal mind. Colleagues came to him with special problems that no one else could solve. He was a good provider for his family which consisted of my sister Susan, my mother and myself.

His real love, however was composing music which he did in every spare moment. He studied composition for years with noted local composers such as Mario Castlenuevo Tedesco. He wrote mostly chamber and piano music. Occaisionally, one of his compositions would be performed by a local group and there were a few recordings but none that were released.

It is difficult to describe the style of his music. He was a highly intelligent and intensly thougtful man and this was expressed in his music. The thread of his ideas is always very clear and clearly developed. His love of logic is a classical tendency in his writing, however his passion for life and sheer love of beauty also show up in his work. His harmonic and melodic pallettes are manifestations of a very personal twentieth century style - one which was aware of the innovations and yet trusting of his own inner sense of substance over fashion.

Shortly before he died in 1973, my father helped me get my career as a composer started by negotiating my first recording contract. This was a big job that I would not have been able to afford without his help. He asked me if, after I got started in the business, I would help to get his music published. I said I would, eventhough at the time it seemed unlikely that I would succeed. This web site has opened the possibility of fulfilling that promise and also honoring my fathers work and all that he has contributed to my life and my abilities as a composer.

Unfortunately, much of his work has been lost. I found the two piano pieces posted here, recently, which inspired this first entry. I hope to find more of his music. Please feel free to email me with questions about my father and his music. Stephen Cohn