Willi Stanke

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Willi Stanke (born November 5, 1907 in Kramsig , Posen ; † March 28, 1982 in Marbella ) was a German band leader , composer and arranger .

Live and act

Willi Stanke received violin and piano lessons as a child. From 1926 he studied violin with Alexander Petschnikoff and music theory with Wilhelm Klatte at the Stern Conservatory . At the end of 1929 he finished his studies. He then studied at the Kapellmeisterschule with Wilhelm Groß and during this time he worked in the Berlin Symphony Orchestra.

In 1935 he founded his own entertainment orchestra, with which he also played on the Berlin radio. From 1939 he recorded his first records at Tempo and in 1942/43 with his orchestra (with Eberhard Schmidt-Schulz , Jean Robert , Primo Angeli , Meg Tevelian, among others ) in 1942/43 for Columbia Records , mostly dance music (Greetings from Marie and Johanna) , Schlager (give me a kiss on the phone) and swing- oriented instrumental titles like Große Eile. In order to camouflage the American compositions and arrangements from the Reichsmusikkammer , Stanke released the Tiger Rag as a record under the innocuous title Black Panther , which differed from the American original only in a few notes. In the Second World War, Stanke worked in troop support.

Little Boy from Porto Rico by Walter Jenson , Willi Stanke Orchestra, Berlin 1948

In the post-war period , Stanke continued his work as a band leader. At the beginning of 1948 he had an engagement with the broadcaster RIAS , in 1947/48 further recordings were made for Columbia, mostly swing titles like the American Patrol known by Glenn Miller , popular numbers like Nobody's Sweetheart or hits like Der Theodor im Fußballtor . In his band u. a. Hans Berry , Jean Orban , Macky Kasper , Franz Fijal-Lipinski , Teddy Lenz , Ilja Glusgal , Detlev Lais and Erwin Lehn . In the field of jazz he was involved in eight recording sessions between 1942 and 1948. He also worked with Werner Schmah ( In time you will learn it too !. Columbia 4961). In May 1950 recordings for Elite took place. In 1951 Willi Stanke could be heard with the Great Dance String Orchestra on Odeon.

In the 1950s he took for Amiga , Telefunken and Decca Records hits and popular music up like Little Jeanne from Lausanne (with Klaus Gross, Amiga 50-512), you've got tears in my tatting (# 50-486) with Werner Schmah , Our Little World (# 50-586) and White Elder (Telefunken 11835) with Gitta Lind , The Girls from the Danube (Decca D 18843) with the Hofmann siblings , Tammy / Melodie d'amour (Decca D 1957) with Lys Assia or My heart dreams of love (# 50-496). He also wrote some hits like When are you coming back? and you've never been so beautiful. He also wrote the lyrics of Wunderland bei Nacht .

His title A song sounds through the night was part of the soundtrack of the film biography Sophie Scholl - The Last Days .

Willi Stanke died in Marbella in 1982 at the age of 74. His grave is in the Dahlem Forest Cemetery in Berlin.

Discographic notes

  • Willi Stanke & Orchestra: The Berlin Columbia Recordings 1942–47 ( Bear Family Records , ed. 2000)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Marc Brüninghaus: Popular music in the Third Reich .
  2. ↑ a b Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed September 1, 2016)
  3. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende: Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 , p. 589.
personal data
SURNAME Stank, Willi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German band leader, composer and arranger
DATE OF BIRTH November 5, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Kramsig , poses
DATE OF DEATH March 28, 1982
Place of death Marbella