The Web's Resources for
The Comedian Harmonists
The Comedian Harmonists
http://www.comedian-harmonists.NET
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The Web's Resources for The Comedian Harmonists |
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| The Web's Resources for The Comedian Harmonists http://www.comedian-harmonists.NET |
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This first page is an introduction to our site. It contains a list of all that is available on the pages that we have provided and concludes our acknowledgement. This homepage is devoted to the Comedian Harmonists (sometimes also called Comedy Harmonists, in particular on the records of HMV). This includes the two resp. three groups that were founded by members of the old group:
In February 1935 the Comedian Harmonists were prohibited by the Nationalsozialisten. The three Jewish members Harry Frommermann, Erich Collin, and Roman Cycowski went to Vienna in Austria and founded a new group, the Comedy Harmonists. The group was completed with Ernst Engel (piano), Hans Rexeis (1st tenor) and Rudolf Mayreder (basso).
Also the three members, who remained in Germany, completed a new group called the Meister-Sextett. This group were performed by Erwin Bootz, Ari Leschnikoff, and Robert Biberti and further Alfred Grunert (baritone), Herbert Imlau (2nd tenor), and Fred Kassen (3rd tenor) as new members.
After the World War II, Erich Collin founded a new group called Comedy Harmonists in 1948. But here Collin took the part of the baritone. The other members were American singers. After the sudden death of one of the tenors, Frommermann (now renamed Frohman) joined the group. But because of differences this group broke up very quickly in 1949 - after the first and only tour.
However, this site is devoted to these four groups - mainly to the origin, the original group. We like to mention that this site is completely uncommercial! It's just part of our hobby. Please keep this in mind (and sign the guestbook - that's all we want. :-)
To explain what we have collected let's start to explain how this site is composed. On the lower left-hand side, you see the menu. The information on this site is divided into five sections:
If you click on this button, you see five options.
fan pages
is the list of all pages about the Comedian Harmonists or
related to the Comedian Harmonists, which we have found on the web. You obtain a
tabular with the name of the site, the URL (i.e., the link to this site) and a
short description. All guestbooks and forums have been linked directly. So this
gives you a simple way to put questions about the harmonists on the web. The
best place to leave notes or requests is the comhar eGroup from Yahoo or the
forum of Simon Umbreit's Comedian Harmonists homepage (unfortunately, this page is
only available in German). - Oops, I did forget our own forum.
This also should be a good place to leave something...
other groups of the 30s.
Here you obtain an actually very short list of
other vocal ensembles of the 30s. You should keep in mind that this kind of
vocal music was just new in Europe. But as you probably know, the Comedian
Harmonists called themself the German Revelers. Perhaps you are
interested who the Revelers are. Another remarkable group of the 30s were The
Mills Brothers. Their story begins at about the same time as the story of
the Comedian Harmonists. - And there is an official fan club in the U.S.
current related groups.
About 70 years after the Comedian Harmonists, or
65 years after their break up, the group is still very popular - mainly in
Germany and Austria. There are lots of groups singing the Harmonists'
repertoire. Perhaps some of you perform near you. Or you come for a visit to
Germany. Then you can join a concert of the "Harmonists". There are a
lot of remarkable groups and we have already seen some of them in concert -
pretty nice!
interviews.
Some interviews with members of the Comedian Harmonists or
about the group were broadcasted in the 80s. They can be heard as real audio
files. Unfortunately, this interviews are only available in German. But there is
also an English interview with Marc Alexander, the grandson of Erich Collin.
It's a quite interesting interview of about 1h.
Vilsmaier's film.
That's the cause why the Comedian Harmonists are
so popular again in the new century! It's not a very deep film, but nevertheless
it's quit nice. Here you find links to the film, the actors, and the posters.
further links / banners.
Some more links about the roaring 20s to 40s. Quite nice things!.
books.
A list of all books that have been published in the last years.
Most remarkable is the book of Fechner. You didn't read it? You have to! All the
books are only available in German. If you know any publications in other
languages, please let us know. For collectors of the original 78rpm (Schellack)
records, the book of Schmauder gives very good hints which records are rare or
"quite common".
fotos.
The largest collection of fotos, pictures, and posters on the web.
Most remarkable is a full program of the Meister-Sextett's tour through Germany
in 1939. Also you can find here a scan of an original autograph of the Comedian
Harmonists. You should have a look at how they wrote their names on the backside
of a foto.
lyrics.
Also, the largest collection of lyrics of the groups' songs.
There are still a lot of lyrics missing. Perhaps one of you could write them
down and send them to us. - This would be most important for the songs that were
not sung in German, since we both (Jan and Dirk) are German. Please mark all
mistakes that we made and send them to us.
midis.
A list of all midi-files that can be downloaded from the web free.
Probably the most of you might know that one can convert midi files to notes /
scores, e.g., if you like to sing some of the songs with an a-capella group. Our
archive contains already more than 30 midi files!
notes / scores.
Independent of converting midi-files, you can buy scores,
e.g., from the Bosse Verlag. We have listed all the songs for what notes or
midi-files are available. - And we have listed the sources. Also for scores for
the program Capella2000 can be downloaded from this page.
press archive / articles.
We have found several articles about the Comedian Harmonists on the
web. This page contains all the links and further information.
their appearance in movies & films.
We worked for almost 2 years on a complete(?) listing of the CH
appearance in movies, short films, commercial spots and private
films. Only in a few of them the CH can be seen. In particular, in
most of the movies they only sang the title songs. Anyhow, if someone
of you owns one of the lost(?) films, please send us an email.
their lifes / their voices.
Something that was still missing: The complete (and up-to-date!)
history of the Comedian Harmonists, the Meister-Sextett, and the Comedy
Harmonists. Further, we added small biographies of the groups' members
(as far as it was know to us...) and cut-offs of several CH songs. Did
you never think about what did Harry's voice sound like or whicht
parts were sung by him? Here are at least some answers...
We have found several articles about the Comedian Harmonists on the
web. This page contains all the links and further information.
up'n'download page.
The idea of this site is that you can share your
Comedian Harmonists stuff with other fans. Some of you did already use this chance, and
it's our pleasure to mention that you can download 4 rare songs there. (Here rare
means that this songs have never been published on CD !). Perhaps some of you
could also upload (or submit) some scans or mp3 files etc. How this can be done,
i.e., how to up- and download, is explained on the site.
their songs in chronological order.
This was the first part of our site that we realised. All songs, that were performed by the Comedian
Harmonist, the Meister-Sextett, or the Comedy Harmonists, are listed in
chronological order. The tabular contains also links to all related web
resources, i.e., if existent, you see together with song's title and the
recording date, we give links to the song's lyrics, midi file, notes, and mp3
file. Thus you see all that is available for this song. Further, we put up
references on what CDs all the songs are contained. So you know how to
complete your CH collection. For all of you who collect the original 78rpm
records, this list contains also the record's number. Just have a look. It's
much easier to understand than to explain.
their songs in alphabetical order.
A list of all their songs in alphabetical order that
gives you some more details of the songs, e.g., who did write this song, the
lyrics, the arrangement, etc.
78rpm record labels.
This smells like history... Some record labels of CH Schellack
records. OK, this collection is (obviously) not complete, but perhaps
you could add some...
LPs.
Mainly in the 70s, the EMI Electrola (and some small other companies) published
LPs of the Comedian Harmonists. Sometimes you can buy this LPs at eBay. You
should do this since this songs are not digitally remastered (and this is the
worst for our group's songs!). Thanks to the EMI Electrola, we are allowed to
publish the inline notes of all EMI LPs and we did it with all the LPs we own.
The inline notes are much better than those of the corresponding CDs.
CDs.
With the help of mainly JPC and Amazon, we have listed (probably) the majority
of all published Harmonists CDs. Thanks to JPC, we were allowed to download and
use all the covers and present them here. You see the CD's title, the publishing
date, etc. and (this is more important) a list of all its contents. Thus, you
can choose what CDs are missing in your collection. We're not bound to the
companies, whose links we give. It's just an example where you can buy these CDs
and for what price. Try to buy best! If you know any cheaper online store,
please let us know.
I guess that's clear. We give some links where to buy CH
stuff, e.g., original 78rpm records, LPs, CDs, books, etc. If you know some
further links, please submit!
CH Schellack records
CDs, books, videos
This is what holds the nearest place to our heart. :-) There are several ways how to help us, contact us, etc.
contact.
This site shows how to contact us, e.g, you can fill out a free form to contact
us without using your email client.
counter / nedstat.
Approximatively, 60 people each day visit this site. Perhaps you are
interested where they come from: OK, most of them come from Germany
and Austria, but about 40% are from all over the world! Sounds
amazing, isn't it?
forum.
The forum is dedicated to discussions on any kind related to the
Comedian Harmonists. Please put up your questions about this famous
group here. Although Jan and me are German (some of might have
recognized this...), you can write your questions in English. -
Moreover, I think that it's is more convenient if you write it in
English. But never mind: We'll do our best to answer also your German
questions. :-) But please use the guestbook to refer to your own or other activities related to the Comedian Harmonists.
guestbook.
I wrote already that this site is only a hobby. Perhaps some of you can show
that they noticed what we did. We don't want complain, but you see: There are
3000 hits since October 2000 - and on the other hand less than 10 entries into
our guestbook. Did you like this site? Yes: It's pretty easy to sign our
guestbook. No: Please keep silence. :-)
introduction / overview.
This is where you already are.
newsletter.
Something more we do for you: Probably once a month we send an email to all
subscribed CH fans to let them know what did happen the last month at our
homepage. It's free to sign this newsletter and we promise not to spam you. It's
only once a month.
search this site.
Quite simple search routine if you are looking for something special on this site.
send an eCard.
You know somebody who should visit this site? Then, you should not
hesitate to send him an eCard with a foto of the Comedian Harmonists.
title page.
The page where you came from. Nothing special there.
updates.
Another free service from us to you. :-) We list chronologically all the updates
(probably once or twice a week ...) that are done. So you see quite easily what
is new for you when you come back here.
Probably some of you own some CH stuff that can be added to this site. You are invited to share this with all the other Comedian Harmonists fans around the world. We are still looking for scans of fotos, posters, tour programs, and autographs of our group. Further, probably some of you have CDs which are not listed yet or whose contents are not listed yet. Perhaps you could submit this.
This site could not grow up without the help of many people that we would
like to mention here (the list is not sorted in any way!)
Holger Reinhardt (who composed most of the midi files),
Manfred Dettlaff (for his hints, his scans and his correction of lyrics, his friendship),
Laurence Bertin (from France, for the lyrics of the french songs),
Hans-Jürgen Baier and the city of Coburg (for leaving the Harmonists' autograph and some fotos of their performance in Coburg 1931),
Jan Ole Unger (for several scans and hints),
Toni Ginsel (for his scans of the EMI LPs),
Martin Klubertanz (for several midi files),
Nick Suhr (our man for the lyrics!),
Eberhard von Moltke and the EMI Electrola (for allowing the publication of the LP's inline notes),
Hardy Offizier (for providing 25 rare songs from his Schellack collection),
Flavia Lena (from Italy, for the lyrics of the Italian songs sung by the Comedian Harmonists),
Sim Lee (from the Netherlands, for submitting more than 20 lyrics).
Gerald Hötzeneder (for providing his Schellack 78rpm records of several rare songs).
Mike Neun (for information on the UFA films in which the CH took part).
Michael Hortig (for at least 10 songs which have never been published on CH or LP).
Loretta Findeisen and Radio Bremen Online (for the permission to publish the interviews with Harry Frommermann, Erwin Bootz, and Robert Biberti from a documentary of Radio Bremen 2.).
Jörn Pomränke (for scans of CH fotos).
Gerald Hötzeneder (for providing his 78rpm records).
Martin Brandes from Brandes Autographs (for a scan of a Comedy Harmonists autographs from Buenos Aires!).
Jim Lowe (from Australia! for providing several CH fotos).
Rémy Gareil (from France, for his help on the lyrics).
Miguel Loeb (from Argentine, for another autograph of the Comedy Harmonists).
Rene Kragt (for provinding Allein kann man nicht glücklich sein from his collection).
That's all! Enjoy the site and - don't forget to sign the guestbook!
