Friedrich Meyer (musician)

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Friedrich Meyer-Gergs (born March 5, 1915 in Bremen , † August 20, 1993 in Munich ), pseudonym Bert Oltmann , was a German composer , arranger and band leader .

His first marriage was to the Russian fashion designer Natalie Ingorn from St. Petersburg, with 2 daughters.

His second marriage was to the singer and actress Margot Hielscher .

Live and act

Grave in the Bogenhausen cemetery

Meyer, an autodidact , wrote the theater music for the Bremen theater from 1934 to 1937 . He then worked for Deutsche Grammophon , arranged for Hans Rehmstedt and in 1940/41 made records with studio bands under the direction of Otto Stenzel and Peter Kreuder . During the war years he arranged for the German Dance and Entertainment Orchestra and for Charlie and His Orchestra , before he became musical director of the soldier broadcaster Belgrade in June 1942 . There he built an orchestra in 1943, in which both Serbs and Roma found work. Meyer composed jazz-like songs and improvised himself between the American jazz records that the station was playing. At the beginning of 1944 he had to defend himself before the Reich Chamber of Culture against the accusation of having interpreted “Jewish-American numbers”; He was therefore released from the Reich Chamber of Culture and was banned from appearing on all German broadcasters.

After the Second World War he discovered the three Last brothers Robert , Werner and Hans and hired them for the newly founded dance and entertainment orchestra of Radio Bremen , the Radio Bremen Dance Orchestra , which he initially directed. He then worked as an arranger for the radio dance orchestra of the NWDR , but was fired by Harry Hermann Spitz because in 1947 he spoke out in favor of a jazz orientation of the orchestra. He then worked as a freelance arranger and composer (among others for Erwin Lehn , but mainly for radio and film).

His compositions include the German contributions to the Eurovision Song Contest in 1957 and 1958 : Telefon, Telefon and Für Zwei Groschen Musik , sung by Margot Hielscher. He wrote songs for Hanne Wieder , Iska Geri, Hildegard Knef, Dinah Washington, Horst Winter, Rudi Schuricke and arranged for Herbert v. Karajan and Leontine Price as well as Anna Netrebko, Erika Köth and George London and composed the melodies for verses by Erich Kästner and Tucholsky.

In 1965 he received the Schwabing Art Prize . His ideas for the now comical "Operas in Bavarian" are still very successful. He arranged and composed over 500 chansons, hits and pieces of music for radio film recordings.

Meyer was buried in the Bogenhausen cemetery in Munich.

Filmography (selection)

Lexical entries

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael H. Kater : Daring game. Jazz in National Socialism Cologne 1995, p. 243.
  2. Jump up ↑ Hangover: Daring Game. Jazz in National Socialism , p. 320f.
  3. ↑ Sheet metal pressed against the wall. Between hot and sweet Der Spiegel , January 17, 1948
  4. ↑ billiongraves.de: Friedrich-Meyer
personal data
SURNAME Meyer, Friedrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Meyer-Gergs, Friedrich (full name); Oltmann, Bert (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer, arranger and band leader
DATE OF BIRTH March 5, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Bremen
DATE OF DEATH August 20, 1993
Place of death Munich