Theo Mackeben

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Tondo Mackebens relief on his tombstone
Berlin memorial plaque
for Theo Mackeben
in Berlin-Schmargendorf
Theo Mackeben as musical director of the Threepenny Opera

Theo Mackeben ( pseudonyms : John Morris , Red Roberts ; born January 5, 1897 in Preußisch Stargard , West Prussia ; †  January 10, 1953 in Berlin ; pronunciation : [ ˈteo maˈkeːbn̩ ]) was a German pianist , conductor and composer of many well-known stage and Film scores and hits.

Life

Theo Mackeben's father was frequently transferred as an administrative officer in the Prussian army and director of the garrison administration, his older brother, the later diplomat Wilhelm Mackeben , was born in Minden . After graduating from high school in Koblenz , Theo Mackeben studied music from 1916 to 1920 at the Cologne University of Music and in Warsaw . In Koblenz he was a student of Ernst Peters . Until 1922 he was a concert pianist, a. a. at the side of the violin virtuoso Leopold Przemislav . Then he went to Berlin, where he u. a. Played the piano with Rosa Valetti in Café Großerwahn , and later also in Barnabás von Géczy's dance orchestra in the Hotel Esplanade . In addition, he was stage conductor at the Volksbühne , later first conductor of the State Theater. In 1928 he directed the premiere of the Threepenny Opera in the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm . During the National Socialist era , Mackeben wrote music for entertainment films as well as the score for the propaganda films Patrioten , Ohm Krüger and the anti-British colonial film Germanin .

After the end of the Second World War , Mackeben was musical director at the Berlin Metropol Theater for two years from 1946 .

Mackeben's most successful works are the modernization of Millöcker's operetta Gräfin Dubarry , which he brought out in 1931 under the title Die Dubarry and into which he added the song I give my heart to you alone - an original composition of his own - as well as the film music for Bel Ami .

Theo Mackeben was married to the actress Loni Heuser since 1950 . He was buried in the Wilmersdorf cemetery. Shortly after his death in 1954, his life was portrayed in the feature film With You, it was always so beautiful .

Works (selection)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Website Mackebens most famous songs and hits
  2. ↑ a b Fred K. Prieberg : Handbook of German Musicians 1933–1945 , CD-Rom-Lexikon, Kiel 2004, pp. 4,398–4,401.
  3. ^ Ernst Klee : The culture lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-10-039326-5 , p. 383.
personal data
SURNAME Mackeben, Theo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Morris, John (pseudonym); Roberts, Red (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pianist, conductor and composer
DATE OF BIRTH January 5, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Prussian Stargard , West Prussia
DATE OF DEATH January 10, 1953
Place of death Berlin