Joseph Kosma was born in Budapest. He took an interest in music at a very young age, writing an opera called "Noel dans les Tranchées" as a teenager. One of his greatest loves in Budapest was the music of Bela Bartok. Finding the political atmosphere to be more and more oppressive in Budapest, Kosma moved to Berlin where he joined Bertolt Brecht's traveling theater troupe . Kosma continued to work on film scores until his death, though in his last years he focused on his first love, music for theater, composing the operas "Les Hussards" and "Les Canuts". The Kosma/Carné/Prévert team gradually drifted apart, and Kosma remarks in his journals that his two old friends did not come to one of his opera premieres. Kosma continued to work for Renoir until the very end, however, composing the music for later works.
On April 28, 1958, he was one of the seven composers invited to the TV show "Trente-Six Chandelles" (1952) {Les grandes familles de Trente-Six Chandelles : la chanson} hosted by Jean Nohain which was devoted to the successes of the Chanson Franaise between 1945 and 1955. The composers have played the melody of their favorite song on the piano : Henri Betti for "Cest si Bon" , Louiguy for "La Vie en Rose" , Paul Durand for "Bolro" , Joseph Kosma for "Les Feuilles Mortes" , Louis Ferrari for "Domino" , Paul Misraki for "Tu npeux pas tFigurer" and Andr Popp for "Les Lavandires du Portugal".
