Warner Seelig-Bass was born in 1915 in Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany, the son of Eugen Seelig and Helene Bass. His father was an engineer and founder of the factory Spingal and Seelig, which produced electrical motors. After completing his secondary studies at the Saldernsche Gymnasium (Saldria), he attended the University of Berlin, where he studied music and theater studies, philosophy, and foreign languages. He also took classes at the State Academy for Music (Staatlich-Akademischen Hochschule für Musik), also in Berlin. There he majored in conducting, while studying piano and composition. In 1930 Warner Seelig-Bass became the assistant conductor and composer of stage music for the Kassel State Theater, a position he held until he was dismissed in 1933 for being Jewish. He then became conductor for the Jüdischer Kulturbund Theater, where he conducted both symphonic and operatic performances. In 1938 he emigrated to the United States by way of Cuba, and settled in New York. There he became known as Warner S. (Seeley) Bass. In 1941 Warner S. Bass married the Polish-born singer Marion Koegel, who performed in the United States under the name of Marion Corda. Marion Koegel was born in Poland in 1909. Like her husband, she had studied music in Berlin and been a member of the Jüdischer Kulturbund, where she performed popular and folk songs. Warner Bass was called to military service in 1943, eventually heading a military orchestra that performed in Europe for both the armed forces and civilians. After the war he toured Europe as part of the United Service Organization (USO), performing in various areas of the world, including Japan, the Soviet Union, East Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, the Phillipines, and South Africa. Following the war, Bass spent several more years traveling, taking positions as a guest conductor as well as an accompanist to solo performers. His appearances as guest conductor included directing the New York Philharmonic, the NBC Symphony of the Air, and the Detroit Opera. As a pianist, Bass worked with Jan Peerce, Roberta Peters, Grace Moore, Marta Eggerth, and Jan Kiepura, as well as his wife, Marion Corda, among others. In addition to his work as a conductor, he also worked as an orchestrator and arranger for RCA Victor. In 1962, Bass became Associate Conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Stowkowski. The American Symphony performed two of Bass's own compositions: his "Adagio (Taps) for String Instruments, Trumpet, and Percussion," written in memorial of John F. Kennedy and directed by Bass in Carnegie Hall, and his "Song of Hope," which was played under Stowkowski's direction. In the mid-1960s Bass began working as a professor of music. In 1965 he was appointed a visiting professor at Southhampton College on Long Island. Two years later he was an associate professor of music at New York University's College of Music. While teaching he also began working towards a degree in music education, and received his M.A. from New York University in 1969. That same year he became a professor at CUNY Kingsborough College, a position he held until his death. Warner Bass won recognition for his work both as a professor and a composer. In 1966 he was elected to the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). He was awarded the title of Outstanding Educator of America twice, in 1971 and 1972. His biography also appeared in various biographical dictionaries. Warner S. Bass died in 1988. His wife, Marion Corda Bass, died in 2000.

i) Compositions
Alone 1979
Bühnenmusik zum Lustspiel: "Der widerspenstigen Zähmung" undated
Compositions - Day's Affirmation 1951
"Fritz Bollmann" Vorspiel und einleitende Chorszene 1925
Kleine Musik für Streichinstrumente 1934
Lalaï 1927
Larghetto for Oboe Solo and String Orchestra 1947
The 96th Psalm undated
Potpourri of Variations on a Theme by Offenbach undated
Prolog zu einem Puppenspiel undated
Quartet for String Instruments Based on Army Bugle Calls undated
Serenata Concertante for Solo Viola and String Orchestra 1965
Sonatinas 1973-1978
  • Sonatina for Tenor-Violin and Piano
  • Sonatina for Viola and Piano
 
Sonatinetta for Trumpet and Piano 1977
Song of Hope undated
Song of Hope: Overture and Fugue for Orchestra undated
Song of Hope: Overture and Fugue for Orchestra – With Notes undated
Sophokles' Antigone 1926
Die spanische Tänzerin 1937
"Taps" Adagio for String Orchestra undated
Three-part Fugue on a Theme by Offenbach 1969
Instrumental – Barcarole undated
Instrumental – Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra by Alexander Glazounov 1979
 
ii) Arrangements and Orchestrations
  • Cantata: Adonoy Moh Rabu Tzoroy Psalm III by William Bogzester-Best
  • Elohei Neshomo by Bela Hershkotitz
  • Enjoy the Sweet Elysian Grove by George Frideric Händel
  • Heye im Pifiyos by Zavel Zilberts
  • Hori-U by Levandovsky
  • Mir Hob'n Geboit a Land by Oscar Julius
  • Misratzeh B'rachmim by Moshe Koussevitky
  • Psalm 137 by Zavel Zilberts
  • Vienna Dreams, A Medley
  • V'ulai undated
  • Waltz Song (Gypsy Baron) by Johann Struass
 
   
Marion Corda Repertoire undated
With Lyrics – Arrangements of Classical Songs undated, 1954, 1970
With Lyrics – Christmas Carols 1953
With Lyrics – Cum Natus Esset By Paul Hindemith 1941-1952
With Lyrics – Echoes of Old Vienna 1958
With Lyrics - Five Religious Songs by Arthur Peter Perleberg 1964
With Lyrics – folk songs undated
With Lyrics – folk songs – German, Austrian, and Swiss undated, 1943
With Lyrics – folk songs – Yiddish and Hebrew undated
With Lyrics – Hebrew Songs undated
With Lyrics – National Anthems undated
With Lyrics – Old Mother Hubbard 1947
With Lyrics – Pietà Signore! 1947
With Lyrics – Poema en forma de canciones 1958
With Lyrics – Sound the Trumpet! undated
With Lyrics - General undated, 1944-1977
  • Arrivederci by Fred. G. Moritt
  • Black is the Color by John Jacob Niles
  • Calm as the Night by Carl Böhm
  • The Deaf Woman
  • Djinji (Gingi) by Antonio Carlos Jobim
  • Echoes of Gladness by Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky
  • Elegie by Jules Massenet
  • Gaudeamus Igitur and Greetings to President Powell
  • Go Down, Moses!
  • Go, Tell it on the Mountain undated
  • Havah Nagilah
  • He's Goin' Away by John Jacob Niles
  • I Asked the Lord by Duncan
  • I Wonder as I Wander by John Jacob Niles
  • The Infantry Song by Clifford Lash
  • Just a Little More of Jesus undated
  • Lady Madonna by the Beatles
  • None but the Lonely Heart by Peter Ilich Tchaicovsky
  • Rejoice, the Day of Bliss is Near from Richard Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
  • Ride the Chariot undated
  • Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise (New Moon) by Sigmund Romberg
  • Soldiers of God by Ben Machan
  • Some Folks by Stephen Foster
  • Song of the Volga Boatmen
  • Summer of '42 by Michel Legrand
  • This Train
  • Tie a Yellow Ribbon by Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown
  • To be in Love by Claude de Sermisy
  • Treat 'em Rough, Soldier Boy by Albert Hay Malotte
  • United Nations March
  • Voices of Spring by Johann Strauss
  • Were you There?
  • Who Can I Turn To? by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley
  • World Without Love by the Beatles
  • Younger than Springtime (South Pacific) by Richard Rodgers
  • Andreas Hofer
  • Heulied
  • The Little Drummer Boy
  • Ninon
  • No, oh Dio!
  • Man is for the Woman Made
  • Soldiers of Freedom
  • Soon I Will be Done…
 
 
iii) Transcriptions
  • Malagueña (from the Andalusia Suite) by Ernesto Lecuona
  • Pavane by Maurice Ravel
  • Arioso by Johann Sebastian Bach
  • Modinha (Preludio) by Hector Villa-Lobos
 
 
iv) Other Works
  • Geh mach dei Fensterl auf
  • Ich weiss, es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehen
  • Love Has Eyes by Henry Rowley Bishop
  • No, oh Dio! by George Frideric Händel
  • O del mio dolce ardor by Christoph Willibald Glück
  • O Paradiso (Aria from L'Africana) by Gíacomo Meyerbeer
  • Only Be Still (from Cantata 93) by Johann Sebastian Bach
  • Psalm 13
  • Say to Irene (from Atalanta) by George Frideric Händel
  • Seder Service for Jan Peerce 1959
  • Sound an Alarm (from Judas Maccabeus) by George Frideric Händel)
  • String Quartet
  • Tu Lo Sai by Giuseppe Torelli
  • Where'er You Walk (from Semele) by George Frideric Händel
  • La Ciociara
  • Doña Mariquita
  • Schabbische Smires
  • Tenor aria from Cantata no. 198 (Die Trauer Ode) by Johann Sebastian Bach
 
With Lyrics undated, 1979
  • Ain' a that Good News by William Dawson
  • Aquarius (from Hair) by Galt MacDermot
  • Baró by Gilberto Valdes
  • Begin the Beguine
  • By What Master Hand by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
  • Come Again, Sweet Love by John Dowland
  • Downtown by Tony Hatch
  • Hans und Grete by Gustav Mahler
  • I am Come into My Garden by William Billings
  • In Praise of Unity
  • Let Down the Bars, O Death by Samuel Barber
  • Let There be Peace by Jill Jackson and Sy Miller
  • Liebesunterricht
  • Mariza (I'll Keep on Dreaming) by Emmerich Kálmán
  • Michelle by the Beatles
  • Never Without my Glove by M. Klein
  • Oui Madame
  • Three Chansons by Orlando di Lasso
  • Prayer for Peace by Herbert Gadsch
  • Prayer Scene
  • Speak Softly, Love! By Nino Rota
  • That Would be Something by the Beatles
  • Tremble, Thou Earth by D. Britton
  • Wade in the Water
  • You Will Remember Vienna by Sigmund Romberg
  • Man müsste wieder
  • Tzigetzapl by Helfman
  • Yiddish Songs