Happy Days Are Here... Just When?
Hyrbrid SACD: Frommermann: Music of the Comedian Harmonists
Some years back I ran across the German language version of "Happy Days Are Here Again," rendered as "Wochenend' und Sonnenschein" ("Weekend and Sunshine"), recorded of course by the Comedian Harmonists back in Germany, and covered many years later by the King's Singers.
Depending on your generation, you might associate "Happy Days Are Here Again" with FDR's campaign or with the opening credits of the Soupy Sales program. So it's in those twin spirits of optimism and anarchy I would like to mark the end of primary season by bringing that song up again.
But the German language version complicates things a bit. My first thought was that the title, "Weekend and Sunshine," indicated such a typically wholesome German sentiment -- fresh air, hiking, and all that. Then I got a look at the lyrics, which do indeed refer to heading off into the country, but alone with the right person while God turns a blind eye to the goings-on deep in the woods.
So we get weekend and sunshine, all right, but with a decidedly sexy subtext.
Perhaps that was thematically appropriate this last weekend, when it was too darn hot, as Cole Porter once observed, and I also had ample opportunity to experience bawdy sight gags and scatological humor in air-conditioned comfort.
First up in that department was a screening of the Sex and the City movie, which starts off with a vision of New York that would shock my parents and grandparents, and concludes with one that is comfortingly familiar.
Then it was off to a dress rehearsal of the Shakespeare Theatre Company's colorful, riotous production of Moliere's The Imaginary Invalid, with leading a game and energetic cast. And this is from the 17th century, people, so I meant what I said about bawdiness and bathroom humor. But the production also features the music of Charpentier, so decorum hasn't gone completely out the window.
So what do you do when you've finished watching movies and plays and the heat is still on? Indulge in some nostalgia courtesy of the Dutch vocal group Frommermann.
Frommermann? "Pious man"? Uh-oh, Hagman's making references to some obscure German play of the 18th century, isn't she?
No worries. Frommermann got its moniker from Harry Frommermann (later Frohman), a founder of the famously entertaining Comedian Harmonists, a German vocal group of the '20s and '30s. They reportedly took their inspiration from an American group, the Revelers, another all-male ensemble known for their tight vocal harmonies.
This particular subject, the Harmonists and their predecessors, is proof enough of the endless cross-pollination in music. The Revelers came out of American vaudeville and the barbershop quartet. The Comedian Harmonists were founded in Berlin, the heart of Europe, between two world wars. And many of us then spent the rest of the 20th century enjoying a seemingly endless parade of vocal ensembles: classical, pop, jazz, doo-wop, and cross-over artists of all varieties. Oftentimes these were groups -- such as the Harmonists, the King's Singers, the wonderful Manhattan Transfer -- who could carry off the vocal orchestra effect to dazzling perfection.
And the trend continued into the 21st century with the founding of Frommermann in 2004. The group is identified as Dutch, but this album is almost completely devoted to German-language material reaching back to the Comedian Harmonists. There's even a song that Marlene Dietrich used to ensnare Emil Jannings in The Blue Angel all those years ago.
The vocals do include a soupcon of French, though, and a dollop of English. Whatever the language, American composers are definitely represented here, and one track is actually a cover of a Revelers favorite.
For a little visual as well as audio sample of Frommermann, click
By the way, am I the only one who is unable to listen to the overture from The Barber of Seville without thinking of Bugs Bunny and The Rabbit of Seville?
The format here is decidedly in line with the traditions of both the Revelers and the Comedian Harmonists: the blending of tenor, baritone, and bass, with piano accompaniment, though sometimes the voices themselves recall the whole orchestra, as in the Rossini tidbit I mentioned above.
The mood is nostalgic, even tender (Note that French-language twist on Cole Porter), but there's always a sense of humor waiting to bubble up just when you're going a little misty.
And believe me, for the rest of the summer and, I dare say, the rest of the year, you're going to need that sense of humor.
Stay cool.
Some years back I ran across the German language version of "Happy Days Are Here Again," rendered as "Wochenend' und Sonnenschein" ("Weekend and Sunshine"), recorded of course by the Comedian Harmonists back in Germany, and covered many years later by the King's Singers.
Depending on your generation, you might associate "Happy Days Are Here Again" with FDR's campaign or with the opening credits of the Soupy Sales program. So it's in those twin spirits of optimism and anarchy I would like to mark the end of primary season by bringing that song up again.
But the German language version complicates things a bit. My first thought was that the title, "Weekend and Sunshine," indicated such a typically wholesome German sentiment -- fresh air, hiking, and all that. Then I got a look at the lyrics, which do indeed refer to heading off into the country, but alone with the right person while God turns a blind eye to the goings-on deep in the woods.
So we get weekend and sunshine, all right, but with a decidedly sexy subtext.
Perhaps that was thematically appropriate this last weekend, when it was too darn hot, as Cole Porter once observed, and I also had ample opportunity to experience bawdy sight gags and scatological humor in air-conditioned comfort.
First up in that department was a screening of the Sex and the City movie, which starts off with a vision of New York that would shock my parents and grandparents, and concludes with one that is comfortingly familiar.
Then it was off to a dress rehearsal of the Shakespeare Theatre Company's colorful, riotous production of Moliere's The Imaginary Invalid, with leading a game and energetic cast. And this is from the 17th century, people, so I meant what I said about bawdiness and bathroom humor. But the production also features the music of Charpentier, so decorum hasn't gone completely out the window.
So what do you do when you've finished watching movies and plays and the heat is still on? Indulge in some nostalgia courtesy of the Dutch vocal group Frommermann.Frommermann? "Pious man"? Uh-oh, Hagman's making references to some obscure German play of the 18th century, isn't she?
No worries. Frommermann got its moniker from Harry Frommermann (later Frohman), a founder of the famously entertaining Comedian Harmonists, a German vocal group of the '20s and '30s. They reportedly took their inspiration from an American group, the Revelers, another all-male ensemble known for their tight vocal harmonies.
This particular subject, the Harmonists and their predecessors, is proof enough of the endless cross-pollination in music. The Revelers came out of American vaudeville and the barbershop quartet. The Comedian Harmonists were founded in Berlin, the heart of Europe, between two world wars. And many of us then spent the rest of the 20th century enjoying a seemingly endless parade of vocal ensembles: classical, pop, jazz, doo-wop, and cross-over artists of all varieties. Oftentimes these were groups -- such as the Harmonists, the King's Singers, the wonderful Manhattan Transfer -- who could carry off the vocal orchestra effect to dazzling perfection.
And the trend continued into the 21st century with the founding of Frommermann in 2004. The group is identified as Dutch, but this album is almost completely devoted to German-language material reaching back to the Comedian Harmonists. There's even a song that Marlene Dietrich used to ensnare Emil Jannings in The Blue Angel all those years ago.
The vocals do include a soupcon of French, though, and a dollop of English. Whatever the language, American composers are definitely represented here, and one track is actually a cover of a Revelers favorite.
For a little visual as well as audio sample of Frommermann, click
By the way, am I the only one who is unable to listen to the overture from The Barber of Seville without thinking of Bugs Bunny and The Rabbit of Seville?
The format here is decidedly in line with the traditions of both the Revelers and the Comedian Harmonists: the blending of tenor, baritone, and bass, with piano accompaniment, though sometimes the voices themselves recall the whole orchestra, as in the Rossini tidbit I mentioned above.
The mood is nostalgic, even tender (Note that French-language twist on Cole Porter), but there's always a sense of humor waiting to bubble up just when you're going a little misty.
And believe me, for the rest of the summer and, I dare say, the rest of the year, you're going to need that sense of humor.
Stay cool.
0 Comments:
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home