Hans Rexeis

Hans Rexeis (actually: Johann Rexeis , born December 30, 1901 in Lannach ; † June 6, 1980 in Vorau ) was an Austrian violinist and singer. At times he was a member of the Comedy Harmonists as first tenor.

Life

Hans Rexeis was born the son of the violin maker Johann Rexeis and his wife Maria. He had several brothers: Josef became a wrestler, Gottfried concertmaster of Deutsche Grammophon and Ultraphon in Berlin and later professor of violin at the Graz Conservatory. A younger brother was born with an intellectual disability. In 1942, he fell victim to the National Socialists' euthanasia program in Hartheim Castle near Linz .

At times Rexeis was a violinist in the orchestra of the State Opera in Graz, later he earned his living as a standing violinist in Berlin, Vienna , Graz, Linz and Königsberg . Recordings on Elite Spezial and Electrola with the Eugen Jahn band took place at this time.

His daughter Veronika was born in 1919 or 1920. On July 18, 1923, Rexeis married the mother of this child, Theresia Parfuhs. On the mediation of his brother Gottfried, Hans Rexeis came to Berlin in the late 1920s and studied violin and singing with Max Barth . During this time he got to know Roman Cycowski . It is possible that Rexeis got to know Erich Collin at that time . For Brillant-Special , Rexeis made several vocal recordings in 1933/34, including Bella Venezia with the Hans Schindler Orchestra , My songs quietly plead , I like to cut it into every bark and if you give yourself roses in Tyrol with the Eugen Jahn band. In 1933 he recorded for Longophon, among others, An der Donau, when the wine blooms and a thousand stars shine in the blue spring night with the Gerhard Hoffmann orchestra. The Friedel Rexeis Orchestra, directed by Gottfried Rexeis, accompanied him when he recorded Impatience from Die Schöne Müllerin . In 1934, Brillant-Special brought out Thousand Red Roses Blooming and A Waltz for You .

After the split of the Comedian Harmonists in 1935 - the “Aryan members” had stayed in Germany, the Jewish emigrated - Hans Rexeis became the first tenor in the successor group Comedy Harmonists, which was founded by the Jewish members of the original group in Vienna. Cycowski had probably initiated this. With the Comedy Harmonists, Rexeis came to Australia and then to the USA. His wife and daughter, who did not accompany the group on international tours, stayed behind in Italy. They were not allowed to enter Australia, which Rexeis sought. After the Comedy Harmonists disbanded in 1941, Rexeis, like Harry Frommermann and Rudolf Mayreder , stayed temporarily in New York . There he recorded other vocal pieces with orchestral accompaniment: It's not for long , Halli-Hallo-Halli , Hühnerhof , Ludwig-Ludwig , The Post Coach , The Cross by the Spruce , The Shear Grinder and When the Cuckoo Calls . After moving to Cuba , he worked as a music teacher until 1946. From Cuba he applied for his naturalization in the USA, but then went to Italy, where he founded a singing school, the Scuola di Canto, in Genoa . He lived in Genoa for a long time. An eye condition cost him all of his money from the 1970s. From Switzerland , where he was being treated, he was finally expelled to Austria in December 1979 because he was poor, as he still had Austrian citizenship. There, in a retirement home in Birkfeld near Graz, he lived with his wife for about half a year. Mentally confused and almost completely blind, he eventually died in a hospital. He was buried in Birkfeld. Three years later his widow followed him in death.

Michael Hortig published the article The Lost Harmonist about Hans Rexeis in the FOX on 78 in 2009 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Peter Czada, Günter Grosse, Comedian Harmonists. A vocal ensemble conquers the world , Edition Hentrich 1993, ISBN 978-3-8946-8082-4 , p. 91
2. ↑ Broody, Hans Rexeis on www.comedian-harmonists.net