Anton Profes (1896–1976)

50th Anniversary of His Death

22 August 2026 marked the 50th anniversary of the death of Austrian composer Anton Profes (1896–1976). Profes, who initially worked as a conductor and successful songwriter, went on to write music for more than one hundred sound films from the 1930s onwards. Today, his name is particularly associated with the soundtrack to the legendary Sissi trilogy starring Romy Schneider and Karlheinz Böhm: Sissi (1955), Sissi – The Young Empress (1956) and Sissi – The Fateful Years of an Empress (1957).

Anton Profes’s compositions continue to be performed in concert halls today. In 2015, Paul Hertel compiled and arranged the 55-minute SISI: The Movie Trilogy Suite for large orchestra, based on Profes’s original film music. Published by Josef Weinberger, the suite brings the world-famous melodies from the Sissi films back to life in a concert setting. In this way, the work connects two generations of Austrian composers and allows Anton Profes’s music to continue to resonate 50 years after his death.

Find out more about SISI: The Movie Trilogy Suite here.