Cabaret Cornichon

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The vinegar-sour cornichon that gave the cabaret its name
Hotel Hirschen, Niederdorf

The Cabaret Cornichon (from French cornichon = gherkin ) was a Swiss cabaret ensemble that existed from 1934 to 1951.

history

The Cabaret Cornichon was founded in 1934 by Otto Weissert , Walter Lesch , Emil Hegetschweiler and Alois Carigiet , who painted posters and stage sets.

The initiator and model for the first Swiss cabaret was the cabaret Die Pfeffermühle , founded in Munich in January 1933 . The political cabaret founded by Klaus and Erika Mann , Therese Giehse and Magnus Henning had to flee from the National Socialists to Switzerland, where it resumed performance as a cabaret in exile in September 1933 in the Hotel Hirschen in Zurich .

The cornichon was monitored by the Swiss censorship authorities and the German Consulate General during the war. The diplomatic missions of the Axis powers intervened regularly in Bern and Zurich until the end of 1944. As a result, individual numbers had to be removed from the program or rewritten. Nevertheless, it was possible to bring clear statements on the burning issues in dialect and cabaret disguise, which moved the visitors and strengthened their will to resist.

When the tensions of the Cold War began after the Second World War , the ensemble fell apart. While some of the members sympathized with the political left, the opponents of this course founded the Cabaret Fédéral in 1949 .

concept

"The programs should be essentially Swiss, popular, political, all the good spirits of freedom and humanity, that was certain," wrote Walter Lesch in 1933. The Cabaret Cornichon was primarily an entertainment cabaret, but fought domestically in the spirit of spiritual national defense and foreign policy against fascism and National Socialism. It warned of indifference and signs of adjustment in Switzerland and mobilized the internal defenses through satirical attacks and exposure of the totalitarian threat. The cornichon was not peppery , but acidic like the pickled cucumber (in Switzerland: cornichon) and sometimes caustic. The texts often became popular songs.

program

  • 1934: Untitled program, Grand Hotel Gloria Viktoria
  • 1935: The days of roses are still there, Gardus !, Hupa-Haua
  • 1936: Eroticism in Switzerland, Äxgüsi, Schwarzi Händsche
  • 1937: O Schwyzerherz, national exhibition , Xundheit !, Gäge de Strich
  • 1938: Bw !, Rübis and Stübis, Schwei-Hö-Wo
  • 1939: Aschpiraziönli, Landi 1964, Uf Dutti
  • 1940: Under-eus gseit, Limmat-Athens, Frischi Weggli
  • 1941: I planted, patience, patience, ostrich
  • 1942: Chatting by the fireplace, dear home, green is hope
  • 1943: Schöni Ussicht, Salem Aleikum, Heissi Marroni
  • 1944: Rejoice in life, like once in May, O lala!
  • 1945: Everything out of love, fraternization allowed
  • 1946: I clean my hands !, officially approved, Vo Babylon uf Wäggis zue
  • 1947: If you think the moon is going down ... Zwüsched whiskey and vodka
  • 1948: Noah's Ark, It liit i dr air
  • 1949: .. and secondly as one thinks, Grim fairy tales, From the cradle to the grave, only for adults
  • 1950: O you dear Zyt, Hebedi hebedi
  • 1951: Sure is sure

“ But what I suffer does not suffer any less - almost all Swiss men, women and children. - The whole people have a tongue-tied tongue - That is especially clear today. - One is preparing in the south and in the north - All drunk for another murder; - Here in Geneva, however, no dog barks: - We are like that - neutral in the League of Nations . - Is it so difficult to say - words that the world understands? - Oh, until we finally dare, - It's too late again. - ..Z'schpaat! "

- Small Swiss lawsuit. Text: Lesch, actor: Gretler, 1935

ensemble

The founding members were later joined by a. Max Werner Lenz , Elsie Attenhofer , Voli Geiler , Margrit Rainer , Heinrich Gretler , Zarli Carigiet , Karl Meier , Werner Belmont and Alfred Rasser added. The musical director was the pianist Nico Kaufmann , Kapellmeister, pianist and composer Tibor Kasics .

Arnold Kübler wrote all of the performance verses for the Guete Sunntig program in 1937 .

Venues

Until 1937, the stage in the Hotel Hirschen was played alternately with the pepper mill, now and then in the Corso Theater in Zurich and from the start on tour in Switzerland, in Basel for example in the Gambrinus restaurant , and at the 1937 World Exhibition in Paris.

review

“ The ideas of the Cabaret Cornichon during the difficult thirties and the Second World War remained unforgettable for the committed contemporary Swiss. (…) One realizes again how much the cabaret has strengthened the will of thousands of visitors to resist the totalitarian threat, and that its effect was lasting, which went far beyond the glamorous evening. "

- Friedrich Traugott elections 1975

Award

  • 1944 Honorary gift from the city of Zurich.

literature

  • Elsie Attenhofer: Cornichon. Memories of a cabaret . Benteli Verlag, Bern 1975, ISBN 3-7165-0040-2 .
  • Reto Caluori: Cabaret Cornichon, Zurich ZH . In: Andreas Kotte (Ed.): Theater Lexikon der Schweiz . Volume 1, Chronos, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-0340-0715-9 , p. 317 f.
  • Peter Michael Keller: Cabaret Cornichon. History of a national stage . Chronos-Verlag, Zurich 2011, ISBN 978-3-0340-1066-5 .
  • Frank Gerber: Steps must be taken here…. The cornichon and censorship 1939–1945 . In: Kotte, Andreas (ed.): Theater nearness, 2002.
  • Stephan Hammer: If only you had stayed at home! . Otto Heinrich Weissert, the Cornichon and the fight for the right to stay. In: Federal Office for Refugees (ed.): Prominent refugees in Swiss exile, 2003.
  • Archives about the Cabaret Cornichon are in the Elsie Attenhofer archive in the Zurich City Archives and in the Thun Swiss Cabaret Archives.
  • The police files for the Cabaret Cornichon are in the Swiss Federal Archives, Bern and in the Zurich State Archives.
  • Walter Lesch : Seven Years Cornichon In: Architektur und Kunst, Vol. 28, 1941, pp. 93–96

Web links

Commons : Cabaret Cornichon  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "Das Staubsaugerlied", Zarli Carigiet's debut on stage in 1934
  2. ↑ zarli carigiet "Abesinien" 1935
  3. ↑ "The Song of Compromise" 1935
  4. ↑ Max Werner Lenz: People without a passport 1935
  5. ↑ Zarli Carigiet: "Heisse Maroni"
  6. ↑ ideesuisse.ch: SRG SSR Timeline: Cabaret Cornichon: Il cabaret cun ils Carigiets ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ideesuisse.ch 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. , Accessed September 30, 2011