A child prodigy compared with Mozart, Korngold achieved artistic maturity very early, essentially as a symphonic composer. Due to his Jewish heritage, Korngold's European career was stifled by the rise of Nazism. He emigrated, like so many other composers of that time, to America, where he achieved great fame as a film composer, receiving two Academy awards for his film scoring. After the war, he sought to revive his musical career in Europe, which unfortunately never came to be. His mastery was such that Jascha Heifetz premiered Korngold's famous Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, a work in the repertoire of nearly all violinists today.

He is best known for Die tote Stadt and Das Wunder der Heiliane, as well as many scores for famous films like Captain Blood (1935), Anthony Adverse (1936), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Juarez (1939), The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), The Sea Hawk (1940), The Sea Wolf (1941), and Kings Row (1942), among many others.

In the period before his death, he worked tirelessly on his sixth opera. Despite its success, Korngold feared he would be completely forgotten, that his work would come to be viewed as obsolete at the end of his life. His concern was in large part due to the emergence of the Second Viennese School, which was in vogue at that time. However, in the last 25 to 30 years, his music has, quite justly, been constantly revived; today he is considered among the most original and prestigious composers in the history of twentieth century music.