Oscar Strock

Photo portrait of Oskar Strock as a younger man Link to the picture (Please note copyrights )

Oscar Davidowitsch Strok , also Strock , also Oskar ( Russian Оскар Давыдович Строк ; * December 25, 1892 ^jul. / January 6,  1893 ^greg. In Daugavpils , Russian Empire ; † June 22, 1975 in Riga , Latvian SSR ) was a Latvian conductor , Composer , arranger and pianist .

Life

Oscar Strock's father was a professional musician in a theater orchestra.

Photo portrait of Oskar Strock as an older man Link to the picture (Please note copyrights )

Since Strock was already very enthusiastic about music as a child, he learned to play the violin and later the piano after playing the guitar and balalaika . At the age of twelve he began studying music at the St. Petersburg Conservatory . One of his first compositions, with which he drew attention, was the setting of a poem by Pushkin , which later became known in the interpretation by the popular Russian singer Anastasija Vyaltseva .

His seven brothers also studied music in St. Petersburg; best known of them was the concert violinist Leo Strokoff (also: Strockoff), a student of Eugène Ysaÿe .

The beginnings of Strock's musical career were rather modest: he worked as a répétiteur , as a cinema piano player and as a café pianist. He married an Italian woman of Austrian origin and started a family. After the birth of the first child, Strock returned to Latvia. In Riga he tried his hand at publishing and brought out the literary magazine Novaya Newa , in addition he published books and sheet music.

In the 1920s and 1930s Strock was a pianist and leader of a dance band in Latvia. He also composed and wrote songs, ballads, waltzes and jazz pieces. His particular love, however, was tango , which he by no means understood only as music for use or even as a concession to fashion.

In 1927/28 Strock made a trip to Paris and tried to settle there. In 1929 he recorded several of his compositions with Adler-Electro in Berlin with his own orchestra. With this company he also accompanied the refrain singer and later successful pop composer Walter Jurmann in August 1930 . A recording with the chorus singer Alexander A. Balaban as "Fred King" is on the Ultraphon label. His first success as a composer was the tango Schwarze Augen (Черные глаза), first recorded in Berlin in autumn 1929 by the Marek Weber orchestra .

The Russian baritone Pyotr Leschtschenko / Петр Лещенко was one of Strock's discovery. Many of Strock's songs became famous in the interpretation of Pyotr Leschchenko . Well-known performers such as the tenor Konstantin Sokolski , who lives in Riga, sang Strock's tango ballads and gypsy romances for the record. Marek Weber's orchestra recorded three of his most famous pieces for Electrola; Marek Belorusov sang the refrains in Russian. In the Soviet Union, the great jazz orchestras of Alexander Naumowitsch Zfasman , Leonid Ossipowitsch Utyosov / Леонид Осипович Утёсов and Jakow Borissowitsch Skomorowski played Strock's compositions.

Oscar Strock, Aleksandr Bayanov, Konstantin Sokolsky, Vladimir Nepljujew Link to the picture (please note copyrights )

The handover of power to the National Socialists forced him to flee as a Jewish artist in 1933. He left Germany and returned to Latvia with his family. There he played with his own orchestra ("Oskara Stroka džesa orkestris") his compositions on records from the company "Bellaccord", which Helmars Rudzītis had founded in 1931 in Riga.

Financial problems in the 1930s, which arose when his attempts as a publisher failed and the opening of a restaurant in Riga was unsuccessful, followed by political persecution and performance bans in the late 1940s and 1950s, when Latvia was a Soviet Union republic, did so for Strock Life is difficult before and after returning.

During the Second World War, before the German conquest of Latvia, he and his family were evacuated to Alma Atá , where he found a job as a pianist in an entertainment orchestra, looking after the troops. After the war he returned to Riga, but now his compositions were considered decadent: After the Second World War, Western music was undesirable in the Soviet Union. The state musicians' union refused to accept him, and his compositions were no longer allowed to be printed, sold or performed.

In spite of all adversities, Strock did not abandon music until the last minutes of his life. At the age of 80 he sat down at the piano and played.

However, Strock did not come into the public eye again until the 1970s. Among other things, the recordings of Alfred home are known. Before he could make a comeback , however, he died of heart failure while preparing for a concert in Riga on June 22, 1975.

plant

Strock wrote more than 300 pieces of music, including almost 50 tangos, which achieved great fame and were performed in all major cities: in Berlin, Paris and Warsaw they could be heard equally in inns and cafés as well as in concert halls and dance halls. Many records have been recorded and pressed around the world. Overseas they were available in reprints of European matrices ("recorded in Europe").

His most famous tangos include:

• Two dark eyes look at me / Black eyes (Чёрные глаза)
• Tell me why (Скажите, почему?)
• Musenka / O Mia Cara (Мусенька)
• Moonlight Rhapsody (Лунная рапсодия)
• Sleep my poor heart (Спи, мое бедное сердце)
• My last tango (Мое последнее танго)
• Do not leave me (Не покидай)

Oskar Strok's tango compositions were successful across Europe; they were also played in Yugoslavia, Romania, Hungary and the Soviet Union. When he went on a tour of the Far East in 1935, they even reached China and Japan. So it came about that he was given the nickname “Tango King”.

Despite his cosmopolitanism, Strock never forgot his Jewish roots.

For Jack Yellen's and Lew Pollack's famous song My Yiddische Mame , which he also arranged and recorded as a tango himself, he wrote a Russian text: Сердце матери.

Together with Igor S. Korntayer he wrote the Yiddish tango song Vu Ahin Zol Ikh Geyn? / Скажи, куда мне идти ?, which the Dutch singer Leo Fuld made world famous.

Aftermath

The violinist Gidon Kremer , born in Riga in 1947, wrote the title All in the Past in memory of Oskar Strock : Remembering Oscar Strock, for violins and strings The Israeli violinist Itzhak Perlman (born 1945 in Jaffa) also recorded music by Strock.

In 2001, the Latvian composer Georgs Pelēcis wrote the composition for strings and solo violin Astor Piazzolla, Oskar Strock and me, or “Buena Riga”: for violin and string orchestra , which was published by the publishers “Musica Baltica” in Riga and “Schott Music” in Mainz has been published and lasts 17 minutes.

Young musicians who are beginning to be interested in Eastern Europe and the music of the klezmorim are adding Strock compositions to their repertoire, for example the groups “Kazbek” and “Emanuel” recently.

The German journalist and writer Petra Reski mentions him in her report “Tango in Irkutsk”.

The pianist and author Dmitri Dragilew , born in Riga in 1971 , committed himself to the memory of Oscar Strock in his publications and in his "Oscar Strok and Eddie Rosner Interest Group " (also known as Oskar Strock & Eddie Rosner Heritage Society) founded in 1998. He was also responsible for the musical Oskar Strok. Tango. Return of Riga's King , an international revue performed in Riga at the Latvian National Opera . The Strock Chapel (piano, violin, button accordion, double bass), founded in Berlin in 2015, performs under the care of the Oskar Strock & Eddie Rosner Heritage Society. The foundation of the chapel goes back to the initiative of Dmitry Dragilev.

Sound documents (selection)

Recordings in Saint Petersburg

• Plachet royal, romans (O. Strok): Juri S [piridonovich] Morfessi with p. - Gramophone 'Amour' Matrix number 19 480 Date: 14-10-15 СПб

• Buket uvyal, romans (O. Strok): Juri S [piridonovich] Morfessi with p. - Gramophone 'Amour' Matrix number 19 485 Date: 14-10-15 СПб

Recordings in Berlin

• 16 tracks in total

• At the fireplace. Valse Boston (Oscar Strok): Orchestra Bernard Etté. Vox 01499 (mx. 1408-A) c. 1923

Recordings of "Oscar Strock with his jazz orchestra"

• Lover. Tango (O. Strock): Adler Electro No. 5473 (mx. 7393) / Zigeunerliebe. Foxtrot (O. Strock) Adler Electro No. 5473 (mx. 7396) - Oskar Strock with his jazz orchestra. With Russian refrain singing. Berlin August 1930

• Baranochki / Бараночки. One step. Music and Text v. Oscar Strock. Oscar Strock with his jazz orchestra. With Russian refrain singing. Adler Elektro order no. 5481 (mx. 7391 *)

• Blue eyes / Голубые Глаза. Tango. Music and Text v. Oscar Strock. Oscar Strock with his jazz orchestra. With Russian refrain singing. Adler Elektro order no. 5481 (mx. 7392 *) Berlin, August 1930

With the refrain singer Alexander A. Balaban as "Fred King" on ultraphone (by Adler-Matrize):

• Сердце матери. Танго (моя идише мама) муз. J. Еллена и Л. Поллака, соч. О. Строка. Фред Кинг со своим жес-оркестром съ русским припевом / A mother's heart / My Yiddische Mame. Tango (Yellen - Pollak) Fred King with his jazz orchestra (with Russian refraing singing) - Ultraphon A 8008 (mx. 7441 T), also published on Eltag A 5483 (mx. 7441 T) and Bellaccord Electro 3329 (mx. M 3685 ), up. Berlin, 14-08-1930

• Твой ротъ говоритъ: "нетъ" (Музыка: В. Розена, сочиненiе О. Строка) Фредъ Кингъ, съ съ своимъ съ срормжес-с. Tango ( Willy Rosen - Oscar Strock) Fred King with his jazz orchestra (with Russian refraing singing) - Ultraphon A 8008 (mx. 7443 T). Berlin, 14-08-1930

Recordings with Marek Weber and his orchestra

• Jascha on trips (Яша - коммивояжер), Russian foxtrot (Oskar Strock): Marek Weber and his orchestra, with Russian refraing singing by Marek Belorusov, Electrola EG1827, (mx. BNR 816-II)

• Black eyes (Черные глаза), tango (Oskar Strock): Marek Weber and his orchestra, with Russian refraing singing by Marek Belorusov, Electrola EG1827 (mx. BNR 817-I). Berlin October 30, 1929

• Oh my boy (О, мой мальчик), Russian Foxtrot (Oskar Strock): Marek Weber's Orchestra, voc. Marex Liben-Bjelorussof HMV X.3636 (mx. 30-0196) The recording was made on November 14, 1930 in Berlin. The Yiddish Oj oj oj oj mazl tov is quoted in the intro .

Recordings in Latvia

• Jelmani neatstaj / Не покидай [Don't leave me], Tango (Oskars Stroks): Oskara Stroka džesa orkestris. Bellaccord Electro 3370 (M 3763 1 | 2) LATVIJAS RAZOJUMS, rec. Riga, ca.1934

• Мусенька родная, Танго (О.Строк) Петръ Лещенко с оркестромъ "Bellaccord" / Dear Musenka. Tango (Oscar Strok) Peter Leschtschenko with Bellaccord Orchestra, conducted by Sergei Aldjaroff (Levinson). Apply Bellaccord Electro 3441 (mx. M 3931 p). Riga 1936.

• Константин Сокольский: Снилось мне (О.Строк - С.Новицкий) / Konstantin Sokolski : I was dreaming (O. Strok - S.Novitski) Bellaccord blue- label 3709 (M 4528)

• Константин Сокольский: Не надо вспоминать (О. Строк) / Konstantin Sokolski: You should not think about love (that vanished long ago) (O. Strok) Bellaccord red label 3906 (M 4963). Riga, May 1938

Recordings in Austria

• Those Dark Eye (Чёрные глаза), Tango (Oskar Strock), Peter Leschtschenko with orch. Frank Fux [Fuchs]. Columbia DV 1220 (mx. WHR 290), Vienna 1933.

• My Last Tango (Moyo poslednee tango) (Music: Oskar Strock), Piotr Leshchenko with Orch. Max Hoenigsberg-Albahari. Columbia DV 1270 (mx. WHR 375), Vienna 1933

Recordings in Poland

• Oczy czarne (Dark Eyes) Tango (O.Strock) - Orkiestra taneczna "Columbia" (Columbia Dance Orchestra) Columbia DM. 1570 (mx. R 117)

• Czernyje głaza (muzyka i słowa Oskar Strok) Olga Kamieńska.Columbia DM. 1864 a (mx. WJ 555) - 1935 rok.

• Tańcz Maszka, tańcz! (Dance Mashka, dance), composed by Oskar Strock, recording was made in Polish by Mieczysław Fogg with Ivo Wesby Orchestra. Syrena Electro 2041 (Matr. 28 761) - Warszawa, 1938 rok.

Recordings in the Soviet Union

• О, мой мальчик, фокстрот / Oh My Boy, Foks trot (O. Strok): (anon.) Dance orchestra. Bakovka К-10 (д1 2044) 1938 года

• ЛЮБЛЮ танго, обр. Л.Дидерихса Джаз-орк. под упр. ЛЕОНИДА УТЕСОВАI love (sleep my poor heart), tango (Oskar Strok, arr. Leonid Diederichs) jazz orchestra Leonid Utyosov. Aprelevskij Zavod III 9337/3 Г-2816 - Moscow 1939

• СПИ, МОЕ СЕРДЦЕ танго Эстрадный оркестр п / у А. Н. Цфасмана / Sleep my poor heart, Tango (O. Strok) Estradenorchester under the direction of AN Zfasman. "Metalloplastmass" Г Х-9964 (mx. 9964) - Moscow 1939

• Блюз / Blues (Moisei Ferkelman, Oscar Strock) Jakov Skomorowski Jazz Orchestra. Gramp load size Г-88 (mx. 10 112/6) - Moscow 29-01-1940

Jewish recordings

• Менаше Оппенгейм: Куда мне идти? (Оскар Строк - И.С.Корнтаер) 1940-e Художник - Maurycy Trębacz. / Menashe Oppenheim: Vu Ahin Zol Ikh Geyn / Where Shall I Go? 1940s (Oskar Strock - IS Korntayer), Artist: Maurycy Trębacz

• Leo Fuld: Vu Ahin Zol Ikh Geyn / Where can I go

Oscar Strok overseas

• My Last Tango (Моё последнее танго) Sung by: Peter Leshtchenko with. Orch. - recorded in Europe. Argee Records No. 1047-A (from Columbia mx. WHR 375)

• Those Dark Eye (Чёрные глаза), Tango. Sung by: Peter Leshtchenko with. Orch. - recorded in Europe. Argee Records No. 1055-A, also: Stinson Records No. 3165-A (from Columbia mx. WHR 290)

• Blue Rhapsody (Синяя рапсодия), slow-fox [text and music Oskar Strock]. Sung by: Peter Leshtchenko with. Orch. - recorded in Europe. Stinson Records No. 3057-B (from Columbia mx. CHR 691) [with Max Hönigsberg orchestra, open. in Bucharest 1937]

• Gypsy Music: Oh Those Dark Eyes. Russian Tango [O. Strok] GYPSY ENSEMBLE Canada. Columbia (green) A16-5 / C 6165 (CO 30052), rec. New York 25-03-1941

Republication

CD Оскар Строк - король и подданны̆и - Oskar Strok / korolʹ i poddannyĭ, with accompanying book, 250 pages, in: Dekom, Nizhni'j - Novgorod, 2006 / Анисим, Нижнйиа, ISBN33, г895-1856, 2006, Аннисим, ISBN3316895-19895 , 2006-1956 Новг895 ; contains: O, eti chernye glaza-- Skazhite, pochemu? - V razluke-- Spi, moe bednoe serdtse - Musen'ka rodnaia-- Ne nado vspominatʹ liubvi-- Marianna-- Mechta-- Zvezdnoe schastʹe-- Ne pokidaĭ - Byloe uvlechenie-- Tango-fantaziia-- Katia, Katia-- Golubye glaza-- Moi malʹchik - Lunna ia rapsodiia-- Moia Natalʹia-- Zimnee tango-- Moe poslednee tango

literature

• bus : Article concert with Tango King. In: Schaumburger Nachrichten . September 17, 2008, No. 219, p. 13. (online) (PDF; 214 kB)
• skn : Tango article that attracted the Soviets. In: Augsburger Allgemeine . December 16, 2008. (online)
• has-daily.com: Tango as the bridge between Latvia and Argentina. (online at: gorod.lv ) (also in Russian)
• Walter Deutsch, Gerlinde Haid, Ursula Hemetek, Rudolf Pietsch (eds.): Folk music - change and interpretation . Festschrift for Walter Deutsch's 75th birthday. Issues 1–44 (= volume 19 of writings on folk music). Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-205-99238-5 .
• Dmitri Dragilew: Labyrinths of Russian Tango . Aleteija, St. Petersburg 2008. (Дмитрий Драгилёв: Лабиринты русского танго. Алетейя, СПб 2008) (online at: russ.ru )
• Barry Dean Kernfeld (Ed.): The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz . 2nd Edition. Grove, New York 2002, ISBN 0-333-69189-X .
• Rainer E. Lotz, Axel Weggen (Ed.): Discography of the Judaica recordings. Volume 1, Bonn 2006, ISBN 3-9810248-3-4 .
• Rainer E. Lotz: Oskar Davydovich Strock. (online at: russian-records.com ) (discography)
• Martin Lücke: Jazz in totalitarianism: a comparative analysis of the politically motivated handling of jazz during the time of National Socialism and Stalinism. (= Volume 10 of Popular Music and Jazz in Research). LIT Verlag, Münster 2004, ISBN 3-8258-7538-5 . (online at: iek.edu.ru ) (PDF; 136 kB)
• V. Manykina on Oscar Strok at Russian Info Center [48] names “January, 6th 1893” as the date of birth.
• Petra Reski: Tango in Jrkutsk . In: GEO magazine. 01/2009 (online)
• 1935, September 17 - TANGO TATIANA IS RECORDED! on: Today in Tango. (English)

Web links

• Tangopedia: Short biography of Oscar Strock (English)
• Oscar Strock remembers famous interpreters of his music
• The true king of russian tango - Dimitri Dragilew
• Oskar Strok at Jewniverse (Russian)
• Report about Oscar Strock from First Russian Television on YouTube.com (Russian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ according to Lotz, discography, however: Military musicians in the Imperial Russian Army
2. ↑ (1871-1931), singer of operettas and gypsy romances, 'and one of the great charmeuses of the day' , cf. [1] , ended by suicide [2] - quoted. According to Tangopedia: Short biography of Oscar Strock (English) , where further details about the piece are withheld.
3. ↑ cf. Lotz, discography, a photo of the artist in: Amsterdam NY Daily Democrat and Reporter, 1928 [3] (PDF; 896 kB): Leo Strockoff - American violinist, composer and lyricist, a student of Eugène Ysaÿe (* July 16, 1858, Liege - May 12, 1931, Brussels)
4. ↑ cf. Lloica Czackis: Yiddish Tango during the Holocaust: Eastern-European popular musicians associated with the tango, such as violinist Paul Godwin , composers and swing band directors Henryk and Artur Gold , and composers Zygmund Białostocki, Oskar Strock and Jerzy Petersburski . [4]
5. ↑ "However, his tangos have everything that one can expect from a tango, from the lightness of Sebastian Iradier to the painful, philosophical depth of an Astor Piazolla " writes Dmitri Dragilew 1998 http://dragilew.webs.com/oskarstrock.htm ( Memento of 7 May 2014 in the Internet Archive )
6. ↑ cf. Adler Record [5]
7. ↑ cf. z. B. Adler-Electro No. 5490 (mx. 7527) My favorite must be a trumpeter, Marsch-Foxtrot (Hans May, Alexander Flessburg): Walter Jurmann, with jazz orchestra, conducted by Oscar Strock. 08-1930, and the back Adler-Record No. 5490 (mx. 7528) Veronika, the spring is here, Foxtrot (Walter Jurmann, Fritz Rotter): Walter Jurmann, with jazz orchestra, conducted by Oscar Strock. 08-1930.
8. ↑ cf. 'Fred King (pseudonym), acc. jazz orchestra, Conductor Oscar Strock ' [6]
9. ↑ cf. [7] Oscar Davidovich recalls
10. ↑ , cf. Dmitri Dragilew in the “Kunstpalast Berlin”: There was a composer in Russia who devoted himself almost exclusively to tango and who created a number of tangos par excellence. His name is Oskar Strock (1893-1975). The record premiere of his first tango took place in Berlin in 1929. [8th]
11. ↑ actually “Mark Levin”, also sang under the stage name “Boris Baikaloff”, cf. [9]
12. ↑ cf. on this Walter Deutsch et al., p. 219 ff.
13. ↑ actually Lazar Weissbein, cf. kehilalinks [10]
14. ↑ The creator of the global success “Zwei dark Augen” had to flee from the Nazis in 1933 ... “bus” wrote in 2008 in the Schaumburger Nachrichten
15. ↑ cf. Latvian SSR
16. ↑ cf. Dmitri Dragilew: "The true king of russian tango" Archived copy ( Memento from May 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
17. ↑ cf. on this Lücke, p. 158 ff.
18. ↑ cf. Lotz, discography
19. ↑ so Tangopedia: Short biography of Oscar Strock (English)
20. ↑ His recordings in Berlin with Adler Electro comprise 20 titles, others were made between 1935 and 1945 in Riga with Bellaccord, cf. Lotz, discography
21. ↑ cf. Dragilev "The true king of russian tango" Archived copy ( Memento from May 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ): "He remained an uncrowned king of the European tango style and found many imitators" and article "Concert with Tango König" by bus : "Strock (1893 to 1975) is considered the Eastern European tango composer par excellence. "He wrote melodies that not only became evergreens in Russia and Latvia , but also found many imitators in neighboring territories" ... "
22. ↑ "Strock's work and fate are directly connected to the Russian, Baltic, German and Yiddish culture and history of the 20th century." ("Bus" 2008 in the "Schaumburger Nachrichten")
23. ↑ Сердце матери (Моя еврейская мама) / Mother's Heart (My Yiddische Mame), tango (Jack Yellen, Lew Pollack, arr. Oscar Strock, Lyrics by Oscar Strock): Adler-Electro and Eltag No. 5483 (mx. 7441 ), 1930. There was also a Latvian recording: Mates sirds (Сердце матери) Tango. Oskars Stroks ar savu džesu orkestri ar krievu refrenu, cf. [11]
24. ↑ (additional English lyrics by Sonny Miller & Leo Fuld ) cf. yiddishmusic and Igor S. Korntayer: He is best known for the song “Vu ahin zol ikh geyn?” (Where Shall I Go?) Written with "tango-king" Oskar Strock. ; Yiddish and Russian text can be found at [12]
25. ↑ included on the CD Tracing Astor: Gidon Kremer plays Astor Piazzolla . [13]
26. ^ CD "Itzhak Perlman plays popular Jewish melodies", track 9, published by EMI Classics, October 25, 1990.
27. ↑ Astor Piazzolla, Oskar Strock and me or "Buena Riga": for violin and string orchestra (2001) . Musica Baltica, Riga Leipzig ( dnb.de [accessed on September 16, 2019]).
28. ↑ "Kazbek" - Klezmer à la russe (1996) The first record from Kazbek. It was from 11.-13. Recorded September 1995 in Berlin. Contains as track 15 Strocks Tango “Eti tshorniye glaza” (3:07) Archived copy ( Memento from June 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (French; PDF; 477 kB) and [14] The Klezmer TRIO EMANUEL on their CD “ shpet in der nakht "plays by Strock" Vi ahin zol ikh gejn? " [15]
29. ↑ Petra Reski: Tango in Jrkutsk [16]  : " When they practice there, Eduard puts on tango music by Oskar Strock, music from the 1930s, the recording crackles like a wood fire. For Eduard, the record of the Eastern European tango king is the only relic of his Judaism, he says. But he never forgets that he was reviled at the university as a "Jewish face". "
30. ↑ [17]
31. ↑ [18]
32. ↑ [19]
33. ↑ [20]
34. ↑ [21]
35. ↑ [22]
36. ↑ [23]
37. ↑ [24]
38. ↑ [25]
39. ↑ [26]
40. ↑ [27]
41. ↑ [28]
42. ↑ [29]
43. ↑ [30]
44. ↑ [31]
45. ↑ [32]
46. ↑ [33]
47. ↑ [34]
48. ↑ [35]
49. ↑ [36]
50. ↑ [37]
51. ↑ [38]
52. ↑ [39]
53. ↑ [40]
54. ↑ [41]
55. ↑ [42]
56. ↑ [43]
57. ↑ [44]
58. ↑ [45]
59. ↑ [46]
60. ↑ [47]