Harry Hermann Spitz

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Harry Hermann Spitz (other names: Hermann Spitz and - as a pseudonym - Harry Hermann; born March 7, 1899 in Brno , Moravia , † June 10, 1961 in Hamburg ) was an Austrian musician ( viola ), radio editor and orchestra conductor . He was temporarily married to the German actress Gisela Peltzer (* 1926).

Live and act

Spitz studied music in Vienna until 1918 and then probably worked as a substitute in the orchestra of the Vienna Philharmonic . In 1923 he moved to the opera in Berlin. Shortly afterwards he founded his own formation as a violist, the Guarneri Quartet, with whom he went on concert tours to numerous European countries and America. An infection that he contracted on one of the guest tours and caused the paralysis of the hand, ended his career as an instrumentalist in 1928. In 1929 he went to WERAG in Cologne , where, as head of the concert and record department, he had a decisive influence on the music program in the following years. After the seizure of power of the Nazis , he was dismissed from this as editor. He then worked as Kapellmeister in Vienna (until 1935), Naples (until 1938) and Monte Carlo (until 1939). He then volunteered in the French army for a year. In 1941 he was in Nice arrested and from there into the German concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau (to March 1944), Monowitz (to May 1944), then Fürstengrube and Mittelbau-Dora spent (until January 1945), where he on a death march was sent . He was brought to Trelleborg in May 1945 as part of the Swedish “ Aktion Bernadotte ” .

From 1946 Harry Hermann Spitz directed the Philharmonic Orchestra in Stockholm . In autumn 1947 he became head of the music department of the Northwest German Broadcasting Corporation (NWDR) in Hamburg.

Gravestone "Kapellmeister
Harry Hermann-Spitz",
Ohlsdorf Jewish Cemetery (Ilandkoppel)

A little later he founded his own orchestra, the "Orchester Harry Hermann", which appeared for the first time in 1948 and provided modern light music for more than a decade, with the style of the orchestra closely following that of the then famous Anglo-Italian Mantovani . Hermann Spitz and his orchestra were presented to a large radio and television audience in programs such as “Melodie der Welt” and “ Musik für Millions ”. In addition to the melodies preferred by Mantovani ( Charmaine etc.), pieces by George Gershwin (including Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris ) served as the opening music for the orchestra .

Right-wing circles accused Spitz of embezzlement, fraud and falsification of his biography at the end of 1955; police investigations followed. Although the accusations quickly proved to be baseless and the proceedings were dropped, Spitz did not recover from the intrigue. In May 1956 he resigned from his position as chief music department at North German Radio; he only continued to lead the Harry Hermann orchestra. Spitz died as a result of years of imprisonment in a concentration camp and was buried in the Jewish cemetery on the Ilandkoppel in Hamburg-Ohlsdorf .

Discography

  • Harry Hermann and his orchestra: Intermezzo in Sweet - Music to Dream ( Polydor 10 "-EP , March 1955)
  • Harry Hermann and his orchestra: Serenade in Sweet - Music to Dream (Polydor 10 "-EP, July 1955)
  • Harry Hermann and his orchestra: known to everyone - in a new guise (Ariola 36778C 7 "-EP)
  • Harry Hermann. The orchestra. (1995)
  • Harry Hermann. Symphonic dance music. (2005)

Filmography

  • 1949: Hello, Miss! - as conductor of the RTO orchestra of the NWDR
  • 1952: The Thief of Baghdad - as conductor of the NWDR orchestra

literature

  • Hans-Ulrich Wagner: Reconstruction of a broken biography. Harry Hermann Spitz. In: Robert von Zahn (ed.): Manipulation of the public. Radio, music criticism and the Nazi regime in Cologne in 1933. Kassel 2004 (contributions to Rhenish music history 166)
  • Hans-Ulrich Wagner: Hermann (Harry) Spitz. In: F. Kopitzsch and D. Brietzke (eds.): Hamburgische Biografie . Lexicon of persons. Vol. 3. Göttingen 2006, p. 366f.
  • Hans-Ulrich Wagner: Harry Hermann Spitz (1899–1961). In: Lexicon of persecuted musicians from the Nazi era. 2008

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Spitz, Harry Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian musician, radio editor and orchestra leader
DATE OF BIRTH March 7, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Brno , Moravia
DATE OF DEATH June 10, 1961
Place of death Hamburg