Abel Quartet

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The Abel Quartet was a group of musicians founded in 1928. It is named after its founder, the Hungarian music professor Paul Abel ( Abel Pál in Hungarian ).

history

In Germany, the vocal ensemble recorded jazz singing in the style of the American group The Revelers before the Comedian Harmonists . The Abel Quartet consisted of Jozsef Balassa ( 1st tenor ), Rezsö Feleki (2nd tenor), Imre Revesc ( baritone ) and Jenö Vig (bass). Until 1930 Abel was the leader and pianist of the group, for which he also wrote the arrangements and which was soon hired by various record companies to perform cabaret chansons or sing syncopated refrains to daily hits. Since the four certainly mastered this, they were soon allowed to use the title Abel's jazz singer . On other labels they were called the Abel Quartet or simply The Abels . They performed both with Paul Abel's piano accompaniment and with well-known German orchestras.

After Abel left Germany in 1931 to work as a manager at the record company " Durium " in London , Rudi Goehr took his place. He led the ensemble until he emigrated in 1933. Between 1930 and 1933 the group performed under the 'international' name “Five Songs” and sang for international orchestras such as Billy Barton and Jack Hylton when they were on tour to Germany came and took pictures. In 1933 her compatriot Kardos István (German: Stefan Kardosch) took over the management and made the group the " Kardosch Singers " (also "Kardosh Singers" on some labels). There was also a change in staff. The four Hungarian singers Balassa, Feleki, Revesc and Vig left Germany - probably due to the changed political situation - and returned to their homeland. Other artists took their place.

While the "Abels" at the beginning of their career also followed the term "jazz singers" in their repertoire, after 1932/33 more and more "popular" titles came to the fore in line with contemporary tastes. Jazz singing was now undesirable and was considered "alien", even "un-German". Finally, in 1935, the Reichsendleiter Eugen Hadamovsky issued the “final ban on nigger jazz for all of German radio”.

literature

  • Konrad Dussel: Sources on the program history of German radio and television . In: Edgar Lersch (ed.): Collection of sources for cultural history . tape 24 . Muster-Schmidt, Göttingen / Zurich 1999, ISBN 3-7881-1226-3 .
  • Gabriel Goessel: The Hungarian Connection. In: Society for Historical Sound Carriers and Alfred Seiser Collection. Retrieved May 27, 2012 (English).
  • Berthold Leimbach: audio documents of cabaret and their interpreters 1898-1945 . Self-published, Göttingen 1991.
  • Thomas Phleps: Twelve-tone theater "Viennese students" and relatives in Nazi Germany . In: Hanns-Werner Heister (Ed.): “Degenerate Music” 1938 - Weimar and the ambivalence . Pfau-Verlag, Saarbrücken 2001, ISBN 3-89727-126-5 , p. 179–215 ( Twelve- tone theater “Wiener Schüler” and relatives in Nazi Germany ( memento of March 2, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) [PDF; accessed on May 27, 2012] ... the brothers Rudolf and Walter Goehr ...).
  • Franz Ritter (Ed.): Heinrich Himmler and the love of swing. Memories and documents . Reclam, Leipzig 1994, ISBN 3-379-01493-1 .
  • Heribert Schröder: On the continuity of National Socialist measures against jazz and swing in the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich . In: Colloquium: Festschrift for Martin Vogel on his 65th birthday, presented by his students Place = Bad Honnef . 1988, ISBN 3-926196-08-4 .

Sound documents (selection)

  • Homocord 4-2813 (TM20 593) “I stand well with Ruth” (Raymond & Gilbert) “The Abels”, men's quartet with piano. A January 12, 1928.
  • Homocord 4-2865 (TM20 775-1) "Eilali Eilali Eilala" (May & Pflanzer) "The Abels", men's quartet. A November 9, 1928.
  • Grammophon 22 239 (mx. 1562-4) Bimbambulla ( Hans May , text: Chas. Amberg) / (mx. 1567-4) Celery (G. Milton, German text: Amberg) The Abels, vocal quartet with piano accompaniment.
  • Gramophone 22 598 (mx. 774-2 BN) Only in Sevastopol does the Russian feel at home (Ernst Steffen, text: Schubert) / (mx. 863 ½ BN) Chevrolet (Abel, text: Amberg), Die Abels, vocal quartet with piano accompaniment - 1929.
  • Gramophone 22 615 (2209-BR 2, 2210 BR-2) Attention Attention we send dance music! Schlagerpotpourri (Nico Dostal) 1st and 2nd part. Paul Godwin with his jazz symphonies, vocals: Fred Kassen, tenor, and Die Abels - August 1929.
  • Artiphon No. 11 046 (11 046) Hello my Hawaii (Kollo & Pflanzer) / Artiphon No. 11 047 (11 047) I don't have a car, I don't have a manor (Hans May) Five songs (The Original Abel Singers) with Piano accompaniment, open. 1930.
  • Ultraphon A 701 (mx. 15 629) Don't ask "Why?" / (Mx. 15 704) As beautiful as Lisette. Professor Abel with his jazz singers - November 1930
  • Ultraphon A 1049 = Telefunken A 1048 (mx. 18 223) Schlaf, mein Liebling / Good Night Sweetheart (Ray Noble) Billy Barton with his jazz orchestra, singing: The 5 Songs - January 1932
  • Kristall Nr. 7013 (mx. C 1645) Good Night Sweetheart (Noble) / (mx. 1646) Bianca (Fiesta), Rhumba (Samuels & Whitcup) Abel Quartet. On the piano: Rudi Goehr.
  • Crystal No. 3242 (mxx. C 1720 / C 1721) The best of the best! Schlagerpotpourri (N. Dostal) 1st and 2nd part. Emil Roósz and his orchestra from the Hotel Adlon, Berlin. Singing: Kurt Mühlhardt and Abel Quartet.
  • Kristall K.3314 (mx. 3383-1) Du du dudeldu du (Henn, Meisel, Karlick & Bennefeld) “Kristall” Quartet (formerly: The Abel Singers) with Oscar Joost orchestra and tenor Kurt Mühlhardt - 1933.

Re-releases

  • Rivals of the Comedian Harmonists . Why, why, why? Duophon Records CD 01423, 1998.
  • Hello 1930: the cult megabox. 4 CDs, label: Carlton, order number: 8372453. February 1, 1998, contains track 31 “Die Abels, vocal quartet: Bimbambulla”.
  • Frivolous songs: pearls of cabaret. 2 CDs, label: Documents, order number: 5671946. January 1st, 2008, contains as track 9 “The Abels: Susann you have almost nothing on”.
  • Symphony of the Stars - The Twenties. 1 CD, label: BCD, order number: 4158615. July 12, 2001, contains as track 25 “Vocal Quartet 'Die Abels': Celery”.
  • We whisper… 1 CD, label: Ultraphon, order number: 7746793. March 27, 2009, contains as track 3 “5 songs: Whispering in the night”, as track 4 “The Abels: What do you think of Veronika?” As track 6 “The Abels: Bimbambulla”, as track 11 “5 Songs: Butterfly Wedding”, as track 16 “Kardosch singer: The Sonja from the Urals” and as track 19 “The 5 Abels: I stand well with Ruth”.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ On the Hungarian homocord labels they were called Az Öt Abel in Hungarian , “The four Abels” in German; on the German “Die Abels” in 1928 they were simply announced as a “men's quartet”. B. on No. 4-2813 ("I stand well with Ruth") and No. 4-2865 ("Eilili eilali eilala").
  2. ↑ z. B. "Bimbambulla" by Hans May or "Celery" by Georges Milton ; both with text by Charles Amberg .
  3. ↑ z. E.g. on gramophone 22 615 at the Schlager potpourri “Attention, attention we send dance music!” With tenor Fred Kassen or on Kristall No. 3242 at the Schlagerpotpourri “The best of the best!” With tenor Kurt Mühlhardt .
  4. ↑ Record list Rainer E. Lotz Verlag (PDF; 985 kB) on the label of “Das Mädchen am Bodensee / Walzerlied” on Kristall 6048 and commentary on Rare Singers: Abels - I Can't Give You Anything But Love - YouTube. In: youtube.com. Retrieved May 27, 2012 .
  5. ↑ so with the "Kristall", where they had to operate as the "Kristall-Quartett" after 1933 - omitting the name Abel
  6. ↑ so with the jazz orchestras of Paul Godwin and Oscar Joost , with Emil Roósz and his hotel band, and the dance orchestra of Adalbert Lutter
  7. ↑ a company based in Great Britain which between 1930 and 1933 brought records made of coated cardboard onto the market, which were also exported to Europe, cf. Flexible Records Project: Hit of the week - Durium records 80 (1930-2010). In: flexible-records.blogspot.de. Retrieved May 27, 2012 .
  8. ↑ Berthold Leimbach: Sound documents of the cabaret and their interpreters 1898–1945. Self-published, Göttingen 1991; Rudolf Goehr was the brother of the composer and conductor Walter Goehr , who emigrated to England in 1933, cf. Walter Goehr Archive. In: adk.de. Retrieved May 27, 2012 . and Walter Goehr . On Rudolf Goehr, who was a pupil and later assistant to the composer Arnold Schönberg, also ASI Satellite Collections G. (No longer available online.) In: usc.edu. Archived from the original on September 25, 2008 ; accessed on February 9, 2014 (English). , Rudolph Goehr in the Internet Movie Database (English) and Nikos Skalkottas (biography in German). In: skfe.com. Retrieved May 27, 2012 . , Letters to Schoenberg: 1936. (No longer available online.) In: usc.edu. Archived from the original on May 25, 2008 ; accessed on February 9, 2014 (English).
  9. ↑ z. B. at Telefunken, cf. Label A 1110 (mx. 18 356) Five Songs (Abels) - Open your window - YouTube. In: youtube.com. Retrieved May 27, 2012 . of April 18, 1932, also on Grammophon 24 660-B (YouTube) . Cf. comment on Telefunken A 1110 “The 'Five Songs' moniker was first used by the group for some HMV recordings when they were still under contract with other companies. When Pal Abel left the group at the end of 1930 the original name soon was dropped completely (except for some recordings for the Crystalate company) "
  10. ↑ Examples would be Schlaf, mein Liebling / Billy Barton & Jazzorchester, Singing: The 5 Songs - YouTube. In: youtube.com. Retrieved May 27, 2012 . "Schlaf, mein Liebling / Good Night Sweetheart" (Ray Noble) Billy Barton Jazz Orchestra, vocals: Die 5 Songs, on Telefunken A 1048 from 1932, and When I'm sad once / Jack Hylton and his Boys, refrained vocals: Paul Dorn + quartet - YouTube. In: youtube.com. Retrieved May 27, 2012 . “When I'm sad” (Reisfeld & Marbot) Jack Hylton and his Boys with quartet singing [= Five Songs]. Refrain: Paul Dorn, on gramophone 24 841-B.
  11. ↑ z. B. Telefunken red A 1258 (mx. 18 763) ("When I'm sad")
  12. ↑ “ At least half of the 'Five Songs' were Jewish, so it is not surprising that the group decided to leave Germany in 1933. The singers returned to Hungary… ” ( kr103 : Five Songs (Abels) - Open your window - YouTube. In: . youtube.com Accessed 27 May 2012 . , German: "at least half of the" Five songs "were Jews, so it is not surprising that the group decided to leave Germany in 1933, the singer returned to. Hungary back ... ")
  13. ↑ What became of them there is not known. Only the name of Rezsö Feleki appears again. Like his fellow singer Roman Cycowski from the “Comedian Harmonists”, he also seems to have not only survived the shoah , but also to have been active musically [as a singer (cantor?) / Composer?] After the Second World War, but now in the spiritual Area, cf. WorldCat entry . This page names a Rezsö Feleki as an author (composer?) For sacred Hebrew music. Among the only two secular pieces on the list is Isaak Dunajewski's tractorist march , which he recorded on record [MO 425-B; mx. T 306].
  14. ↑ see section “Kardosch singer” in the article Rudi Schuricke
  15. ↑ cf. Titles like " I Can't Give You Anything but Love " (German title: "Is your little heart still free for me, baby?") (McHugh / Fields, to be heard under Rare Singers: Abels - I Can't Give You . Anything but Love - YouTube In: . youtube.com Accessed 27 May 2012 . ) "She's a georgous [sic label] thing" (German title: "When Helene not shy so would '') (Coots / to hear Amberg, under When Helene not shy so would - YouTube. In: youtube.com. Accessed 27 May 2012 . ) or "Chevrolet" (Abel / Amberg)
  16. ↑ cf. Kristall 1507, Matr. C 22931.1 and C 2294.1. “With song and wine” - March and dance pot pourri (Armandola). Quartet (formerly The Abel Singers) with orchestra, to be heard under Bei Lied und Wein (Abel Quartet) 1932 - YouTube. In: youtube.com. Retrieved May 27, 2012 . - Or Kristall No. 3314 (mx. C 3384-1) "In the Gasthaus Zum Goldenen Stern / Do you still like waltzes and polka". Waltz song (Krome) "Crystal Quartet, formerly The Abel Singers"
  17. ↑ cf. Schröder p. 179, Ritter p. 25 ff. And Dussel / Lersch p. 134–135 Eugen Hadamovsky: Verbot des Niggerjazz. Part of a speech given at the general meeting on October 12, 1935. (PDF; 95 kB) (No longer available online.) In: mediaculture-online.de. Archived from the original on September 8, 2014 ; Retrieved May 27, 2012 .
  18. ↑ jpc.de ( Memento from September 8, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )