Harmony Boys [Fidelios] - Schade, ja wirklich schade

Описание: Grammophon master 1971½ BN, rec. Berlin, 27 February 1933.
Olaf Meitzner (1st tenor), Wolfgang Leuschner (2nd tenor), Erich Bergau (baritone), Werner Rössler (bass), Werner Doege (piano).
The Harmony Boys were started in 1932 by Rössler, Leuschner and Meitzner together with their friend Heinz Raetz as a joke for their graduation. To sing two Comedian Harmonists songs for their classmates, they recruited Werner Doege as their pianist. Doege had graduated a year earlier and had taken up studies at the Technical University.
The success of the group was such that the boys wanted to continue. However, the parents of Raetz were against such a frivolous hobby, and so Erich Bergau, who was a member of the same rowing team as Leuschner, was brought in as a substitute. In September 1932 the Harmony Boys sang refrains on two sides by the Marion Toews orchestra for the Artiphon company. I cannot imagine that more than a handful of copies were sold of this truly atrocious record, but it was enough to secure them a deal with the Deutsche Grammophon for 20 sides. After the Nazis won the January 1933 election, the company approached their new artists and demanded a new, German sounding name for the ensemble. After several months of discussion, they finally decided to change their name into "Fidelios", derived from the German adverb "fidel" [jolly]. Unfortunately this backfired when some newly assigned culture official got the idea that the boys must be making fun of Beethovens opera Fidelio! Somewhat discouraged by these events and several awkward moments during a tour through the Netherlands, where German-Jewish emigrants interrupted some of their performances, Doege and Leuschner thought about getting "real" jobs. The other three wanted to continue as full-time musicians, and so on new years eve 1933 the group broke apart. Meitzner, Bergau and Rössler regrouped as the "Humoresk Melodios", whereas Leuschner and Doege started the "Melodisten".
PS: On 26 December 2011 Wolfgang Leuschner died at the age of 99. He was the last of our old heroes and will be missed ...