ROBERT OPRATKO

The following article is an overview of the career of Austrian pianist, arranger, and conductor Robert Opratko. The main source of information is an interview with Mr Opratko, conducted by Bas Tukker in March 2011. The article below is subdivided into two main parts; a general career overview (part 3) and a part dedicated to Robert Opratko's Eurovision involvement (part 4).

All material below: © Bas Tukker / 2011

Contents

1. Passport
2. Short Eurovision record
3. Biography
4. Eurovision Song Contest
5. Other artists about Robert Opratko
6. Eurovision involvement year by year
7. Sources & links

PASSPORT

Born: March 17th, 1931, Vienna (Austria)

Died: September 9th, 2018, Purbach am Neusiedler See (Austria)

Nationality: Austrian

SHORT EUROVISION RECORD

Professor Robert Opratko, who was one of the most successful arrangers and producers in Vienna’s recording studios in the 1960s and 1970s, conducted two Austrian Eurovision entries: Udo Jürgens’ composition ‘Tausend Fenster’, which was sung by Karel Gott (1968) and ‘Musik’, performed by Marianne Mendt in the 1971 contest in Dublin.

BIOGRAPHY

Robert Opratko was born in Vienna (1931) as the son of a locksmith. As a boy, he learnt to play the accordion and the piano. During the war and the immediate aftermath of it, while he was still at grammar school, his passion was to make music with friends. Although he initially aimed at pursuing architecture studies at university, a prolonged period during which he suffered from infantile paralysis put an end to these ambitions. After having obtained his secondary education diploma, he decided to try earning his money as a pianist, amongst others in a dancing-school orchestra called Die Beschwingten Sechs, with which he had already started playing during his school days. Though lacking any formal education, Opratko wrote arrangements for the band. 

“It was not long before I started arranging for our band,” Opratko recalls. “With an arrangement of ‘How High The Moon’ which I had written for Die Beschwingten Sechs, we won a music contest. Fairly soon, I learnt how to write arrangements for bigger ensembles, simply by trying and by talking to more experienced musicians who came up with priceless advice. ‘Learning by doing’ is how I would describe the way I started writing arrangements.”

Die Beschwingten Sechs, with Robert Opratko at the piano (1950)

Still in the late 1940s, Opratko joined the Austrian All Stars, a jazz band which included other young musicians who were destined for an impressive career in music, including Hans Solomon. Opratko remembers those days well.

“In those days, there were lots of American clubs in Vienna, where soldiers of the allied troops came for an evening of relaxation. This was a golden time for dance bands such as ours; we were never short of work. In our orchestra, however, there was a double-bass player who did not play very well… to put it more bluntly, he was awful. I was the pianist and I could not stand one of my fellow-musicians ruining our performances. For that reason, I decided to learn how to play the double-bass myself.” 

What was more, Opratko took up studying the double-bass at the Vienna Music Academy (1951-52), leaving the conservatory when he was satisfied with the level he had reached.

At the piano in the Vera Auer Combo (1952)

To please his father, Opratko gave up working as a music professional to learn a ‘proper job’. After having left conservatory in 1952, he began working as a salesman in a wholesale trading company. The attractions of the music industry proved too hard to resist, though, and when he was offered the opportunity to make two tours in West Germany as a double-bass player with the Heinz Neubrand Trio in 1955, Opratko did not hesitate and made the choice to be a musician once and for all. After his spell with Neubrand, Opratko joined the Horst Winter Tanzorchester, where he stayed for one year (1956-57). At the request of Winter, Opratko swapped the double-bass for the piano again. 

“Horst Winter hired me to be his double-bass player, but when Heinz Neubrand, the pianist in his orchestra, left two days before our first performance, he asked me to convince him of my skills on the piano. After having heard what I was capable of, Winter simply said, "From tomorrow onwards, you are my man on the piano." I never played the double-bass again after that.”

Between 1957 and 1965, Opratko was the pianist of the Johannes Fehring Orchestra, replacing Hans Hammerschmid, who left the ensemble. 

With saxophonist Max Greger, possibly in the band of Johannes Fehring (1958)

“My time with Fehring was extremely important," Opratko states. "He gave me the opportunity to write loads of arrangements for the orchestra. I tried out all kinds of new things. Fehring taught me some instrumentation in the evening hours. Around the same time, I took a private conducting course with the conductor of the choir of the Vienna State Opera.” 

In those years, Opratko also played the piano in the national broadcaster’s radio orchestra, the ORF Rundfunktanzorchester of conductor Carl de Groof. He composed and arranged dozens of pieces for De Groof’s orchestra annually. His work for Fehring and De Groof did not impede Opratko to accompany several artists on European tours, including Maureen René and Udo Jürgens in Romania, while he was the musical director for Peter Kraus during his tournee in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, and West Germany. Moreover, he arranged 4 one-hour-long shows for Caterina Valente which were televised in the Netherlands.

All musicians of the Fehring band worked as session musicians as well and Opratko was no exception. From 1957 onwards, he worked as a pianist and arranger with producer Gerhard Mendelson on countless recordings for the German branch of Polydor in Vienna. Among the songs for which Opratko wrote the arrangement, the most well-known is perhaps ‘Der Boss ist nicht hier’ for Freddy Quinn (1961). Other artists who recorded their work in Vienna with Opratko, included Peter Kraus, Bill Ramsey, Maureen René, and Freddy Quinn. In the late 1960s, Opratko arranged three albums for Udo Jürgens, for whom he had already written the orchestration for the song ‘Jenny’ with which the singer won the 1960 edition of the Knokke Festival (Belgium).

Leading his own Robert Opratko Combo in 1965

In those days, Opratko was never short of work, “We recorded music day and night… that is no exaggeration. We were in the studio from 9 am until 6 pm. When I returned home, I usually wrote an arrangement, which I took to a copyist around midnight… and the next morning, we recorded it! On average, we recorded 6 songs a day.”

In 1965, Johannes Fehring became the musical director of the Theater an der Wien, a theatre for musical performances. Most of his orchestra came with him. Whereas Fehring mostly worked behind the scenes, Robert Opratko conducted the majority of the shows. Between 1965 and 1974, Opratko wrote new arrangements to the stage shows Can Can, Irma la Douce and Georg Kreisler’s Polterabend. Moreover, he conducted famous musical successes including Der Junge von Sankt-Pauli (1965), Udo Jürgens’ Helden Helden (1972), and the German-language versions of Kiss Me, Kate, Fiddler on the Roof, Man of la Mancha, Hello, Dolly!, and Cabaret. Opratko did not only work on musicals, but arranged and recorded music for the ice dancing shows of the Wiener Eisrevue as well (1971-72) and penned a new instrumentation to Ralph Benatzky’s operetta Im weissen Rössl, which was staged in the Wiener Volksoper.

Between 1970 and 1980, Robert Opratko was the artistic director of the Austrian branch of record company Polygramm. He composed, arranged, and produced music for many artists from different genres, but was especially successful with artists from the world of cabaret and theatre, with whom he recorded chanson albums. He arranged and produced seven albums of Michael Heltau, whose German versions of Jacques Brel repertoire were immensely appreciated. With Ludwig Hirsch, he recorded the successful album ‘Dunkelgraue Lieder’. Other vocalists in the same genre with whom Opratko worked during this particular period include Werner Schneyder, Peter Cornelius, and Erika Pluhar. 

Conducting the orchestra for the German-language production of musical comedy 'Hello, Dolly!' starring Marika Rökk

Opratko recorded the first three studio albums of André Heller and composed many songs for him, including ‘Das berühmte Jean Harlow-Lied’ (1970) and ‘Du du du’ (1971). His collaboration with Heller was particularly fruitful and both men teamed up to write songs for Marianne Mendt, another musical star turned recording artist, who subsequently specialized in Viennese dialect repertoire. Among the best known Heller/Opratko compositions for Mendt are ‘So a Tag’ (1970), ‘I mechat unsichtbar sein’ (1970), and ‘Wann i könnt, so wie i wollt’ (1972). Opratko also produced pop repertoire, including the first album of Reinhard Fendrich, ‘Ich wollte niemals einer von denen sein’ (1980) as well as a host of Austrian folk music artists. 

“Twice every year, I was in Tirol for three or four weeks to produce folk music albums," Opratko laughs. "At Polygramm, we worked with everything which was able to hold an accordion or a guitar in its hand!”

Robert Opratko had made his TV debut as the musical director and piano accompanist of mime artist Sammy Molcho at the 1965 Rose d’Or Festival in Montreux; this Austrian participation, called The Do It Yourself Show, finished in 8th place. Opratko also conducted two Austrian entries to the World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo, Japan, ‘Danke schön’ for Aniko Benkö (1973) and ‘Ich verschenke meine Träume’ for Peter Cornelius (1974). He also represented Austria as a conductor in song festivals in Bulgaria (again with Peter Cornelius), Romania, and Poland (with Marianne Mendt, 1970). 

Opratko working on the ORF children’s show ‘Am, dam, des’

In the 1970s and 1980s, Robert Opratko became one of Austria’s most sought-after musical directors for television. Among many other things, he worked on the ORF children’s show Am, dam, des for 8 seasons, a program which was broadcast live daily from Monday until Friday, each episode including 2 or 3 new songs composed by Opratko. He led the band in popular music shows for ORF and German broadcasters ARD and ZDF, most prominently Willkommen im Club mit Harald Juhnke and Liedercircus mit Michael Heltau, the latter of which ran for over seven years.

In 1980, Opratko left Polygramm to begin his own production company, Alpha Music. For his label, he recorded one album with Peter Horton as well as projects with actor Alexander Goebel, comedian Hans Peter Heinzl, and many local folk musicians. He sold Alpha Music in 1989. Between 1984 and 1988, he worked as the first conductor of the Wiener Burg- und Akademietheater; in this capacity, he composed the music to three plays, Heimliches Geld, heimliche Liebe, Der Schützling, and Umsonst.

The most important artistic collaboration for Opratko in the 1980s and 1990s, however, was with star singer Peter Alexander. From the mid-1980s until 1996, Opratko arranged and conducted all of the stage shows with which Alexander toured the German-speaking countries. In 1987, when Alexander hosted the opening ceremony of the Austria International Centre in Vienna, Opratko’s 60-man-strong orchestra accompanied internationally renowned vocalists such as José Carreras, Placido Domingo, Barry Manilow, Gilbert Bécaud, and Udo Jürgens. 

On stage with Peter Alexander, 1990s

“My collaboration with Alexander started some time in the 1980s”, Opratko comments. "That was when he was a guest in a TV show in which my band provided the music. Peter Alexander is without any doubt the best professional with whom I have worked throughout my career. He was there during each and every recording in the studio, from the first day onwards. He closely watched everything we were doing and he gave us precise directions about things he wanted changed in the music. It was very special to have an artist who was so focused on details. He knew exactly what he was doing and what he needed.”

In 1988, Robert Opratko started working as a répétiteur with the Vienna Music Academy. One year later, at the request of the academy, he became director of the musical and operetta department of the conservatory. Under the leadership of Opratko, now adorned with the title of professor, the department was successfully reformed, resulting in a huge influx of students from Austria and abroad. He also orchestrated and conducted the annual academy operetta and musical theatre performances. In 2004, he was pensioned off.

Nowadays, Opratko still works on various music projects as an arranger occasionally. He has been the vice-president of the Austrian Association of Authors, Composers, and Publishers (AKM-Österreich) since 1980; moreover, he is the acting president of the supervising council of the Austrian Copyright Collecting Agency (Austro Mechana).

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

Robert Opratko conducted two Austrian Eurovision entries, the first one being in 1968. Broadcaster ORF had internally chosen Czech singer Karel Gott, who was marketed as ‘Eastern Europe’s Frank Sinatra’. The song ‘Tausend Fenster’, a crooner ballad with very topical lyrics, was written by Walter Brandin and composed by Udo Jürgens. Singer-songwriter Jürgens himself had already participated three times in the contest, scoring well on the first two occasions and finally winning the competition in 1966 with ‘Merci chérie’. This made him a superstar in West Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Asking him to compose the Austrian entry seemed a logical choice. In spite of this, Karel Gott picked up only two points in the Eurovision Song Contest in London, finishing in joint-13th position in a field of 17 competing artists.

“In those days,” Opratko comments, “I regularly arranged songs for Udo’s albums. It was Udo himself who personally asked me to conduct his composition for the Eurovision Song Contest with Karel Gott. Somehow, the arrangement was done by someone else, but I don't know who it was (meanwhile, we have found out the score was written by French master-arranger Alain Goraguer, with whom Jürgens worked more often in those years - BT). The only thing for me that remained to be done was conduct it. I had never met Karel Gott before. I soon found out he was a good guy. Although we never met up professionally again afterwards, we have always remained friends as a result of this one week in London. We scored badly, true, but London was a great experience for me. First, there was this wonderful Royal Albert Hall where the contest was organized. Moreover, it was the first time ever for me to conduct on television – as you will understand, very exciting!”

“We were there with a small delegation. Udo himself was present and of course Beierlein, the publisher. As far as I remember, there were two people from ORF and that was it! The rehearsals did not pose any problems. Communication with the orchestra musicians was easy, as I speak some English thanks to the many years I played in the American dance clubs in Vienna after the war. The musicians said they liked our song, but I experienced in the festivals all over Europe and beyond I did in the years after, that musicians always say that to any conductor. "Yes, your song will win, it is the best in the competition!", was what they used to say. Most of the times the orchestra for festivals like these is very good; that was certainly the case in London. The musicians were very eager to please the guest conductors. I also got the impression they liked the music they were playing and, throughout the rehearsals, the atmosphere was most pleasant.”

With composer Udo Jürgens during the rehearsals in London’s Royal Albert Hall, Eurovision Song Contest 1968

“For Udo Jürgens, the result in London came as a blow. He had written a song in the style with which he himself was immensely successful in Germany at that time. ‘Tausend Fenster’ was hardly played on the radio after the contest and there was no chart success whatsoever. On the other hand, for me personally, this Eurovision Song Contest was quite important. It was interesting to find yourself in a different environment, meeting up with all kinds of people and getting the opportunity to listen to what other European countries came up with. Yes, it was a wonderful experience!”

In the two years after, Austria did not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. Its return was in 1971 with Marianne Mendt and a song with a powerful melody in Viennese dialect, ‘Musik’ (written by Richard Schönherz and Manuel Rigoni). Schönherz penned a most spectacular brass orchestration to his own song. Robert Opratko, who was Mendt’s producer at that time, was asked to conduct the orchestra in the international final held in Dublin. One year prior to the contest, he had already accompanied Mendt as a conductor to the Sopot Song Festival in Poland, where she sang ‘Wann i eam nur vergessen könnt’. In the Eurovision Song Contest, ‘Musik’ finished 16th with 18 countries participating.

Opratko has a very outspoken opinion about why Marianne Mendt failed to impress the European juries. “We went to Dublin with the wrong song, although I must admit I am not completely objective. There was an internal selection in Vienna to determine which song Marianne would perform. In the end, there were two songs, ‘Musik’ and ‘I hob di’. This second song was composed by myself, with words by André Heller; a song with an instantly memorable chorus. Moreover, it was rhythmically and harmonically more in line with what was in the charts in those days… something which would have fit in the Eurovision Song Contest excellently, if you ask me."

Opratko with Karel Gott (middle) and Wolfgang Arming, head of Polygramm (to the right) (1969)

" But the jury in Vienna had another opinion. Johannes Fehring was in it and he said, "It is crystal-clear; ‘Musik’ is the song for us!" By stating his opinion so bluntly, he strongly influenced the final outcome. And so we travelled to Dublin with ‘Musik’ and we finished near the bottom of the scoreboard once again. You will not hear me say anything negative about Schönherz’ composition, because it is a wonderful song with jazzy undertones… a good melody, harmonically very interesting. The arrangement was certainly good, but slightly pretentious; something which, to my mind, could be said of the song as a whole.”

“However, being in Ireland was an unforgettable experience. What a beautiful country it is! It was the first time I went there and, unfortunately, I have never been back. I would have loved to have come back to do some more sightseeing. We did not have much opportunity to travel about due to all rehearsals. We were in a much smaller venue than the Royal Albert Hall three years before… a tiny theatre in the centre of Dublin. The orchestra was good and the Irish organisation was up to the task. Of course, I did not have any expectations of doing well in the voting, as I did not believe in our song."

"Moreover, I felt Austria was some sort of ‘nobody’. To put it exaggeratedly, we Austrians entered the building through the back door. We were not important and we never tried being important, being too modest to try to direct attention towards us. The Germans, for example, always made sure everyone knew they were there; they were more dominant. Although I cannot prove it, I have the impression Austria often did so badly in music competitions, because we were only little Austria. Luckily, in this case, being defeated in the Eurovision Song Contest has not harmed Marianne Mendt’s career in the long term. She continued recording albums and later had a wonderful career in theatre and on television.”

Marianne Mendt on the Eurovision stage in Dublin

OTHER ARTISTS ABOUT ROBERT OPRATKO

Udo Jürgens, one of the most important singers in the German language of all times, “Robert Opratko was an important factor in the early years of my career. He is a very pleasant and sympathetic guy. We were in Johannes Fehring’s orchestra together and it was pure joy to work with him – a fantastic pianist with the ability to play jazz to perfection. Being a pianist myself, that was a learning experience for me and he influenced me to no slight degree. I was honoured that Robert wanted to conduct my composition for Karel Gott in the Eurovision Song Contest – he certainly was not a random choice!” (2011)

Willy Fantel has worked with Opratko on many different occasions: “We have known each other since the 1950s. In 1955, he brought me some of his first compositions to have these played by my band. Later, we played together in countless sessions in the Vienna recording studios and, during a tour in Romania, he played in my band. We were on the board of the Austrian Association of Authors, Composers, and Publishers (AKM) at the same time. Following his career, I have always admired him for his qualities as an instrumentalist, arranger, and bandleader as well as for his diligence.” (2011)

Opratko with Liza Minelli (1995)

EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR

1968 London

Country – Austria

Song title – “Tausend Fenster”

Rendition – Karel Gott

Lyrics – Walter Brandin

Composition – Udo Jürgen Bockelmann (Udo Jürgens)

Studio arrangement – Alain Goraguer

(studio orchestra conducted by Robert Opratko)

Live orchestration – Alain Goraguer

Conductor – Robert Opratko

Score – 13th place (2 votes)

1971 Dublin

Country – Austria

Song title – “Musik”

Rendition – Marianne Mendt

Lyrics – Manuel Rigoni / Richard Schönherz

Composition – Manuel Rigoni / Richard Schönherz

Studio arrangement – Richard Schönherz

(studio orchestra conducted by Robert Opratko)

Live orchestration – Richard Schönherz

Conductor – Robert Opratko

Score – 16th place (66 votes)

SOURCES & LINKS

• Bas Tukker interviewed Robert Opratko, March 2011
• Many thanks to Udo Jürgens and Willy Fantel for their additional comments
• All photos courtesy of Robert Opratko

WEBSITE

www.opratko.at

CHRISTIAN BRUHN

The following article is an overview of the career of German composer and arranger Christian Bruhn. The quotes are a mix of two sources; first, there are Christian Bruhn’s entertaining and very well-written memoirs: “Marmor, Stein und Liebeskummer” (ed. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf: Berlin, 2005). Additionally, Bas Tukker had an extended email exchange with Mr Bruhn in July 2017, discussing various parts and aspects of the latter’s career in music. The article below is subdivided into two main parts; a general career overview (part 3) and a part dedicated to Christian Bruhn's Eurovision involvement (part 4).

All material below: © Bas Tukker / 2017

Contents

1. Passport
2. Short Eurovision record
3. Biography
4. Eurovision Song Contest
5. Other artists about Christian Bruhn
6. Eurovision involvement year by year
7. Sources & links

PASSPORT

Born: October 17th, 1934, Wentorf bei Hamburg (Germany)
Nationality: German

SHORT EUROVISION RECORD

Professor Christian Bruhn represented West Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest on two occasions: first, in 1962, he composed ‘Zwei kleine Italiener’, performed by Conny Froboess, which came sixth but managed to do very well in the international charts. Eight years later, in 1970, his song ‘Wunder gibt es immer wieder’ won the West German selection show. Interpreted by Katja Ebstein, it managed a third place and, again, a considerable hit success. Whereas the Eurovision orchestra for ‘Zwei kleine Italiener’ was led by Rolf-Hans Müller, Bruhn arranged and conducted ‘Wunder gibt es immer wieder’ himself.

BIOGRAPHY

Christian Bruhn was born in a village in Sleswick-Holsatia, not far from Hamburg. His father originally was an art painter and publisher of modern art, but his company was shut down in 1933 due to the Nazis’ degenerate art policies. Subsequently, he worked as a sales representative. After the Second World War, he made a new career change, running a new publishing house as well as a post-order bookshop. Christian’s mother, who had been educated to be a primary school teacher, was a reasonably good pianist. 

“My father also knew how to play the piano,” Bruhn adds, “especially when he had had a little glass of wine – which was not very often. Unlike my mother, he did not read music. Both of them loved classical music, though. Although my father was opposed to it, mother started teaching me the piano when I was five years old. We had a piano at home and, when she discovered I was interested in the instrument, she decided my musical education should be better than the one my father had had. Mother used the book ‘Schule des Primavistaspiels’ (= School of sight-reading) by Leonhard Deutsch, a learning method to which I owe a lot.”

A considerable part of Christian Bruhn’s youth was spent in Austria. There, together with his mother and his younger sister Cornelia, he lived out most of the war years. His father felt the Alps would be a safer environment for his family than a part of Northern Germany which was fully exposed to British air strikes. Continuing his work as best he could, Max Bruhn occasionally visited his wife and children in the various towns in Tyrol and Carinthia where they happened to be staying. 

“My most vivid memories are of Bad-Kleinkirchheim,” Christian recalls. “We lived there for over four years and I made lots of friends. My mother had a hard time being accepted by the locals who never truly accepted her as part of the community, but my sister and I did not fully realise that at that time. We actually grew up amongst the other children of the village and got along well with them. Due to many teachers being called away to serve in the army, my mother took up her old job and later on even became headmaster at the local school where I was a pupil. All the while, she continued teaching me my piano lessons, whilst also explaining me the basics of harmony. In 1942 and 1943, we met our father for Christmas in Salzburg. To show my progress at the piano to my father, I had to play Haydn, Bach, and Schumann for him. It was an intimidating experience, as my father was not the easiest of characters. He must have cherished the dream of my becoming a piano virtuoso, but there was no escaping the fact that I lacked the talent. At the same time, I loved improvising at the piano. At eight years of age, I came up with my first ‘composition’, a simple melody hardly worth that epithet.”

Christian as an adolescent

After a short episode in Eastern Bavaria in the first half of 1945, Martha Bruhn and her two children travelled by train across a Germany devastated by the war, back to Sleswick-Holsatia. Christian Bruhn, commenting, “Nowadays, many people in Germany refer to the end of the war as our ‘liberation’. That is a lie. Most Germans supported the Hitler regime to the bitter end. For us, the 8th of May should forever be a day of quiet reflection, not of celebration. Otherwise, we run the risk of creating wrong perceptions on what has happened with younger generations. Of course, it was only long after the war that I gave all of this any thought… after all, I was only ten years old at the time." 

"It took years before life became some sort of normal again. There was a lack of everything… of food, to begin with. Nonetheless, my father’s publishing company did not fare badly, so he had the luxury of spending some money. Just after the war, he took me to a concert of Haydn’s music in Hamburg. Afterwards, we went to a dancing hall where the Juan Llossas Orchestra played jazz music. This second performance fascinated me to bits. Still in 1945, I heard Glenn Miller’s ‘In the Mood’ on the radio for the first time. Though I was not fully conscious of it then, I found something in light entertainment music which no classical composer could give me. Later on, I found out why… though many classical composers have always been gods to me, classical music lacks the groove of jazz! Having said that, it would take me several more years before learning how to swing…”

For the moment, young Christian continued his classical music studies, first with Hans Bittner, who taught him the piano as well as harmony and counterpoint; later onwards with Irma Holmquist. During his high school days, he took private lessons with Prof. Ernst G. Klussmann. 

“I consider myself lucky to have met Klussmann. Being an experienced teacher at Hamburg’s music school, he imbibed me with a thorough knowledge of music theory. Moreover, thanks to him, I discovered I had a talent for composing short themes rather than longer classical forms, such as sonatas. Smilingly he would say, “You are like Johann Strauss, playing one theme after the other!” At a point, I felt there was nothing more to learn – of course, this was a mistake – and stopped my music studies. Thanks to Klussmann, I had all the knowledge I needed to do what later became my profession: composing and arranging popular music. Incredibly for these days, he even took an interest in the pieces I was writing, using his contacts at Sikorski Music Publishers in Hamburg to allow me to try to sell some of my first Schlager compositions there. I must have been sixteen years of age at that time. When my songs were rejected for being too complicated – which they were – he cheered me up, claiming, “You will write your first world hit when you are eighteen!” Well, as a matter of fact, I never wrote a real world hit in my life, but things would work out really well nonetheless – and for that I owe eternal gratitude to professor Klussmann.”

Christian playing the accordion in Black Stars, one of the bands he played in during his high school days

Meanwhile, Christian had become a Gymnasium student. Though he liked literature lessons and Latin, he was not an ambitious pupil. “My teachers did not motivate me sufficiently,” he says now. To the dismay of father Max, his son’s fascination for jazz and dance music grew and grew while his school marks sank lower and lower. Listening to the radio, he discovered more and more Anglo-Saxon jazz music as well as the fledgling dance orchestras of West Germany’s new broadcasters. Already at fourteen, he formed a music band with some fellow students. One band followed the other, and before he knew it, he was touring Hamburg and the surrounding towns with groups such as Black Stars and Kolibris. 

“In the beginning, we simply played at parties for our classmates. Sometimes, I played the drums rather than the piano! Our repertoire? Simply the tunes we had heard on the radio… mainly Schlagers, though, later onwards with Black Stars and Kolibris, we switched to dance music. In the years after the war, swing-jazz was the most popular form of entertainment music. At a point, I also formed my own jazz trio with Wolfgang Schönrade on bass and Horst Kabsch as the drummer. With this so-called Christian-Trio, we aimed at bringing real jazz in Erroll Garner style. We were well sought-after and performed regularly at the Winterhuder Fährhaus in Hamburg.”

Due to his musical activities as well as a lack of motivation, Christian quit high school. As his parents had discovered their son had a predilection for painting as well as for music, he absolved a craftsman training as a painter at the Otto Schmarje company in Hamburg. 

“This apprenticeship enabled me to perform in my bands during the weekends. During weekdays, I went to the company and did my job. Within two-and-a-half years, I passed my exams. The encounter with the working class was a very important experience, as it has shaped my political position forever. After finishing with Schmarje, I tried to obtain a gymnasium diploma for a second time by following lessons at a private school. My parents were overjoyed, as such a diploma was some sort of obligatory for the son of a middle class family, but before long I was bored to death and gave up."

"By then, I had a girlfriend and I started making some really decent money as a musician. In 1955, I was hired as a professional at various gigs in bars and nightclubs in and around Hamburg. Later that same year, I joined a group with which I played the piano and accordion for some months at the casino in Flensburg. By then, I had had enough experience on the road to play entertainment music and some decent jazz piano as well. Moreover, thanks to a Hamburg cinema owner called Werner Grassmann, I was asked to compose music to a short film, ‘Ware unterwegs’. It was for the first time that I was commissioned to write my own music. I distinctly remember recording the music in the Amerika-Haus, downtown Hamburg. I was the pianist in the trio during the session, but, already during the first take, I made a hash of it. “Herr Bruhn has played a wrong note,” the production leader exclaimed as he stopped the session. Already by then, my limitations as a pianist were becoming painfully obvious!”

Freelancing as a pianist at a students’ party in Hanover, c. 1955

Around that same time, Bruhn composed some jazz pieces as well, but these were never performed. Meanwhile, he joined the Rudy René Swingtett, which was hired to play in bars and soldiers’ barracks in Frankfurt and Heidelberg (1956). 

“We mainly played for American GI’s. Our performances lasted deep into the night, for as long as these soldiers wanted to dance with the German girls they were courting. One evening in Frankfurt, after having packed up to go home to get some sleep, the bar owner ordered us back in to go down into the so-called cellar bar, as he wanted us to replace another group of musicians. So back in we went. Downstairs, I saw the band which we had to replace. They were just playing their last notes… three grey-haired gentlemen wearing old-fashioned suits. I could clearly see and hear they did not enjoy their job at all. Right at that moment, I fully realised that continuing as a performing musician was not what I wanted to do in life. These three poor old chaps were my wake-up-call. True, I stayed with the Rudy René Swingtett for some more months, but when a petty conflict with my colleagues arose over a tip of one dollar I had been given by an American guy, my time had come to move on. With my girl, I went down to Munich. We had a couple of friends there… James Krüss amongst others, the brilliant poet who had published his debut work at my father’s company back in 1946. Nevertheless, it was not the easiest of times. At one point, I even had to pledge my accordion.”

Being forced by circumstances, Christian Bruhn had to take up his old job of freelance pianist for a while, but in 1957 he was hired by Tempo as a sound engineering assistant. Tempo was a record company which mostly released cover versions of hit melodies. These records were sold at a lower price than the original recordings. 

“Of course, Tempo was always in need of arrangements. It was not long before I started writing orchestrations for them as well as taking care of the sound department. The job was pretty straightforward: listen to the original record carefully and write an exact transcript of the original. This turned into the last part of the education I needed. By following the work of the best hit arrangers of other record companies, especially Polydor, I closely studied which elements were needed in producing successful Schlager songs, ranging from Caterina Valente to Peter Alexander, and from Lolita to Freddy Quinn. In those days, Munich was not the epicentre of the recording business in West Germany yet. We found it hard to reach the level of Hamburg, Berlin, or Cologne. For recording sessions, the orchestras of band leaders such as Ernst Jäger, Lutz Dietmar, and Josef Niessen were hired. We usually recorded after midnight, when the record pressing machines in the company’s factory hall had been switched off.”

During his time at the Tempo record company in Munich, c. 1959

Thanks to his work as an engineer and arranger, Bruhn could finally say goodbye to the nightclub circuit. Gradually, apart from his contract work for Tempo, freelance commissions came his way as well; amongst other things, he wrote orchestrations for the BR Tanzorchester, the light entertainment orchestra of Bavaria’s state radio station. During his time at Tempo, Bruhn met Georg Buschor (1923-2005), former singer-guitarist turned lyricist. In spite of the age gap, the two men became close friends. Also artistically, they turned out to be a good team. In 1960, the songwriting duo has its first hit, ‘Midi-Midinette’ by Conny Froboess, released at the Electrola label. Bolstered by this success, Bruhn decided to leave Tempo, preferring to work as a freelance composer and arranger.

“For the rest of my life, I have remained a Freiberufler," Bruhn comments. “As almost all other composers of entertainment music at that time – at least, those who were able to read music, which is not an absolute requirement to be a really good pop songwriter – I accepted requests from colleagues to arrange their work. As a composer, writing the string and brass parts to a melody can be left to someone else without any problem, as long as the arranger is true to the intentions of the songwriter… which was not always the case. However, throughout my career, I have preferred to arrange my own compositions. The way I look at my job, creating a sound, with strings and brass, is as much part of the deal as inventing a melody.”

As an arranger, amongst other commissions, Christian Bruhn worked on ‘Hotel Victoria’, a television show with Vico Torriani, as well as an album of Max Greger. In 1961, a new hit was born, as the Bruhn-Buschor creation ‘Kommt ein Schiff nach Amsterdam’, performed by Caterina Valente, came third in a nationwide TV song contest, the Deutsche Schlager-Festspiele, held in Baden-Baden. A year after, Buschor and Bruhn took part again, this time with singer Conny Froboess and ‘Zwei kleine Italiener’, which stormed to victory and was a huge chart success, not only in West Germany. With this smash hit under his belt, Christian Bruhn suddenly became one of the country’s most sought-after songwriters. 

In the 1960s, one hit followed the other; amongst these are ‘Mitsou’ for Jacqueline Boyer, ‘Liebeskummer lohnt sich nicht’ for Siw Malmkvist (another Schlager-Festspiele winning entry in 1964), and ‘Wärst du doch in Düsseldorf geblieben’ for Dorthe Kollo (1968). The lyrics for all these songs were penned by Georg Buschor, with whom Bruhn continued collaborating extensively until the mid-1970s. Other songwriting partners of this period include Hans Bradtke and Fred Jay. Apart from writing songs, Bruhn also scored several musical films starring the most popular German artists of the day. With Berlin-based lyricist Günter Loose (1927-2013), Bruhn penned ‘Er ist wieder da’ for Marion Maerz (1965). The best-remembered of all Bruhn’s hit successes, however, is a song recorded by a guy from Berlin without prior success in the pop business, Drafi Deutscher.

Christian Bruhn, Siw Malmkvist, and Georg Buschor celebrating victory after winning the 1964 Deutsche Schlager-Festspiele with ‘Liebeskummer lohnt sich nicht’

“I first learned about Drafi’s existence at a talent show in West-Berlin at which music publisher Peter Meisel and I were jurors. As he was one of the most promising participants, we duly signed him and produced several records of his, none of which met with much popular acclaim. Then, one day, in Peter Meisel’s office in Berlin, Drafi took his guitar and played a couple of bars, “Làlala-lalà-làlala, dam-dàm, dam-dàm…” – and then he stopped. My reaction was, “This is a good start… could you sing us the rest of this song as well?” Drafi’s reply, however was, “Det machst du” (Berlin dialect for “You take care of that”). And that's what I did, working with Günter Loose."

"The hardest bit was finding a catchphrase for the chorus. Peter Meisel wanted it to sound as ‘The concrete and the clay’ by Unit4+2, and after some hard thinking I came up with the famous line often used in autograph books, ‘Marmor, Stein und Eisen bricht (Aber treue Liebe nicht)’ (in English: “Marble, stone, and iron bend, but true love does not”). Peter instantly liked the idea. Thereupon, Drafi and I created the double-time part. During the recording of the song, the input of Drafi’s band, The Magics, was quite important, giving the song even more energy than it would have had in the first place. I added an arrangement of brass and background vocals, and… a hit was born. Already at that time, we were quite sure this was going to do well. That was the birth of a cult song – though we did not quite know what a cult song was back in 1965! This is a song which, even today, sounds fresh. It does not need a dance mix or something like that to appeal to younger audiences.”

Within a year, over 800,000 copies of the single release were sold in West Germany alone, whilst the song also charted in several other Western-European countries, most notably Austria and the Netherlands. The English version, ‘Marble Breaks And Iron Bends’, met with minor chart success in the USA. 

In the second half of the 1960s and the early 1970s, Christian Bruhn continued enjoying immense success as a composer of German hit songs, including ‘Ein bisschen Spass muss sein’ (for Roberto Blanco, 1972 / lyrics: Günter Loose), ‘Der Stern von Mykonos’ and ‘Ein Indiojunge aus Peru’ (both for Katja Ebstein, 1973 / lyrics: Georg Buschor). The collaboration with Katja Ebstein, which had begun by Bruhn composing her Eurovision entry ‘Wunder gibt es immer wieder’ in 1970, grew into a tighter bond; between 1972 and 1975, Bruhn and Ebstein were husband and wife. For Katja, apart from Schlager material, Christian Bruhn created the music to an album of Heine poetry as well.

In a Hamburg recording studio with Drafi Deutscher (1969)

Between 1969 and 1980, Bruhn was producer and songwriter for Mireille Mathieu, a French songstress with parallel careers in her home country and in West Germany. Mostly working with Georg Buschor, Bruhn created a German repertoire of nearly one-hundred songs for her, including hit melodies as ‘Hinter den Kulissen von Paris’ (1969) and ‘Akropolis adieu’ (1971). Working with lyricist Michael Kunze, Bruhn also came up with a song for Mathieu which charted in France, ‘Mille colombes’ (1977). ‘Hinter den Kulissen’ was Mathieu’s first chart success on the German market. 

“Georg Buschor and I had known of Mireille long before she came to Germany,” Bruhn comments. “Thanks to Gerhard Hämmerling, a French language expert turned music publisher, we got in touch with her and her manager Johnny Stark. At my house, we received the three of them to introduce Mireille to two songs we had composed for her, ‘Martin’ and ‘Kopenhagen’. I played the melodies for them at the piano. The second title did not please Mireille at all… which was a problem, as a single record has two sides! Sneaking towards the piano, Georg mumbled to me, “We have still got ‘Hinter den Kulissen von Paris’, remember?” That was true, but we just had this single line – there was no song! Rambling away at the piano, I improvised the rest of the melody on the spot. After some moments, Johnny Stark jumped up, exclaiming, “C’est ça! Justement – That’s it!”, and he was right… That was the start of Mireille’s career in Germany with one hit song following the other.”

In the 1970s, Bruhn broadened his working field by composing television and radio jingles as well as music for advertising. The most famous melody he came up with in this respect is ‘Die zarteste Versuchung seit es Schokolade gibt’ for Swiss chocolate brand Milka. After fifteen years, however, he decided he had seen enough of this corner of the business. 

“Over the years, I have had much work in the advertisement industry. As budgets were high, I had the opportunity to team up with some of the best singers around. It was not long before I was some sort of a star for advertising agencies, but some elements of the industry got on my nerves. For example, I was once asked by a not-completely-sober art director if I could create a heavy metal tune for a coffee advertisement. Drinking a glass of whiskey with him, I tried to explain that this music genre did not really match the profile of coffee drinkers... Conversations like this occurred more and more often – and my frustration grew as a result. Increasingly, music of mine which I thought was not good at all was picked for advertising campaigns… and, in the end, I said to myself, “If you are only in it for the money, you should not be doing this at all.” Since, I have been a poorer man, but a happier one as well.”

At work in the studio, recording a demo

For television, Christian Bruhn wrote two children’s musicals for WDR, North-Rhine Westphalia’s state broadcaster; amongst these titles was Der Sängerkrieg der Heidehasen (1979), the libretto of which had been written by Bruhn’s old friend James Krüss. Moreover, he composed the title music to the German versions of two children’s animation series, Wickie (1974) and Heidi (1978). The latter melody was a huge hit success for German folk duo Gitti & Erica. Erica Goetz was Bruhn’s fourth wife; their marriage lasted 25 years. For Erica, Christian composed and arranged dozens of more songs. In the course of the 1980s and 1990s, many more commissions for drama series, children’s animations, and television films followed, including Timm Thaler (1979), Captain Future (1980), Jack Holborn (1982), and Alle meine Töchter (1994).

Bruhn, dwelling on the qualities of a film composer, “When working with a director, the composer has to know how to be subservient. My job is to help the director to make his script and the actors more credible. The music serves to deepen the emotions felt by the spectators. With quite some directors, I worked just once; on some occasions, my melodious compositions were not cool enough for them, sometimes too dominant to suit their taste… they preferred anonymous, interchangeable sounds, whilst I had only tried to support the scripts, which often were weak and without any tension or emotion. There are exceptions to this rule, however. In this respect, a quote of East German director Frank Beyer deserves attention. He once said, “Music can add new dimensions to a film, if only it is given room to shine.” Unfortunately, it was not too often that I encountered directors with an equal amount of talent as Beyer.”

In the 1990s and 2000s, Bruhn’s productivity as a composer somewhat diminished, though he still found time to compose the children’s musical Mein Freund Wickie (2003) and produced two albums with entertainer Donato Plögert, published in 2013 and 2016 respectively. From 1981 onwards, however, Bruhn was a board member for GEMA, Germany’s Association of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers, being elected president in 1991; whilst holding on to the GEMA presidency for 18 years, he also was involved in governing CISAC, the International Association of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers, of which he was vice-president (1998-2002) and president (2002-04). For his role in the music business as a whole, Christian Bruhn received countless awards and prizes, including the Paul-Lincke-Ring (1993) and GEMA’s Richard-Strauss-Medaille (1999). In 2002, he was named an Honorary Professor at the Music Academies of Augsburg and Nuremberg.

Looking back on his career, Christian Bruhn regrets not having worked more in jazz music, “After the war, I fell in love with American jazz music – and, with me, an entire generation of musicians. Bearing this in mind, it would have been logical for German entertainment music to develop itself at least slightly in the direction of these examples from across the ocean – this happened in the odd case, but, generally speaking, from ‘Pferdehalfter an der Wand’ to ‘Anton aus Tirol’, our music history is a string of very simple melodies. To my regret, I must admit to have succumbed to the preferences of German music audiences too. After my first compositions had been rejected as being ‘too complicated’, I decided to try with easy melodies; that is life, and, after all, I wanted to make a living as an artist… which is what I succeeded in doing.”

With his colleague and friend Ralph Siegel at the October Festival in Munich, c. 2000

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

In 1961, Christian Bruhn and his close songwriting partner Georg Buschor were working on a new song for the Deutsche Schlager-Festspiele, a nationwide song festival. Bruhn had come up with a polka melody in typical German folk style. As the song was supposed to be performed by three singers – a lead vocalist and two backings – Buschor’s initial idea was to write lyrics about three sailors travelling the seas with their boat. Working on this plan, however, both soon agreed the lyrics did not work well with the melody. Thereupon, Buschor thought of a completely different theme: ‘Zwei kleine Italiener’ (= Two little Italians). Christian Bruhn was not enthusiastic about this idea from the outset.

“I had some reservations about the song title. ‘Little Italians’ sounded slightly disdainful, but Georg already penned the lyrics to Lale Andersen’s hit ‘Kleinen Marinero’ and convinced me there was nothing to worry about. It was the first song about immigrant workers; ten years later, Udo Jürgens and Michael Kunze wrote a title around the same theme, ‘Griechischer Wein’, which was better than ours – but they only wrote it after producer Ralph Siegel turned down their original idea for the lyrics, ‘Sonja, kehr heim’ (= Sonja, come home). Sometimes, the stories behind the hit songs are really strange.”

“Georg and I wrote ‘Zwei kleine Italiener’ with Rocco Granata in mind. He was the guy who wrote ‘Marina’. We wanted Rocco to sing it with two backing vocalists, which were needed because there is hardly time to breathe in between the verses. I put together a demo version with my wife Charlotte, her sister Ulrike and myself as the vocalists. In the end, Electrola bosses Günter Ilgner and Heinz Gietz decided that Conny Froboess should sing it… solo. The selection jury of the Deutsche Schlager-Festspiele allowed their record company to produce the song; Georg and I had no say in that whatsoever. Luckily, the recording turned out fine and, thank God, Electrola’s arranger Gerhard Eisenmann wrote down the orchestration by exactly following each and every note in the demo version. Helped by the directions of Heinz Gietz, Conny did a wonderful job on singing this song as a soloist – completely opposed to the original idea of three singers, but it worked well!”

From left to right, lyricist Georg Buschor, performer Conny Froboess, and composer Christian Bruhn with their ‘Golden Record’ and ‘Golden Dog’, the awards due for 1,3 million sold copies of ‘Zwei kleine Italiener’

In 1962, the Deutsche Schlager-Festspiele were a national event in West Germany. It was the second time the competition between songwriters from all over the country was held under this name. The winning song would go on to represent West Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest, but the popularity of the event, held in the spa town of Baden-Baden, was such, that Eurovision was on nobody’s mind. Competition for Conny Froboess was stiff. Amongst others, Carmela Corren, Margot Eskens, and Wyn Hoop took part. When the voting started, it soon turned out it was a two-horse-race between ‘Zwei kleine Italiener’ and ‘Die Wege der Liebe’, a ballad composed by Hans Wittstadt. Its performer was Swedish songstress Siw Malmkvist. The tension was immense and there was just the Hamburg jury left to cast its vote… but the votes from Hamburg never arrived.

"Probably, if the votes from Hamburg had come in, we would have lost to ‘Die Wege der Liebe’," Bruhn reflects. "It was a tight vote. The votes from the audience in the hall in Baden-Baden were already in, but the expert juries from the radio stations all over the country had their say as well. There was no answer from Hamburg. That day, a flooding disaster had taken place up there. The telephone lines had broken down and obviously people up there had something else on their mind than a song festival. So, in the end, it was decided upon not to wait for the Hamburg jury and simply accept the scores as they were. At that point, our ‘Italiener’ were just in the lead – and as a result, we were declared winners. I had to console Hans Wittstadt. He was really frustrated. The expert juries tended to favour subtle compositions over real sing-a-long type songs, and his composition ‘Die Wege der Liebe’ was a really beautiful song. Next thing I knew, Georg Buschor and I were on stage receiving our award from GEMA president Prof. Erich Schulze.”

High-brow media frowned upon ‘Zwei kleine Italiener’, which was perceived as a simplistic song, but record buyers thought differently. In less than a month after the victory in Baden-Baden, it topped the domestic charts – and in several other countries as well. The single sold some 1,3 billion times; including the cover versions which were released all over Europe, from Finland to Spain, even over 2 billion copies. As hit success had already been secured, the Eurovision Song Contest in Luxembourg was no more than a bonus.

Conny Froboess on stage at the 1962 Eurovision Song Contest in Luxembourg

Rolf-Hans Müller, who had conducted all songs at the Schlager-Festspiele in Baden-Baden, was West-Germany’s musical director at the contest, but the songwriting team of Georg Buschor and Christian Bruhn were there as well. 

When asked about his memories of Luxembourg, Bruhn comments, “My most vivid recollection in Luxembourg is that we won the contest in the dress-rehearsal. We were invited onto the stage to receive the winners’ medals, pretending we had won the contest. In the end, we came sixth, which was not that bad at all for a German polka melody which had never been intended for an international audience anyway. More important than Eurovision, ‘Zwei kleine Italiener’ was my real breakthrough as a songwriter. Everything Georg Buschor and I wrote in the following years, was snatched from our hands by eager producers.”

Eight years later, Christian Bruhn participated in West Germany’s Eurovision pre-selection again, this time with ‘Wunder gibt es immer wieder’, a song he had penned for Katja Ebstein. The lyricist was Günter Loose. 

“Günter and I had known each other since 1960,” Bruhn recalls. “Publisher Peter Meisel thought we could be a good composer/lyricist duo and arranged for a meeting between the two of us. Günter came over to my place. Instead of talking about creating new songs, we discovered we had a mutual love for jazz music… so instead of thinking about Peter Meisel, we drank slivovitz and listened to some fine jazz records. Günter, or ‘Rudi’ as I called him, became a friend – and we turned into one of Germany’s most prolific songwriting teams for several years on end. Some of our creations were written in under thirty minutes. Günter wrote his lyrics extremely fast. ‘Wunder gibt es immer wieder’ was one of our most memorable songs. One evening, shortly before the deadline of the German Eurovision heats, Günter called me, “You there, listen: do you remember that country song we worked on, ‘Wunder gibt es immer wieder’? We should submit it to the Grand Prix! It is a good catchphrase, and a good chorus. Compose some good festival music to it, perhaps somewhat slower and more dignified than we had had in mind originally. I can change the lyrics completely if need be”.”

“As it turned out, there was no need to change the lyrics at all. Next morning before dawn, I got up to find Günter’s lyrics in the folder where I kept his drafts – Ordnung muss sein! – and, having found them, sat down at the piano. I felt it required a grandiose intro, reminiscent of Richard Strauss’ ‘Also sprach Zaratustrah’ – and then turn into rhythm & blues… and only then, after having created a sheer unbearable tension, Katja Ebstein should appear on stage and start singing. To cut a long story short: the idea was to have a composition which had some drama, having in mind that Eurovision is a TV event. Once I had the basic idea, the notes followed more or less automatically. Günter’s words fitted in wonderfully well and the slower tempo was a better idea anyway than the original plan to turn it into a country song. By nine o’clock in the morning, our Eurovision song was ready!”

Katja Ebstein (to the right) having a moment of relaxation at the contest in Amsterdam with Mary Hopkin, the UK competitor in the festival

Katja Ebstein was a young and promising singer from Berlin. Bruhn had written songs for her and even an entire album, but the real breakthrough had failed so far. Meanwhile, the singer and the star-composer had fallen in love. 

“Katja had moved in to my place in Munich," Bruhn confesses, "and I was terribly keen to advance her career, so she was a logical choice for a Eurovision participation. We recorded a demo in the Union Studio, Munich. From the start, I expected it to do well. I was particularly pleased with my arrangement of strings and brass. My gut feeling did not fail me: the song won the German pre-selection in Frankfurt and so we could start thinking of the international contest. In the Trixi Studio, we made a new recording with backing vocalists, a big orchestra and one of the best sound engineers around, Willi Schmidt. The drummer in the recording was Charly Antolini, a guy who had just moved from Cologne to Munich; he was so good that I had regularly travelled to Cologne to work with him prior to his arrival in Bavaria. The result was really good; even today, the recording of ‘Wunder gibt es immer wieder’ sounds excellent.”

Unlike in 1962, when he had not written the arrangement himself, let alone conducted his Eurovision song, Bruhn this time took it upon himself to lead the orchestra for his Eurovision entry in the international contest. That year’s final was held in Amsterdam. For promotional purposes, the German delegation had taken some copies of the record with them to the Netherlands. 

Once the rehearsals started, Bruhn was happy to have one of those copies available in his pocket, “As a matter of fact, the orchestra’s Hammond organ player had trouble playing the all-important intro phrase, even after I had demonstrated to him what it should sound like; I knew what I wanted – after all, I had played the organ in the record version myself! I gave him one of the single records to listen to and practice at home. This did the trick; in the concert, he performed it just fine.”

Of course, as a studio arranger, Christian Bruhn had picked up conducting experience for some years. Nevertheless, he could have been excused for being nervous to lead the Metropole Orchestra, the light-entertainment orchestra of the Dutch public broadcaster, for an audience of millions of television viewers, but Bruhn laughs away the suggestion.

“Conducting a light music orchestra is rather easy. Usually, in pop music, the entire song is played in the same tempo, whereas real conducting starts when rubato occurs in the score, or when cuing specific musicians or groups of musicians in the orchestra becomes necessary. The most important thing in a pop song is the correct tempo – and, therefore, eye-contact with the rhythm players, especially the drummer, is really important. In Amsterdam, this was especially true: when counting in ‘Wunder gibt es immer wieder’, I started in a tempo which was just a little bit too slow. By finding eye-contact with the drummer, I forced him to speed up gradually.”

Katja Ebstein rehearsing 'Wunder gibt es immer wieder' on stage at the RAI Conference Centre in Amsterdam, Eurovision 1970

Given that the West German delegation had high hopes of doing very well in the contest with this modern song, it came as a disappointment that ‘Wunder gibt es immer wieder’ was ignored by the first national juries. 

“Nervously, I walked up and down the corridors of the festival hall, watching the television screens as the votes came in. Fortunately, in the end, thanks to the votes from Spain and some other friendly countries, we finished third. While I felt relief, Katja was less impressed. According to her, we would have won if Germany had not been so unpopular in the rest of Europe due to its guilt in the Second World War. What counted, though, was that we had a huge hit in Germany, overshadowing the success of the two songs which had finished in front of us (‘All kinds of everything’ by Dana for Ireland and ‘Knock knock who’s there?’ by Mary Hopkin for the UK - BT).”

In spite of Katja Ebstein’s disappointment at not winning the contest, ‘Wunder gibt es immer wieder’ finally heralded her breakthrough as a pop singer, not only on the German market. “After the Eurovision Song Contest”, Bruhn recalls, “Katja was invited to be a guest of honour at another festival, the Rio de Janeiro Song Festival in Brazil. Back in Europe, she toured with James Last’s Orchestra in Germany and with the Big Band of Paul Kuhn in the Soviet Union. All the while, I accompanied her, though it was not out in the open yet that we had a relationship. Finally, in 1972, we were married." 

"In the following years, Katja had several hits which I had written for her, such as ‘Der Stern von Mykonos’, but, with Katja, my aim was always to create genuine art. Hence, on each album we made, there were songs which did not necessarily fit the Schlager vocabulary – and of course in 1975 we recorded the LP ‘Katja Ebstein singt Heinrich Heine’. Whatever she recorded, be it ‘Ein Indiojunge aus Peru’ or a 19th century poem, Katja always managed to upgrade the composition thanks to her beautiful voice. Unfortunately, our marriage didn't last. Fittingly, shortly before our breakup, Katja recorded a song of mine called ‘Ich bau mir ein Haus auf einer Insel’ (= I am building myself a house on an island)… which was not only true in the metaphorical sense of the word; at the time, Katja had a house built on the North Frisian island of Amrum!”

OTHER ARTISTS ABOUT CHRISTIAN BRUHN

So far, we have not gathered comments of other artists who worked with Christian Bruhn.

EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR

1962 Luxembourg

Country – West Germany

Song title – "Zwei kleine Italiener"

Rendition – "Conny Froboess 

Lyrics – Georg Buschor

Composition – Christian Bruhn

Studio arrangement – Gerhard Eisenmann

Live orchestration – Gerhard Eisenmann

Conductor – Rolf-Hans Müller

Score – 6th place (9 votes)

1970 Amsterdam

Country – West Germany

Song title – "Wunder gibt es immer wieder"

Rendition – Katja Ebstein 

Lyrics – Günter Loose

Composition – Christian Bruhn

Studio arrangement – Christian Bruhn

Live orchestration – Christian Bruhn

Conductor – Christian Bruhn

Score – 3rd place (12 votes)

SOURCES & LINKS

• Christian Bruhn’s magnificent memoirs (in German): “Marmor, Stein und Liebeskummer”, ed. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf: Berlin, 2005
• Thanks to Christian Bruhn for answering some additional questions about his Eurovision involvement for this online biography (July 2017)
• Photos courtesy of Christian Bruhn and Ferry van der Zant

WEBSITE

www.christianbruhn.de

JIMMY WALTER

Born: April 27th, 1930, Paris (France)

Died: September 20th, 2012, La Ferté Macé (France)

Nationality: French

In due course, the short impression below will be replaced with a more extensive career overview

BIOGRAPHY

Benjamin ‘Jimmy’ Walter composed the most famous song of Boris Vian, ‘Le déserteur’ (1954), a protest against the ongoing French colonial war in Indochina. Other songs he wrote for Vian include ‘Cinématographe’ and ‘Les joyeux bouchers’. He accompanied Vian with his orchestra, which featured, amongst others, Léo Petit, Benny Vasseur, and Roger Bourdin.

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

Together with music business tycoon Eddie Barclay, Walter composed the music to ‘Marlène’ (lyrics: Henri Djian), an homage song to Marlène Dietrich. In 1970, this was the Monegasque entry to the Eurovision Song Contest in Amsterdam, performed by the then 16-years-old Dominique Dussault. Working with an orchestration written by Jean Bouchéty, Walter conducted the Metropole Orchestra for Dussault’s performance. The song finished in 8th place.

EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR

1970 Amsterdam

Country – Monaco

Song title – "Marlène"

Rendition – Dominique Dussault 

Lyrics – Henri Djian

Composition – Jimmy Walter / Eddie Barclay

Studio arrangement – Jean Bouchéty

(studio orchestra conducted by Jimmy Walter)

Live orchestration – Jean Bouchéty

Conductor – Jimmy Walter

Score – 8th place (5 votes)

RAYMOND LEFÈVRE

Born: November 20th, 1929, Calais (France)

Died: June 27th, 2008, Seine-Port (France)

Nationality: French

In due course, the short impression below will be replaced with a more extensive career overview

BIOGRAPHY

 

Raymond Lefèvre studied piano and flute in Paris, graduating with first prizes for both instruments. In the early 1950s, he played the piano in the orchestras of Hubert Rostaing, Bobby Jaspar, and Franck Pourcel. In 1953, he worked in the Hilton Hotel, Los Angeles, as a bar pianist. After he had been signed by the Barclay label in 1956, he recorded the first instrumental album with his own orchestra. Many were to follow, selling millions of records world-wide – especially in Japan – and scoring hits with his re-arranged versions of well-known hits, such as ‘The Day That The Rains Came’ in 1956, ‘Ame Câline (Soul Coaxin’)’ in 1968, and ‘La reine de Saba’ (1972). Lefèvre’s orchestrations were charactersed by the sweeping strings which were the trademark of his mentor Pourcel, but, as a rule, contained more brass and were slightly more up-beat.

With his orchestra, he performed in many French TV shows, including Musicorama (in the 1950s) and Palmarès des Chansons (1965-67), accompanying the likes of Dalida, Claude François, and Richard Anthony. Lefèvre was an energetic composer and arranger, penning the soundtracks of countless films, including most of the comedies starring Louis de Funès, as well as the hit single ‘I Will Follow Him’ by Peggy March (co-written by his friends Paul Mauriat and Franck Pourcel). Lefèvre made world-tours, continuing up to a high age. His last concerts were in Japan in the early 2000s.

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

Hired by Monaco’s TV station, Lefèvre conducted the Monegasque entries of 1960, 1961, 1962, and 1963, accompanying François Deguelt (twice), Colette Deréal, and ye-ye star Françoise Hardy. Several years later, in 1970, he returned to the contest as the arranger and conductor of the Luxembourg entry ‘Je suis tombé du ciel’, which, in the rendition of David Alexandre Winter, did not manage to score a single point.

EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR

1960 London

Country – Monaco

Song title – “Ce soir-là”

Rendition – François Deguelt

Lyrics – Pierre Dorsey

Composition – Hubert Giraud

Studio arrangement – Jo Moutet

(studio orchestra conducted by Jo Moutet)

Live orchestration – Raymond Lefèvre

Conductor – Raymond Lefèvre

Score – 3rd place (15 votes)

1961 Cannes

Country – Monaco

Song title – “Allons, allons les enfants”

Rendition – Colette Deréal

Lyrics – Pierre Delanoë

Composition – Hubert Giraud

Studio arrangement – Jean Bouchéty

(studio orchestra conducted by Jean Bouchéty)

Live orchestration – Jean Bouchéty

Conductor – Raymond Lefèvre

Score – 10th place (6 votes)

1962 Luxembourg

Country – Monaco

Song title – “Dis rien”

Rendition – François Deguelt

Lyrics – René Rouzaud

Composition – Henri Salvador

Studio arrangement – Jo Moutet

(studio orchestra conducted by Jo Moutet)

Live orchestration – Jo Moutet

Conductor – Raymond Lefèvre

Score – 2nd place (13 votes)

1963 London

Country – Monaco

Song title – “L'amour s'en va”

Rendition – Françoise Hardy

Lyrics – Françoise Hardy

Composition – Françoise Hardy

Studio arrangement – Marcel Hendrix

(studio orchestra conducted by Marcel Hendrix)

Live orchestration – Raymond Lefèvre

Conductor – Raymond Lefèvre

Score – 5th place (25 votes)

1970 Amsterdam

Country – Luxembourg

Song title – “Je suis tombé du ciel”

Rendition – David Alexandre Winter

Lyrics – Eddy Marnay

Composition – Yves De Vriendt

Studio arrangement – Raymond Lefèvre

(studio orchestra conducted by Raymond Lefèvre)

Live orchestration – Raymond Lefèvre

Conductor – Raymond Lefèvre

Score – 12th place (0 votes)

MARIO CAPUANO

Born: 1945, Rome (Italy)

Nationality: Italian

In due course, the short impression below will be replaced with a more extensive career overview

BIOGRAPHY

Mario Capuano seems to have begun his career as a pianist, but subsequently became a record producer and arranger. With his brother Giosy Capuano and Giacomo Tosti, he helped to build up a repertoire for Scottish band Middle Of The Road, co-producing their first successes, including ‘Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep’ and ‘Sacramento’ (the latter co-composed by Capuano). Mario Capuano appeared as a conductor in Italy’s San Remo Festival three times (1967, 1969, and 1970). Later, again with his brother Giosy, he composed the song ‘Perdoname’ for Demis Roussos as well as entries to five more editions of the San Remo Festival (1983, 1988, 1989, 1993, and 2003).

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

Mario Capuano arranged and conducted the Italian entry in the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest, ‘Occhi di ragazza’ (composed by Armando Franceschini and Lucio Dalla with lyrics by Sergio Bardotti and Gianfranco Baldazza), which was performed by Gianni Morandi. That year, Italy landed a joint eighth place in the contest, which was held in Amsterdam.

EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR

1970 Amsterdam

Country – Italy

Song title – "Occhi di ragazza"

Rendition – Gianni Morandi

Lyrics – Gianfranco Baldazza / Sergio Bardotti 

Composition – Lucio Dalla / Armando Franceschini

Studio arrangement – Mario Capuano 

(studio orchestra conducted by Mario Capuano)

Live orchestration – Mario Capuano

Conductor – Mario Capuano

Score – 8th place (5 votes)

BERNARD GÉRARD

Born: April 26th, 1930, Mouvaux (France)

Died: June 29th, 2000, Etterbeek, Brussels (Belgium)

Nationality: French

In due course, the short impression below will be replaced with a more extensive career overview

BIOGRAPHY

Bernard Gérard worked as an arranger for various artists, including Pierre Perret and Félix Leclerc, with whom he recorded two albums; for Juliette Gréco, he orchestrated one of her best-known songs, ‘Déshabillez-moi’ (1967). Moreover, he wrote several film scores, including Ne nous fâchons pas (1966) and La route de Salina (1971).

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

Gérard competed in the Eurovision Song Contest on one occasion, in 1970, when he arranged and conducted the Swiss entry, ‘Retour’, composed and performed by Henri Dés. This song finished in joint fourth place.

EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR

1970 Amsterdam

Country – Switzerland

Song title – "Retour"

Rendition – Henri Dès 

Lyrics – Henri Destraz

Composition – Henri Destraz

Studio arrangement – Bernard Gérard

(studio orchestra conducted by Bernard Gérard)

Live orchestration – Bernard Gérard

Conductor – Bernard Gérard

Score – 4th place (8 votes)