Ralph Erwin

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Ralph Erwin (born October 31, 1896 in Bielitz , Austria-Silesia , Austria-Hungary ; † May 15, 1943 in Beaune-la-Rolande , France ; actually Erwin Vogl , pseudonym Harry Wright ) was an Austrian composer for hits and films .

Life

Musically gifted at an early age, Ralph Erwin already led a school orchestra at the age of 11. In 1915 he graduated from high school in Vienna and went into the First World War as a volunteer . After the war, in which he was seriously wounded, he studied music history and philosophy in Vienna and worked as a bar pianist , cabaret and café musician. His first publications, such as the song Bar, kleine Bar or the revue song for the Apollo Theater , the ragtime You are so beautiful , appeared under the pseudonym "Harry Wright", on the advice of his publisher he then adopted the stage name "Ralph Erwin" . In 1927 he moved to Berlin .

The song I kiss your hand, Madame (text by Fritz Rotter ), which was used in the 1929 film with Marlene Dietrich of the same name , made Erwin widely known. As one of the last silent films it already contains a short vocal scene in which Richard Tauber sings the theme song for the main actor Harry Liedtke . As a record, this song quickly became a best seller. It also became world famous in 1948 with the film The Emperor Waltz and Bing Crosby .

I kiss your hand, Madame,
and dream it was your mouth.
I am so gallant, Madame,
but there is a reason ...

Erwin then went on tour tours, made appearances on the radio and wrote the music for more than 40 German and French sound films, some of which were still German-French co-productions until 1933. The most famous actors of the time appeared in the films. B. in The Little Affair Hermann Thimig , Renate Müller , Otto Wallburg ; Madame goes out with Liane Haid ; The beautiful adventure (1932) with Alfred Abel , Wolf Albach-Retty , Adele Sandrock , Otto Wallburg, Blandine Ebinger ; The three of the cavalry (1932) with Paul Hörbiger ; Dear Scherz and Ernst (1932) with Adele Sandrock; You don't forget a girl like that with Willi Forst , Dolly Haas , directed by Fritz Kortner .

After he came to power in 1933, Erwin had to emigrate to France because of his Jewish origins. He lived in Paris and continued to compose primarily for films. After the German invasion, he was taken to the internment camp in Beaune-la-Rolande, from where the prisoners were transported on to Drancy . But his wife was able to free him. He lived in hiding, where he later died as a result of being shot in the stomach.

Works (selection)

Songs, hits and chansons

  • Bar, little bar , song
  • You are so beautiful , ragtime
  • Alice , Lied and Shimmy (Text: Robert Katscher ; 1924)
  • Farewell, black-brown Mägdelein op.42 , song (text: Beda ; 1922)
  • We are not by you! op. 43, Shimmy-Foxtrot (Text: Arthur Rebner ; 1923)
  • The old pelican is a fine bird! op.44, Foxtrot (Text: Beda; 1923)
  • Reunion op.50, Valse boston (Text: Beda; 1923)
  • Where did you get those beautiful blue eyes op.51 , Lied and Shimmy (Text: Robert Katscher ; 1923)
  • Sun, dear sun, give me a ray op.52, song (text: Beda; 1923/4)
  • L´Origan op.53, Double-Foxtrot (Text: Beda; 1924)
  • Spring Dream Foxtrot Serenade (Text: Beda; 1924)
  • The great world wandering song (Text: Beda; 1925)
  • Russian fox trot fell on the ice in the Urals (Text: Beda; 1926)
  • Drink and close your eyes! Song and Blues (Text: Beda; 1927)
  • I would like to tell you four words now Foxtrot and Lied (Text: Fritz Rotter ; 1928)
  • I kiss your hand, Madame Tango and song (Text: Fritz Rotter; 1928)
  • My wife , Slow Fox, has the most beautiful eyes (Text: Fritz Rotter; 1927)
  • You kiss my hand, sir, why not my mouth? , Lied and Slow Fox (Text: Fritz Rotter; 1929)
  • My boyfriend has the loveliest girlfriend in the world , Foxtrot (Text: Robert Gilbert and Armin Robinson ; 1930)
  • Today I feel like love , tango (Text: Fritz Rotter; 1930)
  • You are the woman I dream of , song and tango (Text: Beda; 1931)

Operettas

  • Viennese crowd - A Viennese moral image Vaudeville operetta (Libretto: Fritz Grünbaum , Julius Horst , Horst Lunzer and Beda; 1925)
  • I betray you only out of love A piece with music based on Verneuil by Robert Blum (lyrics: Fritz Rotter; 1929)

Film music

  • 1930: The King of the Nassau ( Le roi des resquilleurs )
  • 1931: Apres l'amour
  • 1931: Atout-coeur
  • 1931: Échec et ma
  • 1931: Je t`adore, mais pourquoi?
  • 1931: Le roi du cirage
  • 1931: The little fling ( Le petit écart )
  • 1931: Madame has an exit ( La belle aventure )
  • 1932: Une faible femme
  • 1932: Dear joke and seriousness too: Maybe you are very lucky
  • 1932: The beautiful adventure
  • 1932: The three of the cavalry ( La garnison amoureuse )
  • 1932: You don't forget a girl like that
  • 1933: Touchons du bois
  • 1934: L'auberge du Petit Dragon
  • 1935: Monsieur Sans Gêne
  • 1936: La dame de Vitell
  • 1936: L`île des Veuves
  • 1936: La rein des resquilleuses
  • 1937: L'Amour veille
  • 1938: Storm over Asia Tempête sur l´Asie
  • 1938: Le drame de Shanghai
  • 1938: Sur les quais de vieux Paris
  • 1939: Jeunes filles en détresse

literature

  • Berthold Leimbach (Ed.): Sound documents of cabaret and their interpreters 1898–1945 . Self-published, Göttingen 1991.
  • Silesian music lexicon . (Ed. Lothar Hoffmann-Erbrecht), Wißner-Verlag, Augsburg 2001, ISBN 3-89639-242-5 .
  • Austrian music lexicon . Volume 1. (Ed. Rudolf Flotzinger), Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-7001-3043-0 .
  • Friedrich Geiger: The “Goebbels List” from September 1, 1935. A source on composer persecution in the Nazi state . In: Archives for Musicology . 59th year, volume 2. Steiner, Stuttgart 2002, pp. 104–112.
  • Kay Less : 'In life, more is taken from you than given ...'. Lexicon of filmmakers who emigrated from Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1945. A general overview. ACABUS-Verlag, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86282-049-8 , p. 157 f.

Audio documents

  • I kiss your hand Madame! Song u. Tango (music: Ralph Erwin, text: Fritz Rotter) Ralph Erwin from the Casanova Bar sings and plays. Odeon O-2662a (Be 7447); Video on YouTube
  • What do you know how I'm in love Lied u.Valse (music: Walter Jurmann, text: Fritz Rotter) Ralph Erwin from the Casanova Bar sings and plays. Odeon O-2662 b (Be 7448), recorded in Berlin in October 1928; Video on YouTube
  • Kaddisch (Otto Stranský, text by Kurt Robitschek) Paul O'Montis, on the piano: Ralph Erwin. Odeon O-2563 (Be 6957). 1928 in Berlin.
  • Ghetto. Text and Music: Ralph Erwin. Paul O'Montis, on the piano: Ralph Erwin. Odeon O-2656 (Be 7493). 1928 in Berlin; Video on YouTube
  • You don't forget a girl like that. Song u. Tango (Ralph Erwin, text by Rob. Gilbert) adgleichnam. Sound film. Odeon O-11 752 a (Be 9890) / It's not easy, Slow-Fox from dto. Odeon O-11 752 b (Be 9891) Willy Forst, with the "Odeon" artist orchestra under the direction of Ralph Erwin . November 1932 in Berlin.
  • Into blue life. Paso doble (Erwin-Rotter) adUfa sound film “The beautiful adventure”. Ufaton Jazz Orchestra, under personal. Conducted by Ralph Erwin, with German vocals: Richard Fritz Wolf and “The Five Songs”. Gramophone 24 660 B, open. 1932 in Berlin; Video on YouTube

See also

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Erwin, Ralph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Vogl, Erwin (real name); Wright, Harry (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian composer
DATE OF BIRTH October 31, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Bielitz
DATE OF DEATH May 15, 1943
Place of death Beaune-la-Rolande