Will Glahé

Will Glahé (between 1934 and 1945 Will Glahe; born Gustav Adolf Wilhelm Glahé, born February 12, 1902 in Elberfeld , now in Wuppertal , † November 21, 1989 in Rheinbreitbach ) was a German accordionist , pianist , composer and band leader .

Live and act

Will Glahé - Skoda Lasky, Bohemian polka

Glahé was born as the son of a manager of the Elberfeld paint factories . After attending school in Leverkusen, he studied piano, conducting and music theory at the Cologne University of Music , where Hermann Abendroth and Peter Dahm were among his most influential teachers. Due to the economic uncertainty after the First World War, Glahé had to finance his studies himself by performing as a pianist in Cologne cafes and health resorts in the vicinity, such as in the Westenddiele of Bad Neuenahr . His musical career began in 1929 as a member of the Dajos Béla Orchestra . From then on, he accompanied world stars such as Gitta Alpár , Richard Tauber and Joseph Schmidt as a pianist . In 1932 Glahé founded his own orchestra, which resided in Berlin's Delphi Palace . During this time, the accordion became Glahé's main instrument, which from then on would significantly shape his style. In the 1930s Will Glahé was one of the most successful accordionists in Germany, alongside Heinz Munsonius and Albert Vossen . Glahé was also active as a composer and band leader. In 1933 he was the conductor of Gustaf Gründgens for a time .

From 1934 to 1945 Glahé was banned from spelling his name with an accent by ordinance of the Reich Chamber of Culture . Before the outbreak of the Second World War, Glahé and his orchestra were on tour around the world and internationally famous, particularly in the USA. Glahé, who also composed film music, was also seen and heard with his orchestra in the first television broadcasts in 1934 . During the Second World War, Glahé was a member of the soldier broadcaster Belgrade and was deployed to the front for troop support before he was drafted as a soldier himself in 1944, was seriously wounded and was taken prisoner by the British. After the war, Glahé, who had meanwhile moved to Zurich ( Unterengstringen ), Switzerland, was able to continue his musical career. In the USA in particular, he was able to build on old successes and performed with the Glenn Miller Band and Fats Domino , for example . In the mid-1970s, Glahé returned to Germany, where he settled in Rheinbreitbach near Bad Honnef and spent the rest of his life. He remained active as a composer until his death at the age of 87.

Will Glahé is buried with his wife Josefine Glahé, née Schönenkorb, in the forest cemetery in Rhöndorf not far from Konrad Adenauer .

style

Glahé had completed a classical pianist training and then found light music. He experimented with jazz and big band music, folk music, hit and dance music. Glahé was particularly successful with folk sounds, for which he put together a musette orchestra, which consisted of an accordion, two violins, a piano, guitar, bass and drums. The dance music line-up, however, consisted of five clarinets or saxophones, two trumpets, two trombones, a violin, one or two pianos, bass or tuba, drums and accordion. One of his first great successes was the recording of Polka Rosamunde by Jaromír Vejvoda in 1936 ; a success which he surpassed in the United States in 1939 with the recording of the same composition under the title Beer Barrel Polka . The Beer Barrel Polka had sold over a million times by 1943. After the Second World War , he finally became the “Polka King” in the USA. In November 1957 he experienced another comeback with the Liechtenstein polka , composed by Rudi von der Dovenmühle from Cologne . Polka music made Glahé much better known as an accordion player, rather than as a pianist. In addition to folk music, the Will Glahé orchestra also played the big band sound and was active here as an accompanying orchestra for formations such as the Golgowsky Quartet . Glahé also composed film scores .

Glahé, who also worked under the pseudonym Karl Erpel, has received a total of 17 gold records . He was one of the top-selling German musicians.

Discography (chart successes)

Albums

year	Title music label	Top ranking, total weeks / months, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , rankings, weeks / months, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1965	Until early at 5 Decca Records SLK 16 236-P (DE)	DE37 (2 months) DE	-	-	-	-	Chart entry: February 15, 1965

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Singles

year	Title music label	Top ranking, total weeks / months, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , rankings, weeks / months, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1954	Little nightingale	DE18 (1 month) DE	-	-	-	-	Chart entry: November 1st, 1954
1955	Don't you have a dime for the music box Decca Records D 18 028 (DE)	DE12 (2 months) DE	-	-	-	-	Chart entry: July 1st, 1955 with Sylvia Dahl & Die Peheiros
1956	Sailor where is your home Decca Records D 18 070 (DE)	DE2 (10 months) DE	-	-	-	-	Chart entry: January 1st, 1956 with Geschwister Hofmann & Das Golgowsky-Quartett
1957	Adschüs, Marie, goodbye	DE18 (1 month) DE	-	-	-	-	Chart entry: January 1st, 1957
	Liechtensteiner Polka Decca Records D 18 330 (DE) / London Records 45-1755 (US)	-	-	-	-	US19 (23 weeks) US	Chart entry: November 23, 1957
1958	Sweet Elizabeth London Records 45-1788 (US)	-	-	-	-	US91 (1 week) US	Chart entry: April 12, 1958

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Lexical entries

• Jürgen Wölfer : Jazz in Germany. The encyclopedia. All musicians and record companies from 1920 until today. Hannibal, Höfen 2008, ISBN 978-3-85445-274-4 .

Web links

• Works by and about Will Glahé in the catalog of the German National Library
• Reinhard Zado: Will Glahé - Polka with 78 revolutions in: Kunst am Mittelrhein , accessed on May 30, 2015

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Uta C. Schmidt, Andreas Müller, Richard Ortmann: Jazz in Dortmund . Klartext-Verlag, Essen 2004, p. 37 .
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} "Glahé, Will". In: Munzinger Online / People - International Biographical Archive. Retrieved June 6, 2020 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} "Polka King". Will Glahé died . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . November 24, 1989, p. 36 .
4. ↑ YouTube
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Zado, Reinhard: Polka with 78 revolutions. Composer and band leader Will Glahé . In: Yearbook of the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis . Niederhofen 2015, p. 122-125, p. 123 .
6. ↑ Section 25 of the First Implementing Ordinance, now Reichskulturkammergesetz (Reich Chamber of Culture Act) of November 1, 1933 (RGBl. I p. 797.)
7. ↑ Stars for you. Two speak of "Vom Bau" here: Karl Napp and Will Glahé . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . November 30, 1949, p. 10 .
8. ↑ Michael Markolwitz: Last rest, taken literally: The forest cemetery in Rhöndorf. Retrieved May 6, 2020 . 
9. Jump up ↑ Joseph Murrells: The Book of Golden Discs: The Records That Sold a Million . 2nd Edition. Limp Edition, London 1978, ISBN 0-214-20512-6 , pp. 21 .
10. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: Will Glahé at chartsurfer