Siegfried Sunshine

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Siegfried Sonnenschein (born November 1, 1909 in Dresden ; died March 8, 1980 in Queens , New York City ) was a German pianist , entertainment musician and composer .

Life

Siegfried Sonnenschein was the youngest of three children of the businessman Leo Sonnenschein and his wife Susie Sonnenschein, née. World, born in Dresden. His father was the owner of the company Oehme & Co., fruit trade and import company for tropical fruits . Sonnenschein received piano lessons, attended the König-Georg-Gymnasium in the Dresden Johannstadt , from 1927 the public higher commercial college of the Dresden merchants. He then studied at the Dresden Conservatory , among others with the conductor and composer Kurt Striegler . The 23-year-old had his first success as a composer in 1932. Will Meisel took over the hit Auf der Terrasse vom Romanisches Café , which was created as a co-production by Sonnenschein and Paul Mann (music) and Kurt Schwabach (text), in his Phönix-Verlag in Vienna, and at least three record companies published the hit.

From 1933 he was prohibited from publishing, he was only allowed to give piano lessons within the framework of the Jewish community and was finally excluded from further studies in 1935. He was involved as a pianist, sometimes under the stage name Fred Sonny , within the framework of the Jewish Cultural Association , founded the “Jewish Dance Band Dresden” in 1936, later renamed “Tanzkapelle Sonnenschein”, and organized cabaret evenings.

After Sonnenschein had been warned of his imminent arrest by a young member of the NSDAP , he left Germany and, financed by his father, embarked for Trieste towards Shanghai , where he arrived on March 5, 1939. His two sisters were also able to leave Germany. The father stayed in Dresden, where he died in 1941; his mother had died in 1924.

His first known engagement was in Shanghai in April 1939, which was followed by numerous other appearances. Again and again he presented his own compositions. Since his earnings were barely enough, he also gave piano lessons. When the Japanese occupiers demarcated the “designated area”, the so-called “ Ghetto Hongkou ”, in the district of Hongkou in 1943 , even as a stateless refugee who entered the district after January 1, 1937, Sonnenschein was no longer allowed to leave this district without an official permit. Sonnenschein continued his work as a piano accompanist for numerous artists, but above all for Herbert Zernik , Raja Zomina and Grete Kleiner . Although the focus was on entertainment, Sonnenschein repeatedly included his virtuoso piano repertoire in the programs.

After the end of the Pacific War and the abolition of the ghetto borders, Siegfried Sonnenschein increased his musical activities once more and composed the great operetta in four pictures. Say, are you good for me? based on a libretto by Harry Friedländer , which premiered on April 3, 1946. In August 1946, Sonnenschein took part in a composition competition and took second place. The second operetta, Lissy , which he wrote , was never performed because a little later he left for the USA and arrived in San Francisco on July 3, 1947 , where he also lived. Due to the regulations of the musicians' union, he was initially not allowed to work for six months, after which he worked again as a bar pianist, music accompanist and performed at events by exiles. However, he also ended his work as a composer.

In 1952 he got 16 years younger singer Rebecca Eaton (stage name: Rebecca Radcliffe ) and married her later that year. The following year the twins Suzanne and Richard were born. In 1954 the family moved to New York (NY). Here his wife continued her education and made her debut at Carnegie Hall in 1956 . In 1957 the family returned to San Francisco (CA). Here Sonnenschein u. a. at various variety shows. In Alameda (CA) , the couple and a partner planned the operation of the now defunct "Edgewater Playhouse". An arson on November 6, 1960 resulted in a total loss.

When he moved to Munich with his family in 1961 , he had various engagements, for example in the Munich club Zum Fiaker and for a time at the theater in Hagen as a répétiteur , but had to undergo hospital stays because of depression. His wife ensured the family's livelihood as a secretary at the NATO organization "European Exchange System", the children attended school in Munich and became members of the children's choir of the Bavarian Radio .

In 1964 the family returned to New York. Sunshine subsequently appeared again as a piano accompanist for singers and ballet groups. In 1966 his wife founded the "Mississippi Valley Opera Co." in Wood River ( IL ) and then in Alton (IL). With this she brought out operatic repertoire with singers from the region, Siegfried Sonnenschein took over the piano accompaniment and the two children also took part.

Siegfried Sonnenschein died of pneumonia on March 8, 1980 in Creedmoor Hospital in Queens (NY). His wife worked as a singer until the mid-1970s. She died in 1998. Daughter Suzanne, who was an opera singer, lives with her family in Munich, his son Robert, who was also an opera singer for a while, lives in Poughkeepsie ( NY ).

On September 29, 2015, a stumbling block for Siegfried Sonnenschein was laid at Gerhart-Hauptmann-Strasse 1 in Dresden. On November 30, 2017, his works were performed again in public for the first time in the Dresden Semperoper .

Services

The estate is in Poughkeepsie with several incomplete lists of works: In addition to the two operettas and many hits, Siegfried Sonnenschein mainly composed light music.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Program as PDF , accessed on June 1, 2018.
  2. ↑ Karin Vogelsberg: The dashing Lola and the emperor of Atlantis. In: Jüdische Allgemeine, December 5, 2017, online , accessed June 16, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Sunshine, Siegfried
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sonny, Fred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pianist, entertainment musician and composer
DATE OF BIRTH November 1, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden
DATE OF DEATH March 8, 1980
Place of death Queens , New York City