What does the Maier do in the Himalayas?

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What does the Maier do in the Himalayas? is the refrain of a foxtrot hit that Anton Profes composed in 1925. The rhyming text was composed by the team of authors Fritz Rotter and Otto Stransky . The song was published in 1926 by Drei Masken Verlag , Berlin.

history

The song became an international success and was translated into 17 languages. In Germany it was played by the orchestras of Otto Dobrindt (as 'Saxophon-Orchester Dobbri'), Gabriel Formiggini , Barnabás von Géczy , Paul Godwin , Efim Schachmeister , Marek Weber and Reinhard Wenskat. The Berlin Diseuse Claire Waldoff made a recording of it at Electrola at the end of 1926, and the cabaret tenor Hans Schwarz at Grammophon.

In America it became part of the musical show “Chauve-Souris” (French: bat), with which the Armenian ballet master Nikita Balieff toured the USA in 1927. It received the English chorus text Where Is My Maier? and was recorded on gramophone records by various jazz bands. Among them were Nat Shilkret and the Victor Orchestra, The Harmonians (a Ben Selvin group with chorus singer Irving Kaufman ) and the bands of Sam Lanin and Eddie Thomas. The German-American vocal ensemble Manhattan Quartet took it on in October 1927 at the American Columbia with a German chorus.

Recently, the song, which was played in the dance hall as well as at the fair, has also been interpreted by artists such as Gerhard Walden, the duetists Christian Zimmer and Stefan Henning, or Max Raabe and his palace orchestra. It has long since become an evergreen .

Literary reception

Karlo Štajner quotes the refrain text in his 1988 book, 7000 Days in Siberia, about his imprisonment in Russian camps.

Walter Kempowski quotes the text of the refrain in his novel Im Block , where he puts it in the mouth of the schoolteacher Opitz, a fellow prisoner who was a radio operator during the war, again in his novel We're still going gold ; here he is part of his mother's memories of her girlhood.

Sheet music editions

  • What does the Maier do in the Himalayas? Music by Anton Profes. Text by Fritz Rotter and Otto Stransky. For voice and piano. With a large illustration on the title page. von Herzig, Berlin 1926. 3 pp.
  • What does the Maier do in the Himalayas? From Anton Profes. For voice / piano. BMG UFA Musikverlage, publisher number: UFA17189

Audio documents

German recordings

  • YouTube What is Maier doing in the Himalaya / Hans Schwarz with the Paul Godwin Ensemble. Grammophon B 42 451/20 846 (mx. 352 bn), attached. 1926 (full text version)
  • YouTube What is Maier doing in the Himalaya / Claire Waldoff . Apply Electrola sample, die number Bw 744, Take 2. 1926
  • YouTube What is Maier doing in the Himalaya / Barnabás von Géczy Orchestra . Homocord electro 8029 (M 19 206) - Berlin, January 1927
  • What is Maier doing in the Himalaya / Efim Schachmeister with his Jazz Symphony Orchestra. Gramophon B 41 675/20 873 (mx. 406 bn), attached. Berlin, c. March 1927
  • YouTube What is Maier doing at the Himalaya / Jazz Orchestra Wenskat, Leipzig-Berlin, with the mood singer and humorist A. Preil. Isiphon Electrocord 792 a (mx. 7510) - 1927
  • YouTube What is Maier doing in the Himalaya / Giusto Jazz Symphoniker [= Wenskat Jazz Orchestra ] with refrained singing. Home-Record 2111 a (mx. 7487 *)
  • YouTube What is Maier doing with the Himalaya / saxophone orchestra Dobbri with vocals [Fritz Berger]. Beka B.6098-II (mx. 33 779) - 1927
  • YouTube What is Maier doing in the Himalaya / Marek Weber and his orchestra. Electrola EG444 (8-40 143) - 1927

American recordings

  • archive.org Was Macht Der Maier Am Himalaya / The German-American Manhattan Quartet. Columbia (USA), October 1927
  • YouTube Where is my Maier? / Nat Shilkret And The Victor Orchestra, vocal refrain by Arthur Hall. Victor 21 025 / HMV AE 2112 (mx. A 40 185) Recorded New York October 15, 1927
  • YouTube Where is my Maier? / Sam Lanin's Dance Orchestra. Vocal by Harold 'Scrappy' Lambert. Regal 8421-A, recorded 10/20/1927
  • YouTube Where is my Maier? / Sam Lanin's Gotham Troubadours. OkeH
  • YouTube Where is my Maier? / The Harmonians. Harmony 503-H (mx.144.695)
  • YouTube Where Is My Maier? / Eddie Thomas and his Orchestra. With vocal refrain. Rec. 1929

literature

  • Manfred Chobot: What is Mayer doing in the Himalayas? April 9, 2011; online at fixpoetry.com/we talk about literature
  • Elisabeth Theresia Fritz, Helmut Kretschmer: Vienna, music history: folk music and Viennese song. LIT Verlag Münster, 2006, p. 360.
  • Hans-Jörg Koch: Request concert. Popular music and propaganda on the radio of the Third Reich. Ares Verlag, 2006, ISBN 978-3-902475-22-0 , p. 193.
  • Monika Kornberger: Profes, Anton Franz Josef. In: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon . Online edition, Vienna 2002 ff., ISBN 3-7001-3077-5 ; Print edition: Volume 4, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-7001-3046-5 .
  • Volker Kühn (Hrsg.): Kleinkunststücke: Oops, we quake (= volume 2 of Kleinkunststücke, a cabaret library in five volumes ). Verlag Ullstein Berlin / Quadriga, 1988, ISBN 978-3-88679-162-0 , p. 226.
  • Nina Ruzicka: Cartoon Tomb. Music. Sam Lanin's Dance Orchestra: Where is my Maier? On line at cartoontomb , Thursday, March 5th, 2009
  • Martin Schütz: The Brockum Grossmarkt. Publisher: BoD - Books on Demand, 2004, ISBN 978-3-8334-1816-7 .
  • Monika Sperr: The big hit book: German hits from 1800 to today. Verlag Rogner & Bernhard, 1978, here p. 134

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ title shown. at walter-erpf.de , design by Willy Herzig (1894–1978)
  2. ↑ see: It made the way to America via the musical revue “Chauve Souris” by the Balieff Company. See La Chauve-Souris (The Russian Bat Theater), presented by F. Ray Comstock and Morris Gest. Another German piece in it was by the way Leon Jessels Parade der Zinnsoldaten (in USA Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers ), Edward B. Marks Music Co., Publ., New York, 1922. See sheet music at myerscollectibles.com
  3. ↑ cf. DAHR: American words by L. Wolfe Gilbert. Sheet music notes that the German lyrics are by Fritz Rotter and Otto Stransky.
  4. ↑ The group that made gramophone recordings for various brands from around 1911 onwards consisted of H. Weimann, Arthur Hall, NC Latterner and F. Schwarzkopf. Until the end of the twenties she sang German-language hits on records with Victor and Columbia in the USA , cf. 'Grammophonteam' Wed Jun 19 2013, 10:21 pm at grammophon-platten.de , there also photos of the group.
  5. ↑ cf. Schütz, Brockumer Grossmarkt p. 37
  6. ↑ cf. mp3tunes.tk ( Memento from March 9, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (1968)
  7. ↑ cf. Wolfshäger Steinway e. V. , November 11, 2013
  8. ↑ listen on YouTube
  9. ^ Page 193: An old popular song came to mind: What is Mayer doing in the Himalayas, How does he get down from the Himalayas. . . What's Mayer doing on the Himalaya, How does he get down from the Himalaya. See Karlo Štajner: 7000 Days in Siberia. New edition. Publisher Corgi, 1988, ISBN 978-0-552-13486-6 .
  10. ↑ Sometimes he sang pop songs. What is Mr. Mayer doing in the Himalayas. I have to understand that, after all, he's in a good mood. See Walter Kempowski: In the block. Verlag Albrecht Knaus, 2016. ISBN 978-3-641-05921-7 .
  11. ↑ Oh heaven, what a party it was! Schnapps organs on the sideboard and records: what is Mr. Mayer doing in the Himalayas? and what they were all called ... In: Walter Kempowski: We're still in gold. Novel. Albrecht Knaus Verlag, 2016, ISBN 978-3-641-06058-9 .
  12. ↑ cf. worldcat.org
  13. ↑ cf. notenlager.de
  14. ↑ cf. 'Formiggini' Sun Jun 01 2014, 11:05 am at grammophon-platten.de , there also reproduction of the text
  15. ↑ cf. DAHR