Roman Cycowski

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Roman Cycowski (standing, first from left) with the Comedian Harmonists 1930

Roman Josef Cycowski (born January 25, 1901 in Tuszyn , † November 9, 1998 in Palm Springs , California ) was a Polish-American singer. He sang the baritone in the Berliner Ensemble Comedian Harmonists and was later Chasan (cantor) in a synagogue .

Life

Cycowski grew up in Łódź, which was then under Russian suzerainty . He started singing in the synagogue early on.

During the First World War , Cycowski learned the German language from a German officer. In 1920 Cycowski left the city of Łódź, which had become Polish again after the war, to live in Germany. After his first job as a singer in the Synagogue of Beuthen, he was hired by various theaters ( Beuthen , Sopot , Stralsund Theater, etc.) as a choir singer and for smaller roles. In 1926 he began studying music in Berlin . His dislike of Poland and the loss of Polish citizenship after refusing to do military service prevented him from ever visiting his family. Later he supported his parents and siblings financially.

In Berlin he initially lived on savings from his time as an opera singer, later he sang to silent films in cinemas. During an engagement at the Großes Schauspielhaus , he met Ari Leschnikoff and Robert Biberti . Through the two of them he came to the Comedian Harmonists in early 1928. In 1935 the ensemble was banned because of its Jewish members. Cycowski emigrated to Vienna with Harry Frommermann and Erich A. Collin . From Vienna and later from London they achieved an international career with new members. Under the name "Comedy Harmonists" they toured a. a. Australia, South America and the Soviet Union. In London, Cycowski married his long-time girlfriend Maria / Mary Panzram, who - although of non-Jewish faith - had emigrated with him. In 1940, during a tour of the USA, the German submarine war prevented the ensemble from leaving, which soon disbanded in the face of an increasingly anti-German environment. Cycowski settled in Los Angeles in 1941 . He started a nightclub but soon went bankrupt .

Collin tried together with Harry Frommermann to build a new ensemble. Roman Cycowski refused him. The project failed.

Under the impression of the death of his father, who was slain on the street in Łódź, he accepted the post of cantor of the Orthodox synagogue in Los Angeles. After the Second World War , he learned that three of his siblings had fallen victim to the National Socialist genocide . Only one sister survived in Auschwitz . In 1947 he became cantor of the Temple Beth Israel in San Francisco . In 1971, at the age of 70, he gave up his position as cantor and moved to Palm Springs with his wife. Out of love for his profession, he soon took over a cantor position again. In 1998 he died at the age of 97 in Palm Springs. He was the last alive of the six Comedian Harmonists.

In Joseph Vilsmaier's film Comedian Harmonists , Cycowski was played by Heino Ferch .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ (bo / ti): "Maybe we would be more popular than the Beatles". Visit to Roman Cycowski from the Comedian Harmonists . In: MusikWoche . The news magazine for the music industry. No. 13/1998 , March 23, 1998, Interview of the Week, p. 10 f .
  2. ^ Roman Cycowski on Comedian-Harmonists.net.
  3. ^ Roman Cycowski, 97, Vocal Sextet Member . In: New York Times , Nov. 14, 1998; Obituary.
personal data
SURNAME Cycowski, novel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cycowski, Roman Joseph (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish-American singer and cantor, member of the Comedian Harmonists
DATE OF BIRTH January 25, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Tuszyn
DATE OF DEATH November 9, 1998
Place of death Palm Springs