Guest
Georges Boulanger mit seinen Tanz-Orchester: 1. Was ein Zigeuner fühlt [What Feels a Gypsy?] Musik: Ludwig Schmidsaeder, Tango und Czardas a.d. Metropol-Theater Operette: Melodie der Nacht, Odeon 1938 2. Rote Rosen, Tango () Odeon, 1938 3. Von der Puszta will ich träumen (I’ll Be Dreaming Of The Puszta), Tango und Czardas aus dem Ufa-Tonfilm “Der Blaufuchs” Musik: Lothar Brühne, Text: Bruno Balz, Odeon 1938 NOTE: Georges BOULANGER (1893-1958) was a Romanian violinist and bandleader, who tied his life and his career with Berlin in Germany. Born in Tulcea, Romania from a Gypsy-Romanian family with a long tradition in music (six generations of musicians). His name comes from his father’s nick-name, which in French means “boulanger” (a baker). Georges learned to play the violin as a child from his father, and at the age of 12 he got a scholarship to study at the Conservatory in Bucharest. Three years later he was heard by the famous Hungarian violinist Leopold Auer who took him to Dresden, where he studied with him for the next two years. (Other students of Auer were Jascha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein, and Mischa Elman). The musical studies were finished when Georges was 17 years old and he received from his master a violin as a going away present. Boulanger played on this violin until his death. However, instead of the “serious” virtuose career, Boulanger preferred the lighter genre, which was then called the “salon music”. Leopold Auer’s name opened for him the best opportunities the major European cities, from which Boulanger chose the position as first violinist in the Russian upper class snobistic Café Chantant in Saint Petersburg, where he played the Romani music, Balkan folklore and Viennese waltzes. When the Bolshevic revolution started in 1917, Georges Boulanger returned to Romania, where he served in the Armed Forces. Simultaneously, he taught music and wrote compositions. After the Great War was ended, Georges Boulanger traveled to Berlin, where he was kindly admitted by the circle of “white” Russian emigrants, many of whom remembered him from Sankt Petersburg. He played in Berlin and in other European cities, where his fame grew and the most renowned hotels and night clubs willingly invited him to perform. He recorded extensively (until 1939 he waxed almost 300 sides for Odeon, Telefunken, Kristall and Vox) and in 1938, his tune Avant de mourir (which would later be called “My Prayer“ and a text by Jimmy Kennedy would be added) became a hit throughout the world. During the nazi times in Third Reich, Georges Boulanger was asked by the officials to present the proof that was not a Jew. Thanks to his Romanian friends’, Boulanger was able to present the quickly arranged documents from Romania, that he was a baptized Christian and his father was of the Greek, and not the Gypsy origin. In 1945, while already staying a zone occupied by the Red Army, Boulanger was identified by one of American soldiers as the famous My Prayer ´s composer and was transported into the American zone. After the war, Boulanger – who lost most of his family in the Gypsy Holocaust in Europe, left Germany and traveled to Rio de Janeiro and to Argentina, where he remained active for the rest of his days. Three tunes selected for this film are illustrated by the scenes from the Gypsy life in Europe (1.), from the life of Berlin of the 1930s (2.) and in the 3. part - referring to a film “Der Blaufuchs” (A Blue Fox) which was the tremendously popular German film comedy of the late 1930s, in which the Nazi-film megastar, a Swedish/German actress Zarah Leander sung one of her greatest evergreens “Von der Puszta will ich träumen”.
