Martin Böttcher - his music and his life

 

Martin Böttcher

Birthdate June 17, 1927  Country of origin Germany  Web site www.martin-boettcher.net/  Biography Martin Böttcher has undoubtedly written, by his music, a chapter of German film history. Since the nineteen-fifties, he has been composing the kind of music that is soothing or exciting, that renders a beautiful landscape yet more beautiful (just like in Karl May's books). It was only thanks to a stroke of luck that Martin Böttcher, who had actually wanted to be a pilot, became a musician by profession. Martin Böttcher, born June 17, 1927, in Berlin, gained first musical experience when taking piano lessons at an early age. But his first passion was flying, and he was dying to become a test-pilot. Not yet seventeen years old, he got his military training in the German Luftwaffe. However, due to lack of fuel, he never went into action. During captivity, Martin Böttcher managed to get hold of a guitar, which alone, given this situation, was quite an achievement. In do-it-yourself manner he learned how to play the guitar - a fact that showed his great musical gift and talent. Following his release from captivity, he went to Hamburg. There, Martin Böttcher started his musical career with the then Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk, in the dance and entertainment orchestra which had been newly created by Willi Steiner, and which was held in high esteem even in England that boasted quite a few big-bands. At the same time, Böttcher's teachers of basic musical know-how were chief musical director Richard Richter, and, in the field of light music, Kurt Wege. At first, Martin Böttcher concentrated on jazz music, and he became the number two guitarist in a poll concerning the performance of German jazz musicians. Already at that time, he gained important experience as an assistant to several famous film composers, he learned, among others, from Michael Jary, Lothar Olias or Hans-Martin Majewski for whom he arranged, for example, part of the music for LIEBE 47. In 1950, Martin Böttcher, who liked to work on new sounds, recorded the first trick guitar pieces in Germany. Two years later, he left the music stand, and turned to manuscript paper. The talent of Martin Böttcher did not escape the attention of the German film industry, which was just gaining new momentum at that time. Thanks to producer Artur Brauner, Böttcher made his debut in 1955, by composing the music for the military satire DER HAUPTMANN UND SEIN HELD, and already his second soundtrack turned out to be a milestone of German film history. DIE HALBSTARKEN by Georg Tressler met with tremendous success. Martin Böttcher's 'Mr. Martin's Band' comprised the top German jazz musicians, among them Horst Fischer, Fatty George, Bill Grah, Ernst Mosch or Hans 'James' Last. Böttcher's work went on in quick succession. For the great Hans Albers, he composed three songs for the film 13 KLEINE ESEL UND DER SONNENHOF, and Heinz Rühmann's unforgotten 'Pater Brown' films, DAS SCHWARZE SCHAF/ER KANN'S NICHT LASSEN, too, benefited from the young composer's talent. In MAX, DER TASCHENDIEB, the 'Hawaii Tattoo' theme was introduced, which Böttcher had written under the pseudonym of Michael Thomas. Within a short time, this theme became famous all over the world, and even received attention in America. At the beginning of the nineteen-sixties, Horst Wendlandt, head of the Rialto film company, engaged the composer to write the soundtracks for films of Rialto's Edgar Wallace series. Martin Böttcher's themes, easy-going or swift, provided an appropriate musical support for these German 'whodunnit fairytales'. Martin Böttcher found his greatest success when he composed the music for the Karl May films, ennobling ten of these films by his unique sound. As the Filmbewertungsstelle in Wiesbaden puts it: 'This music is absolutely disarming in its artistic abundance.' Imagine what if Karl May, who never actually visited the scenes of his adventure novels, had lived to see that. He would certainly have given Martin Böttcher full marks for imagination and sensitivity, in particular as Böttcher had not even read a single book by Karl May. The audience was enthusiastic about the wistful tunes, the fanfare-like music accompanying attacks, and the cheerful hillbilly themes. Small wonder that these themes won top positions in hit-parades. With the film industry declining at the end of the nineteen-sixties, Martin Böttcher increasingly focused on working for T.V. The broadcasting companies had contacted him as early as 1962. The transition of his work from cinema to television went on without any problems, for both film and T.V. music require interaction of musical imagination and technical stop-watch precision. Dramatic peaks, or moods such as monotony, solitude, infatuation or excitement, have to be expressed within a precise schedule determined by the footage to be provided with a musical background. All of which Martin Böttcher masters in an outstanding way. It is, however, not the only secret of his success. It is supplemented by the composer's 'handwriting', this 'Martin Böttcher sound' which is always fascinating, unique, and a kind of 'fingerprint'. German television, which, at that time, was still in its infancy, also benefited from Böttcher's talent, for Böttcher's music accompanied the classic STAHLNETZ series and quite a few top-class ZDF productions. In the nineteen-seventies, Martin Böttcher turned out a number of successful soundtracks, among them music for the T.V. series SONDERDEZERNAT K 1, or for numerous episodes of DER ALTE and DERRICK. He again encountered the name of Karl May when he wrote the soundtrack for the 26-episode KARA BEN NEMSI EFFENDI series. The author of DER ILLEGALE (a T.V. film in several parts), Henry Kolarz, said, rightly: 'Even if I spoilt it - Böttcher's music is much too good for everything to go wrong.' Throughout the years that followed, Martin Böttcher composed yet more evergreen themes for T.V. series, such as ES MUSS NICHT IMMER KAVIAR SEIN, SCHÖNE FERIEN, or FORSTHAUS FALKENAU. In the nineties, among others, AIR ALBATROS took off, which proved something special to the composer, for he could pay a musical tribute to his passion for flying. And when Pierre Brice just recently mounted his horse again as 'Winnetou' for the ZDF, he was, of course, accompanied by a soundtrack by Martin Böttcher. But that is, by far, not all! Martin Böttcher's creativity went beyond film or T.V. music, so he composed songs for artists like Romy Schneider, Elisabeth Flickenschildt, Françoise Hardy, Peggy March or the 'blood brothers' Lex Barker and Pierre Brice. Even the Americans became aware of his perfomance as an arranger and orchestra director. When they heard his rendering of world-famous themes such as 'Tara's Theme' or 'A Summerplace', Martin Böttcher was made an honorary member of the Max Steiner Society. There are some special events of the last years that must be mentioned in this preface: On October 9, 1995, the Deutsche Filmmusikpreise were awarded at the Bonner Bundeskunsthalle. Martin Böttcher was honoured with a prize for an 'outstanding contribution to German film history, which shows in an abundant musical ouvre'. In 1996, on the occasion of a concert for the benefit of a children's hospital in Mostar, the 'Friedensmelodie' (Peace Theme) was played for the first time in Radebeul, the town where Karl May spent much of his life. This meant once more live music by Martin Böttcher who, at the beginning of the nineteen-sixties, had already been given the opportunity to play his works for a big audience on the Waldbühne in Berlin. The continuous success of the 'Winnetou' themes was the reason why, at the Karl May Festival in Bad Segeberg in 1997, the Schacht-Musikverlage honoured the tremendously successful composer with a 'special award'. In 1998, the composer once more conquers German hit parades. A band from Cologne, the "Superboys", scores a hit with a vocal version of the "Winnetou" theme. Their song "Ich wünscht' du wärst bei mir" even reached the top of the ZDF televison hit parade. In 2001, at a concert at Götzis/Austria, Böttcher's tunes are performed for an enthusiastic audience, and Martin Böttcher appears as a guest at the "SOMMERNACHT AUF SCHLOSS ENGERS" SWR gala show. The "master of tunes" is honored in a very special way in 2002: as a jury member (Europäischer Förderpreis - a European talent award) Martin Böttcher represents Germany at this year's European Biennal for Film Music in Bonn. Martin Böttcher is of one of the great composers of our time - catchy themes which have become hits, and which are just the kind of music that will always be a great success with the audience. Written by Reiner Boller rboller@rz-online.de Translated by Christina Boehme (Germany)

Johnny Mercer - his music and his life

John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer. He was also a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Glenn E. Wallichs.

He is best known as a Tin Pan Alley lyricist, but he also composed music. He was also a popular singer who recorded his own songs as well as songs written by others from the mid-1930s through the mid-1950s. Mercer's songs were among the most popular hits of the time, including "Moon River", "Days of Wine and Roses", "Autumn Leaves", and "Hooray for Hollywood". He wrote the lyrics to more than 1,500 songs, including compositions for movies and Broadway shows. He received nineteen Oscar nominations, and won four Best Original Song Oscars.

In 1931, Mercer married Ginger Meehan, a chorus girl, later a seamstress; and in 1940, when he was 30, the Mercers adopted a daughter, Amanda ("Mandy"). In 1960, Mandy married Bob Corwin, pianist for Peggy Lee, Anita O'Day, and Carmen McRae, and Mercer's long-time accompanist. They had a son, Jim Corwin, in 1961.

In 1941 Mercer began an affair with 19-year-old Judy Garland, while she was engaged to composer David Rose. Garland ended her involvement when she married Rose. In later years, Garland and Mercer rekindled their affair. Mercer stated that his song "I Remember You" was the most direct expression of his feelings for Garland.

Mercer died on June 25, 1976, from an inoperable brain tumor, in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. He was buried in Savannah's historic Bonaventure Cemetery. The line drawing caricature adorning his memorial bench is a reproduction of a self-portrait.

Posthumous success

Self-portrait and signature of Johnny Mercer from bench at his grave in Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia.

In the last year of his life, Mercer became fond of pop singer Barry Manilow, in part because Manilow's first hit record was "Mandy", which was also the name of Mercer's daughter Amanda. After Mercer's death, his widow, Ginger Mehan Mercer, arranged to give some unfinished lyrics he had written to Manilow to possibly develop into complete songs. Among these was a piece titled "When October Goes", a melancholy remembrance of lost love. Manilow applied his own melody to the lyric and issued it as a single in 1984, when it became a top 10 Adult Contemporary hit in the United States. The song has since become a jazz standard, with notable recordings by Rosemary Clooney, Nancy Wilson, and Megon McDonough, among other performers.

The time real-life Maria Von Trapp taught Sound of Music’s Julie Andrews how to yodel

Real-life Maria Von Trapp teaches Julie Andrews how to yodel. Picture: The Julie Andrews Hour/The Sound of Music Blu-Ray/YouTube

By Maddy Shaw Roberts

 

How do you solve a problem like Maria? Well, how about a yodelling lesson, for starters…

In 1965, Julie Andrews yodelled her way into all our hearts with her portrayal of Maria Von Trapp, governess to the seven Von Trapp children in The Sound of Music.

And it turns out, Andrews really got to meet the real Maria Von Trapp whose family’s story – somewhat loosely – inspired the hit film.

In one scene, Maria helps the children put on a puppet show, and sings along to ‘The Lonely Goatherd’ (that’s the one that goes ‘High on a hill was a lonely goatherd, lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo’) as they perform.

But according to real-life Maria, well, “There is yodelling, and then there’s… yodelling.”

During an episode of The Julie Andrews Hour, a television variety series which ran for one season in 1972, the two Marias appeared on stage together to act out a yodelling skit.

In typical Julie Andrews style, she opened the dialogue with a classy, comic line: “You know I played you in the picture and you are you, and I am me, and since you are you and I was you, and since you’re here, and I’m here, and I was you, um…”

Watch: Real-life Von Trapp great grandchildren sing a breathtaking, impromptu ‘Edelweiss’ >

“What do you want to know?” real-life Maria prods her.

“I want to know… how was I?” Andrews smiles.

“You were absolutely wonderful,” Maria replies. “But,” she adds, Andrews’ yodelling could do with a little work.

Von Trapp offers to teach Andrews a “genuine Austrian yodel”, first demonstrating the melody that Andrews should sing underneath Von Trapp’s yodelling descant (watch above).

Once Andrews has got the two phrases nailed, Von Trapp bursts into a virtuosic display of yodelling, eager to show the world the real singing tradition of her home country, not the one portrayed in Hollywood.

For years, alpine yodelling was a rural tradition in Switzerland, Austria and southern Germany, but in the 1830s it also became a popular sound in theatres and music halls.

In real life, Maria Von Trapp joined the Von Trapp family as a tutor for just one of the ten children, who was recovering from scarlet fever. She married Georg, their father (played by Christopher Plummer in the film) a year later, in 1927.

The family, and all its 12 singing members, emigrated to the US when the Second World War hit, to escape the Nazi regime in Austria. There, they became well known as the ‘Trapp Family Singers’. And in the 21st-century, the Von Trapps are still going – here’s four of Maria and Georg’s great-grandchildren, singing a breathtaking ‘Edelweiss’:

West End’s Phantom of the Opera slices orchestra in half ...

... leaving musicians without a job

Phantom of the Opera orchestra halved when show returns to West End. Picture: Getty

By Maddy Shaw Roberts, ClassicFM London

 

Phantom of the Opera was celebrated for having the largest orchestra in the West End. Now, it’s being sliced in half.

Despite promises the original production would return after coronavirus restrictions are lifted, The Phantom of the Opera’s orchestra will be cut in half when it returns to the West End.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hit musical, once celebrated for having the largest orchestra in the West End, has reduced its players from 27 to just 14.

All 27 members were released from their contracts while Her Majesty’s Theatre was undergoing refurbishment, with hopes they might be rehired. Now, while 14 musicians can re-audition for the show’s return on 21 July, 13 of the jobs no longer exist.

Instruments including the oboe, harp, percussion, trumpets and horns have been cut, and there will be a trimmed-down violin section.

The production will replace traditional instrument sounds with keyboard effects. A statement says the “modern instrumentation… will give this timeless score the freshness of a new musical”.

Read more: Phantom orchestra records virtual ‘All I Ask of You’ response for Lloyd Webber >

The West End show has been closed since March 2020. Picture: Getty

Phantom producer Cameron Mackintosh, and the Really Useful Group, say this reduced orchestration, which is used for the UK touring production, has also already been “created for the international productions of the show”.

“These orchestrations are just as thrilling and rich as the original but would not have been possible with the technology available in 1986,” they added.

There are great concerns the move will leave musicians high and dry in what has already been a disastrous year for the arts.

Matt Dickinson, the percussionist for Phantom, was devastated to find out his job had been cut. “I sacrificed so much, willingly, to be a part of this wonderful show and yet I will leave with nothing more than the shirt on my back: no severance to speak of and my livelihood and that of my family in absolute tatters,” Dickinson tweeted.

“I don’t even have the opportunity to re-audition for my job and am unclear what the future holds.”

Horace Trubridge, general secretary of The Musicians’ Union, said the organisation was “sad and disappointed” by the move.

Read more: Musicians still ‘falling through the gaps’ as £400m promised to arts >

Phantom's producer, Cameron Mackintosh, and composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber. Picture: Getty

The Phantom of the Opera, London’s second-longest-running musical, closed its curtains on 16 March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Last year, it was promised that “the brilliant original” production would return.

In August 2020, Lloyd Webber said: “Phantom will be back up there and even better than before. We’re going to have the original production and it will be fantastic.”

The composer and orchestra have historically enjoyed a close relationship. In April last year, the entire orchestra recorded a virtual ‘All I Ask of You’ to “show their support and respect for Andrew”. Lloyd Webber said he was “incredibly touched” by their creation. 

The move to cut the orchestra in half has been widely criticised by industry figures, including British composer Thomas Hewitt Jones, who tweeted: “This has been a rumour in our industry for a while, but here it is confirmed in plain sight. It is incredibly disappointing that theater mega-producers set this kind of example.”

Meanwhile on Broadway, Phantom’s producers have committed to return with a full pit and have condemned the “downsizing of musicians” in the West End.

Adam Krauthamer, president of the New York City musicians’ union, told Playbill: “Producers who take advantage of a worldwide pandemic in order to cut live music are cheapening their productions and robbing the audience of the full experience of musical theater.”

‘It’s genius’ – classical music stars on why we love The Lark Ascending so much

By Rosie Pentreath, ClassicFM London

@rosiepentreath

 

As ‘The Lark Ascending’ tops the Classic FM Hall of Fame a record eleventh time, a new film has been released featuring classical musicians sharing their personal experiences of the popular piece.

The enduringly popular Lark Ascending has topped the Classic FM Hall of Fame for another year.

But why do we love it so much? Inspired by the piece’s enduring place at the top of our Hall of Fame, the Royal Philharmonic (RPS) has created a film exploring just this.

The RPS asked famous musicians and dedicated music lovers to talk about what the piece means to them, in a beautiful new film.

We see several personalities from different corners of the music profession – including violinist Tasmin Little OBE and composer Sally Beamish OBE – each sharing, from lockdown, their own impressions of Vaughan Williams’ beloved masterpiece, telling us about what it means to them.

“I’ve played The Lark Ascending more than 60 times and each time has been a unique experience. I feel there’s something else at work in this music,” Little says in the film. “The idea of this little bird in this huge sky, soaring closer and closer to heaven… I think there’s something very spiritual about this concept, and such peace and tranquillity in the music that it helps us to find our own sense of peace inside.”

Violinist Elena Urioste says she experiences “a sense of inhalation and exhalation” throughout different phrases of the piece.

Conductor Ben Gernon shares what it’s like to face the orchestra from the podium, during a performance of the piece. “I always look forward to conducting The Lark Ascending. I find in performance it has this amazing ability to reach absolutely everyone. It’s a beguiling and mesmerising piece, but it’s actually quite simple – and its success lies in how it brings the outside world inside the concert hall.”

Meanwhile, composer Sally Beamish OBE describes Vaughan Williams’ music as “genius”, pointing out how innovative it would have been at that time to write something so descriptive and free for the violin.

“The violin writing is just stunning,” Beamish adds.

Pianist Tom Poster also features, introducing his thoughts on the original violin-piano arrangement of the piece. And cultural historian Gavin Plumley is on hand to round the story off, with where it fits in a wider historical and social context.

It makes for an inspiring watch – and beautiful too, with George Meredith’s poem that originally inspired the work woven throughout the film.

Read more: How to become a member of Royal Philharmonic Society >

To watch, sign up to RPS’s membership here. RPS Membership is designed for music lovers to further their curiosity in classical music and get the chance to attend exclusive in-person and online events, and nominate artists for the prestigious annual RPS Awards.

Watch the film The Lark Ascending in full on the Royal Philharmonic Society’s website by becoming a member today. Visit: royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk/lark to find out more.