Guido Gialdini

Guido Gialdini (actually Kurt Abramowitz ; *? 1878 in Berlin ; †?) Was a German variety artist (whistle artist; umělec piskani).

Life

Guido Gialdini was probably born as Kurt Abramowitz in Berlin in 1878. After completing an apprenticeship as a businessman, he worked as a lingerie dealer before they noticed his extraordinary talent. Abramowitz could whistle flawlessly almost any melody he had ever heard, whether it was a folk song, an opera aria or the latest ragtime .

He also worked with other artists, for whose singing or speaking he whistled. The still young recording industry soon became aware of this, because the whistle sound, like the banjo or wind instruments, was particularly well suited for the acoustical recording with a funnel and a membrane at the time.

So there were soon many Edison cylinders and gramophone records with pieces that had been whistled by Kurt Abramowitz. Before the First World War , Abramowitz was a well-known figure in the international variety business.

Even after the introduction of electrical recording technology with the microphone after 1925, his recordings remained in demand. Abramowitz also whistled on the radio . After the seizure of power by the Nazis in 1933, only a few messages can be found about him. In March 1935, recordings were made with the Billy Bartholomew Orchestra (Jig Club on Gloria 27032).

The date of his death is unknown.

Well-known recordings by Gialdini

With other artists

• Zonophon Record green X-21 133 Sparrow wedding: Ludwig Arno, lecture, and whistled by Guido Gialdini. / Zonophon Record green X-29 308 Weibi, Weibi, from Haupt - here only Gialdini.
• Odeon O-2661a / b (Be 7435, 7436) The silent art piper in court, I and II

with Paul Bendix and orchestra. Oct 28

• Gramophone Concert Record GC-49529 The sparrow wedding: Ludwig Arno, lecture, and whistled by Guido Gialdini Orchestra Seidler-Winkler / back of a whistle song, from "One must see" (Hollaender) Orchestra Seidler Winkler - here only Gialdini.

solo

Acoustic recordings:

• Waffah Record No. 4157a (12 494) Child you can dance. Great Waltz adOptte “The Divorced Woman” (Leo Fall) / b (12 496) little dove, my little dove Prisca. Italian serenade adOptte "The Naiads" (Rupprecht)
• Favorite 1-10 315 (14 010-0-) Alexander Two-Step (R.Belin) (sic) / 1-10 318 (302 248) Temptation Rag (Lodge)
• Zonophone green X-29 257 (3865 h) glow worm idyll (from "Lysistrata") with orchestra / X 29 258 (3882 h) The four seasons of love (from "The Lords of Maxim") with orchestra
• Zonophone X-29 259 (3868 h) Give me a little bit of love, from "Berliner Luft" / X-29 260 (3866 h) Whistling Rufus
• Zonophone X-5 29 270 (6458 r) Love me and the world is mine / (6459 r) My little dove
• Zonophone 60 064 (6831 L) Waldvögelein. Gavotte (A.Adolfs) / (6833 L) Poppies (Poppies). Intermezzo (Neil Moret)
• Victor 17 050 Gretchen's Dream Waltz (Disc 1912, see http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/13792 )

Electrical recordings:

• Tri-Ergon TE 5182 (M 01283) La Folleta (SCMarchesi) / (M 01285) Die Spieluhr (The Clock Is Playing) (P.Blaauw)
• Ultraphon A 663 (mx. 15314) Parade in the kindergarten (Paul Bendix) / (mx. 15315) Wedding of the wooden dolls (Nacio Herb Brown). Recorded October 1930, Berlin
• Ultraphon A 664 (mx. 15316) Leuchtkäferchens rendezvous (Ludwig Siede) / (mx. 15317) Chinese street serenade (Ludwig Siede). Recorded October 1930, Berlin

Newly released recordings on CD:

• http://www.juedische-musik.de/geschichte/deutschland.htm (Popular Jewish artists, Trikont CDs, contains: Guido Gialdini: Tamerlan.)
• Dance of Death: Cabaret in the KZ (CD): Edition Mnemosyne VS2003 contains: Cabaret Revue 1932 (text by Paul Nikolaus): Willy Rosen, Guido Gialdini, Paul O'Montis and others cf. http://www.aufrichtigs.com/01-Holocaust/Otto_Aurich/Otto_+_Lisl_-_CD_Releases.htm

Recordings by Gialdini can be heard at

• http://www.besmark.com/whis.html
• http://www.archive.org/details/toutpasse1911 (Tout Passe Waltz. Whistling Solo)
• http://www.thenradio.com/our-online-shop/page,shop.product_details/category_id,969/flypage,shop.flypage/product_ ...
• http://beemp3.com/download.php?file=504907&song=Halopa
• http://tagoo.ru/?search=Guido+Gialdini&artist=on (recordings 1913-14)

literature

• Alan Kelly: His Master's Voice. His master's voice. The German Catalog . Greenwood Press, Westport, CT 1994.
• Berthold Leimbach (Ed.): Sound documents of cabaret and their interpreters 1898–1945 . Self-published, Göttingen 1991.
• Karleric Liljedahl: Svenska akustiska grammofoninspelningar 1903–1928 . Arkivet for ljud och bild, Stockholm 1987.
• Alfred Noriega, Michael Buchak, Ronald Dethlefson: Edison Blue Amberol Recordings 1912–1914. American Popular Series. "Live" Recordings and Selected Recordings 1915–1928 . APM Press, Brooklyn, NY 1980.

swell

• http://www.schlips.org/schlips3/archivtext/2002/Afghanistan.htm
• http://www.synthonia.com/artwhistling/
• http://synthonia.org/artwhistling/guide/dictionary.html reports: “Gialdini, Guido (1878–194?). Important coloratura whistler of the early 20th century. Born of Italian parents, Gialdini was a German who immigrated to the United States in 1907. "
• http://www.bloggernews.net/16255

For appearances on the Berlin radio, it should be mentioned that the radio comedian Ludwig Manfred Lommel, who was popular at the time, included him in his scene Paul and Pauline Listening to the radio among the cited radio artists and successfully imitated him. (obtained on Odeon O-26 731, republished on Gloria GO 10 112, see http://www.lmlommel.de/ge/singles_ge.html )

For distribution in the USA: see Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu./search.php?queryType=%40attr+1%3D1016+&query=whistling (Gialdini recordings on Edison cylinders).