Alfred home

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Alfred home (born August 8, 1920 in Ibbenbüren , † January 14, 2005 in Hamburg ) was a German violinist, conductor and Kapellmeister. The "German Tango King" played a major role in the direction of popular music in Germany after the Second World War. He created his legendary "Continental Tango Sound".

Live and act

Berlin, Winter Garden 1940

Alfred Haus - who had the so-called perfect pitch - already developed his musicality during school time, and he showed a special talent for playing the violin. As the son of a shipbuilding engineer, he should have embarked on a technical career after attending secondary school in Dortmund, but Alfred home decided to study classical music at the Weimar Conservatory (later integrated into the Liszt School of Music Weimar ). With Hoppe he added the saxophone, clarinet and piano to the violin and earned his tuition fees through student jobs, e.g. B. as a member of a dance orchestra, which eventually developed and manifested a preference for light music. After completing his studies, he played at home in Berlin with dance orchestras that were popular at the time: saxophone with Peter Kreuder , Franz Grothe and Georges Boulanger , violin a. Saxophone with Willi Stech , Otto Dobrindt , Hans Bund , Juan Llossas and Kurt Widmann , with performances in Delphi , Moka Efti , Imperator (-Diele) , Wintergarten and Berolina .

From 1941, Alfred home, as well as Helmut Zacharias and Bert Kaempfert (both later used as radio operators), had to serve as military musicians in the Wehrmacht. He was assigned to Hans Teichmann, staff music corps of the Air Force - with public appearances and regular broadcasts of military but also classical music on the German broadcaster . In 1944, Haus was assigned to the western front and was taken prisoner by the English in the spring of 1945 (in the meantime his apartment had been bombed and looted in his last place of residence, Berlin). Immediately after his release in October 1945, he went to Hamburg on the basis of an advertisement “with a borrowed violin” and applied to the N (W) DR. In the same year he became a violinist in Willy Steiner's Radio Dance Orchestra Hamburg. Steiner had set up this ensemble in Hamburg for the Northwest German Broadcasting Corporation (NWDR). In 1946 he became concert master and soon after led his own string section within the orchestra, in 1948 under orchestra director Harry Hermann . In 1949 he took over from Kurt Weg's house and took over the leadership of the dance and entertainment orchestra of the NWDR, which was taken over by the NDR in 1955, popular soloists a. a .: trumpeter Werner Gutterer, trombonist Günter Fuhlisch , guitarist Martin Böttcher , bassist Hans "James" Last (also arranger for Alfred Heimat and Franz Thon ).

Urn compartment Alfred home : second row from the top, middle

Haus became known through numerous radio and vinyl recordings as well as appearances in the television programs of Peter Frankenfeld ("Toi, toi, toi") and Hans-Joachim Kulenkampff ( "EWG" ), as well as in numerous radio programs by Hans Rosenthal (" Wer ask, wins ”,“ Alone against all ”,“ Fun must be ”), later also in the Sunday morning program Hamburger Hafenkonzert as the successor to Hans Freese and predecessor of Günter Fuhlisch. In 1961 he won first place with his orchestra and the title “Bailando a dos” at the first German Schlager Festival in Baden-Baden . Well-known pop singers accompanied at home such as B. Freddy Quinn , Rudi Schuricke , René Carol , Detlev Lais , Lonny Kellner , Friedel Hensch and the Cyprys , Peter Beil , but he also composed pop music himself (including "Tango Evita" and "Mein Schiff Hab Gute Reise" (Polydor 1952 for Liselotte Malkowsky )) as well as film music (among others for the revue filmThe Third From Right ” 1950 with Evelyn Künneke , directed by Géza von Cziffra and the TV film “The Ministry is offended” 1955 by John Olden ). From 1965 to 1989 he and his orchestra performed more than 100 concerts in Japan , which Polydor performed in collaboration with Nippon Grammophon Co. His music was also successful in other countries, especially in South Africa, Morocco, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia and Argentina. In collaboration with Arne Domnérus , Joe Heider (alias Alfie Khan) and Yusef Lateef , Alfred home experimented towards a synthesis of symphony and jazz elements. He stayed at NDR until his retirement. The house was a voluntary curator of the Paul Lincke Society . On December 29, 1995, he received the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon.

The journalist Horst Lietzberg characterized Haus in his articles in the Hamburger Abendblatt as a subtle, reserved person and enthusiastic family man (in 1972 he even took his wife and children with him to Japan). In addition to his musical talent, his technical interest was also expressed. B. in his enthusiasm for sleekly constructed cars, and he had made the floor plan for the single-family house in Hamburg-Wellingsbüttel himself according to his own ideas. In 2005 Alfred Heim died after a long and serious illness, his urn is in the nearby Hamburg cemetery Ohlsdorf in the columbarium of Chapel 11 on the front right.

Discography (selection)

  • Tango-Time - 1959 - Polydor 45 055
  • As beautiful as it is today - 1961 - Polydor 237106
  • Tango Notturno - 1962 - Polydor 237511
  • At the blue hour - 1964 - Polydor 237136
  • Golden Tangos with Alfred Home and his large orchestra - 1967 - Carousel 535011
  • Tango - 1967 - Polydor 184079
  • Tango Argentina - Alfred home with his large tango orchestra, Polydor 1968 2371882
  • Blue Tango - 1969 - Polydor 237579
  • Christmas Come Together (Polydor 2371 109 DE 1970)
  • Tea dance at the NDR (TMK 007960 DE 1954–1971)
  • Bonjour, Paris - 1972 - Polydor 2371 297
  • Tango Dancing (Polydor 2371 455 DE 1973)
  • Tangos der Welt - Tango of the World with Alfred home and his large tango orchestra, 1973 Polydor International GmbH, double album 2652 053
  • The Four Seasons Of Japan (1976) (Polydor 3112-19 (35PO) JP 1983)
  • The most beautiful melodies by Paul Lincke (Polydor 2371 821 DE 1977)
  • Yesterday (Polydor 2372 037 DE 1980)
  • Tango à la Carte (Mercury 814 035-2 DE 1983)
  • Tangos of the world (Teldec 8.26196 DE 1986)
  • The great German dance orchestras (Polyphon 833 416-2 DE 1987)
  • Classic Dreams (Sonocord 39 756-2 DE 1988)
  • A festive Christmas concert (Sonocord 39 841-2 DE 1989)
  • The Best Of Alfred home (Polydor POCP-1641 JP 1997)
  • Dreaming (Spectrum 554 661-2 DE 1998)
  • Romance (Spectrum 554 662-2 DE 1998)
  • Plaisir d'amour (Spectrum 554 663-2 DE 1998)
  • Love dream (Spectrum 554 664-2 DE 1998)
  • Bilitis (Spectrum 554 665-2 DE 1998)
  • Beautiful Dreamer (Spectrum 554 666-2 DE 1998)
  • Dreaming And Drifting In The Air (Victor VICP-61135 JP 2000)

Videos (selection)

Live in Japan 1974 (TV):

Web links

References and comments

  1. ^ Quote from Alfred Haus In: "Glenn Miller des Tangos" In: Hamburger Abendblatt , August 7, 1995.
  2. ↑ Short article in the NDR series Hamburg then here: 1960-64
  3. Audio sample from the Polydor LP Blue Tango (1962)
  4. 1954 TV "Music is in the air"
  5. Audio sample "Tango Evita"
  6. Audio sample "Mein Schiff ..." ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.musicline.de
  7. Film excerpt "The Third ..."
  8. ↑ Office of the Federal President
  9. according to the text on the back of the Polydor record sleeve Tango
  10. Columbarium urn compartment Alfred home at knerger.de