The three Meloparodists
The three Meloparodists were a Viennese singing trio , consisting of Messrs. Elmar, Gotthelf and Spiegel. It existed in the 1930s and 1940s. Due to the National Socialist racial policy, the artists had to flee. They survived the Holocaust in Colombia, Venezuela and Cuba.
history
Very little is known about this formation. Since neither the artist's first names nor their life data are available, they cannot be presented here biographically.
The few available sources show that the Meloparodists specialized in parodies of stars of the time, for example Richard Tauber and Hans Albers, and that they achieved particular success in the Wiener Kammerspiele with a full-length program. A guest performance in Bad Gleichenberg is also guaranteed .
Emigration to Latin America
The trio was engaged by Hugo Wiener in Amsterdam in 1938 for a guest performance in Bogotá. Between 1934 and 1942, Colombia took in around 4,000 refugees from Central Europe, most of them of Jewish origin. The artists had received an invitation from the mayor of Bogotá to take part in the festivities for the 400th anniversary of the city's foundation. So they did not enter as refugees. The crossing took place on the Dutch transatlantic steamer SS Costa Rica .
The festival turned into a memorial service, as a few days earlier a fully occupied plane crashed near Bogotá. At the first appearance Mozart and Schubert were performed and the proceeds were donated to the relatives of the plane disaster. Due to the success, the visa, originally limited to twelve weeks, was extended and tours across the country were organized.
The three vocal artists were very versatile musically, they also interpreted songs by Franz Schubert . Together with Cissy Kraner and Hugo Wiener, they then performed in Venezuela and later in Cuba. In Latin America they were called Los Meloparodistas or Tre Meloparodistas .
After the fall of the Nazi regime, the trio disbanded.