Schmid siblings
The trio Geschwister Schmid , namely Klärli (* August 13, 1917 - † 1978 in Hägglingen ), Werner (* May 19, 1926 - May 1, 2008 ), and Willy (* August 29, 1928 - October 11, 2013 ) were well-known Swiss singing interpreters in the 1940s and 1950s. They are considered to be the first Swiss to achieve international importance in the field of light music.
Life
When Schmid's father took over the 'Central' restaurant in Hägglingen in 1924, the family already had three children. Gottfried (* 1916), Klärli (* 1917) and Julius (* 1919). The music-loving parents gave their children piano and violin lessons and they practiced in the restaurant. In the mid-twenties, Schmid's first house orchestra was formed, which often played for entertainment on weekends. Werner was born in 1926 and Willy in 1928. A little later, Julius and Klärli were able to perform two songs with great success in the Zurich radio studio in their children's hour, followed by engagements throughout Switzerland. At the Swiss Trachtenfest 1934 in Montreux , the appearance of Klärli and Julius from the Paramount weekly show was filmed.
In the mid-1930s, Willy and Werner were also accepted into the house orchestra. In 1936 the four siblings were invited to the world exhibition in Paris. But because Julius had his voice broken beforehand, Klärli, Willy and Werner performed alone. The performance was a great success: It was the hour of birth of the Schmid trio.
In 1939 the Swiss brand 'Elite Records' released the first two records with the songs Hüt isch z'Züri Chilbitanz, d'Seebuebe, s Mälchliedli and Kupferschmieds Anneli.
At the beginning of the Second World War, various Swiss feature films were made for intellectual national defense around active service . The first and best known was S'Margritli and d'Soldate in 1940 , for whom the Swiss bandleader Teddy Stauffer wrote the music. The Schmid siblings were chosen as interpreters for his song Margritli ; thanks to a yodel that her brother Julius had put at the beginning of the composition. The Margritli song became a big seller and is still played on the radio today.
The Schmid siblings went on a Swiss tour with Teddy Stauffer's orchestra, the original teddies and a teacher for the boys who were still in school. Further recordings were made, including the evergreen Ich han en Schatz am Schöne Zürisee by Buddy Bertinat. The Schmids performed in the same program as Maurice Chevalier in the Zurich Variété-Theater Corso and in Gstaad they were greeted by General Guisan .
After Teddy Stauffer's move to the USA, the real heyday of the Schmid siblings began. They owed this to Artur Beul , a hitherto unknown teacher and hobby composer. He had seen the Schmids in the Corso, was enthusiastic about them and sent them one of his compositions. The siblings liked the song Am Himmel es stoht es Sternli z'Nacht straight away and they recorded it on vinyl.
The collaboration with Artur Beul was decisive for the popularity of the trio. The team worked together for almost ten years and during this time they created some songs that have become evergreens such as B. Stägeli uf, Stägeli ab, (1943) Mir Zwei undrem Rägeschirm, Über Gotthard flüged Bräme (1945). These and numerous others dominated the music program of Radio Beromünster and entertainment evenings of clubs.
After the war, the Schmids made contacts abroad, followed by concerts in Austria, Germany, Holland, France and England. In order to meet the demand abroad, the trio increasingly included songs sung in German in their repertoire, such as Under the Sun from Santa Monica or Sweet Girl from Jamaica .
The Schmid's two older brothers, Gottfried and Julius, who now called themselves Joe, entered the hospitality industry in 1950: Gottfried took over the Hotel Hallwil in Beinwil am See , the professional musician and band leader Joe das Kindli in Zurich's old town. The Schmid Trio was a frequent guest in both restaurants. The Kindli in particular quickly developed into the actual basis.
In addition to their appearances, the Schmids worked in some films, such as in 1954 in the Big Star Parade and appeared in television shows. Her recordings have now been published by Decca , such as Winke-Winke or Es ist eine Mühle im Schwarzwäldertal.
With a visa as a ski instructor (a visa as a musician had failed due to the veto of the American musicians' union), they traveled to the USA in 1954. Thanks to relationships, the trio came to an appearance at the New York nightclub Blue Angel, which quickly became a hit. As a trio Shmeed or Happy Yodlers , Claire, Willy and Werner traveled through the States. They advertised Switzerland on radio and television every day and of course also for the Kindli in Zurich. They were celebrated in Hollywood, Las Vegas, Detroit and major Canadian cities, and Minneapolis even made the Schmids honorary citizens. The high point in the USA was a Swiss folklore show that Werner Schmid organized and which took place in New York's Radio City Music Hall in the spring of 1959 . The show was sold out for seven weeks. For one month, small clips from the show were shown on American screens several times a day and Switzerland, which was often confused with Sweden, became a household name for millions of TV consumers.
The Schmids definitely returned to Switzerland in mid-1961. After a few appearances on European television shows, they said goodbye to their audience. Klärli Schmid died of heart failure at the end of December 1978. Gottfried had died of leukemia in 1956 .
Werner first made a name for himself as the producer of the ZDF entertainment program Der goldene Schuss , later he staged the musicals Anatevka and Hair . In 1974 he referred the Israeli spoon bender Uri Geller to television stations all over Europe and thus triggered a huge media hype.
After the trio split up, Willy Schmid tried it as a pop singer without much success, later he successfully devoted himself to leading the Kindli band in his brother Joe's pub. Joe Schmid died in March 1983 and Werner in May 2008. Willy Schmid died on October 11, 2013 at the age of 85 in Küsnacht , where he had lived with his wife.
Radio play and musical
In 1964, the story of the trio by Hans Gmür and Sepp Renggli was edited as a radio play under the title Hägglingen to Hollywood , in which the Schmid siblings played alongside speakers such as Elisabeth Schnell , Ueli Beck and Jörg Schneider .
In 2004, under the title The Comeback of the Schmid Siblings, a music show was created that showed excerpts from the life of the trio. It was performed in the Casinotheater Winterthur .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ "Member of the legendary Swiss trio" Geschwister Schmid "dead" , Der Standard , May 19, 2008
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m ak., Probably the NZZ author AK = Andreas Kohlschütter: The USA conquered with folklore - the world-famous musician Willy Schmid has died . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . No. 238 . Zurich October 14, 2013, p. 11 .
- ↑ Blick, October 12, 2013 edition
- ↑ Radio play tips ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Christine Lather ( Memento of the original from October 16, 2013 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.
