Born in Brooklyn, New York, Rosenman moved to California following World War II. A skilled piano player since his teenage years, Rosenman began studying music composition with composers Arnold Schoenberg and Roger Sessions. Afterward, in 1952, Rosenman studied with Italian composer Luigi Dallapiccola in Massachusetts. Rosenman is credited with helping to modernize film music in the 1950s and 1960s. Through the application of modern techniques not commonly used at the time, Rosenman brought a more contemporary approach to film composition. [2]