Herbert Grenzebach

Herbert Grenzebach (born October 22, 1897 in Berlin , † April 1, 1992 in Mallorca ) was a German record producer, manager and composer (under the name Herbert Borders). He was married and had two children.

Herbert Grenzebach (back) with the Dutch conductor Willem Mengelberg in the Berlin Singakademie before 1939

Life

Musical beginnings

Born in the Berlin of the German Empire, he attended the Friedrichs-Realgymnasium and was introduced to music at an early age. He was artistically gifted and learned to play the piano at the Stern Conservatory . His uncle Ernst Grenzebach had already studied music there, was a singing teacher, and later a professor at the Berlin University of Music, and brought him into contact with everything that was well known at the time. In his youth he even wanted to be a conductor for a while, but the war shattered these plans.

Start of career

Herbert Grenzebach was an officer in the First World War. He was captured by the French, from which he was only released in 1920. After the war he worked an estate and studied agriculture. Soon he went into business for himself and in 1924 founded a small record factory, Electrophon, with the money he had inherited from his grandmother. She produced records with advertising slogans for department stores and for cosmetic products.

Establishment of Ultraphon and takeover by Telefunken

The founder of Ultraphon-Aktiengesellschaft , a Dutch company with a branch in Germany, was looking for an artistic director and hired Herbert Grenzebach in 1929. This was certainly a good decision for the company, because Grenzebach usually showed a lucky hand when selecting his artists. So he got z. B. Walter Jurmann on Ultraphon, the composer of the hit "Veronika, der Lenz ist da". The following story relates to the origin of the song: Jurmann waited together with Fritz Rotter in the house of the record company Ultraphon for their producer and, when Grenzebach appeared, spontaneously intoned the melody of the later refrain of "Veronika, the spring is here" with the Text "Here it comes, the Grenzebach". Grenzebach is said to have immediately recognized the potential of the hit that would later become so famous with the Comedian Harmonists. But difficult times were to come: In July 1931, at the height of the global economic crisis, Ultraphon went bankrupt because the number of records sold stagnated. Telefunken acquired Ultraphon on March 22, 1932 for the sum of 100,000 Reichsmarks. The entire Ultraphon repertoire was taken over by Telefunken. The same applied to all departments with their employees, u. a. Herbert Grenzebach. So he was able to continue working in the field of recording technology and disc reproduction.

In National Socialism

After the National Socialists came to power, Herbert Grenzebach had to reduce the total number of works by all composers by around 30 percent because many Jewish composers were no longer allowed to produce music and Telefunken was no longer allowed to sell it. In addition, many Jewish artists were already in the concentration camp . Popular music had always been one of the pillars of Telefunken. In the years of National Socialism, jazz and swing were still produced in addition to Nazi music, Herbert Grenzebach managed with Heinz Wehner and his "Telefunken Swing Orchestra" or with Teddy Stauffer , the "Swing King" of the 1930s , even American-style bands. Much was only allowed to be sold abroad and should only apply to the profit of foreign exchange.

In World War II

After the start of the war there were many difficulties with the procurement of raw materials, but by recycling old records, new recordings were possible. In 1939 there were 3 million records produced, in 1943 only 1.6 million attempts to outsource production to bomb-proof areas failed. Herbert Grenzebach achieved that he did not have to serve as an officer in the Wehrmacht, but was released as indispensable. From 1944 the situation of the German record industry became more and more critical. In February and March 1945 he put together the last recordings for the Telefunken records in Vienna. Shortly before the Red Army marched into Vienna in April, he was able to come to Berlin in one of the last military aircraft. He also brought many recording devices from Vienna to Germany via Switzerland.

post war period

The factory in Hennigsdorf near Berlin was destroyed in the last year of the war, but 100,000 records were preserved, but were confiscated by the Russians. In 1945 Telefunken could only produce 27 gramophones. A year later it was producing again in 1700. They worked in a small country house near Berlin. Herbert Grenzebach was the production manager in the Haus des Rundfunks, but lived directly across the sector border in the Soviet sector and was exposed to some harassment. But since his wife Irina worked as an interpreter for the Russian commandant, this made crossing the border much easier for him.

In the Federal Republic of Germany

In 1950 there was a rapprochement between Decca Records , the British company, and Telefunken. One of the fruits of this collaboration was a new record company, Teldec , in whose management Herbert Grenzebach sat together with Hans Lieber. They soon developed a broad international repertoire, such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, The Rolling Stones and Tom Jones. After retiring in 1962, he lived on the island of Mallorca until his death in 1992.

literature

• Hansfried Sieben: Herbert Grenzebach: a life for the Telefunken record. Sieben, Düsseldorf 1991.
• Grenzebach, Ernst. In: Who is it. IX. Edition 1928, Verlag Hermann Degener, Berlin 1928, p. 525.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Pacher, Maurus: You see, that was Berlin. Cosmopolitan city according to notes. Berlin: Ullstein 1992.