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Los Angeles: Klaus Doldinger, the legendary German saxophonist and composer best known for crafting the iconic soundtracks of Wolfgang Petersen’s Das Boot and the fantasy classic The NeverEnding Story, has passed away at the age of 89.
Doldinger breathed his last on October 16, his family confirmed to German press agency dpa, as per The Hollywood Reporter.
Born May 12, 1936, in Berlin, Doldinger studied piano and clarinet but was drawn to the jazz music brought to Germany by American GIs after the war. Having lived through the Nazi dictatorship, Doldinger later wrote in his 2022 autobiography, “Made in Germany. Mein Leben fur die Musik,” he decided to make music “that you couldn’t march in step or click your heels together [to].”
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The fascination with those free rhythms never left Doldinger. In 1971, he formed Passport, a long-running jazz-fusion outfit that toured internationally and released dozens of albums over five decades.
Doldinger’s breakthrough in film came with his sparse, electronic-tinged soundtrack to Petersen’s submarine drama Das Boot (1981). Against the backdrop of a minimal orchestral ensemble, just strings, brass and percussion, Doldinger used early synthesisers to create a sonic soundscape evoking sonar pulses, engine drones and the metallic ambience inside the World War 2 U-boat.
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The title theme’s steadily ascending line, mirroring the claustrophobic tension within the sub, became a signature motif. An early 90s techno remix of the theme, by the German band U96 (named after the submarine’s military designation) spent 13 weeks at number one of the German single charts and topped charts across much of Europe.
His survivors include his wife, Inge, and their three children.
