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Mozart or Salieri

Anna — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:47:27 +0000

Well, I am not so keen on doing quizzes but I found Mikhail Simkin’s worth trying. Here is Mozart or Salieri , but why not give a try to a MIDI or Virtuoso as well?
I’d be interested in how you did.

Hurry up!

Anna — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:13:38 +0000

If recently buying objects of art was consider as a good investment, now it seems that such good investment is an used DVD. Or thanks to my January post the previous DVDs have been sold?

So hurry up, may be in a week or two it would be cheaper to invite Mr Malcolm Bilson to your own place for a lecture!

Mozart’s Là ci darem la mano

Anna — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 14:22:24 +0000

I usually do not comment colleagues interpreters as I know how hard is the job. And as our taste is based on our experiences and the age plays a role as well, one must let the people make their own choices. That’s why usually I do not read or participate in the musical discussions about “the best musician in the world”, ‘the best singer in the world” and so on…
But lately there was a very passionate exchange on one of these forums about a well-known singer and I wanted to listen to some interpretations myself. Probably you know how it goes – you start searching for something in Youtube and 2 hours later you are still in Youtube – and still searching for something else… In this case it was for Mozart’s “Là ci darem la mano” duet from the opera “Don Giovanni” where Don Giovanni seduces Zerlina.
My attention was drawn to two completely different versions of seduction (IMHO in the second one the singers try to seduce the camera, not each other). Compare and enjoy:

Click here to view the embedded video.

and

Click here to view the embedded video.

What would you choose?

Anna — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:24:25 +0000

For those interested in the fortepiano playing – there are right now two offers for the Malcolm Bilson’s DVD “Knowing the score” on Amazon.com. The first DVD costs only $6,231.71 (or you can have it used for $7,374.57). The other offer is for $49.95. Your choice…

I do not know if it is a joke or erratum, but I like the idea that it is not simply $ 6,231.00, but $6,6231.Seventy One Cents!

Here an excerpt from “Knowing the score”:

Click here to view the embedded video.

P.S. In case one of the DVDs is sold meanwhile, here’s a screenshot ;)

Ari Leschnikoff once more or answering Jessica

Anna — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 13:42:27 +0000

Ari’s granddaughter was very kind to share in a comment what she knows about him and I feel obliged to answer her.
First of all, thanks, Jessica! I know how difficult is today to find out what really happened and especially when there is often more than one version of some events.
What you wrote about Biberti and Ari is correct, but it is only a small extract of a really complicated story. As a matter of fact, I did not mean to give a larger account of their relations when I wrote about Ari Leschnikoff – first, because it is already done on many German sites and secondly because only those really involved in it knew the exact truth and they are all gone. But maybe a small résumé could be of help. It is based on the documentary film where the members of the Comedian Harmonists recount their own memories and on the information many German links contain. I underline – I have not been there during the events, it is only a résumé.

Biberti was the financial manager from the beginning of the Comedian Harmonists. I think all his life the money played extremely important role for him. That was one of the reasons why he did not wish to immigrate. After the Jewish members were forced to leave, Biberti, Leshnikoff and the pianist Bootz became the owners of the ensemble. The new members were paid a salary and expenses and were promised to become owners in a 3 years period. As you mention it, Biberti was what could be called a “dictator” – and Frommermann called him so. Certainly because of that Erwin Bootz left the “Meister-sextett” (this was their name then) to begin a solo career in June 1938. He left his shares to Biberti and Leschnikoff, and the royalties for the recordings to Biberti. Biberti profited of the situation to take over the artistic direction too. He managed somehow to buy Leschnikoff’s recordings royalties as well – probably only for the “Meister-sextett” (it seems that Ari owed him money?) and so became the only owner of the royalties. Then in 1939 began the problems between Leschnikoff and Biberti on the one side and Kassen and Biberti on the other. Kassen claimed that it was the time to accept the remaining members as owners (as promised) and was supported by Ari, who thought the situation very unfair. Biberti complained to “Reichsmusikkammer” about the problems and it led to many hearings and controls of the rehearsals and concerts. That certainly did not help to resolve the situation, especially when on his turn Kassen (and as Biberti claimed later, Leschnikoff too?) notified the police about Biberti’s “anti-Nazi behavour”. Biberti was called to the Gestapo and even Bootz had to testify. Later Leschnikoff protested that he never did such a thing and that Biberti is lying. It is possible that only Kassen was involved or even somebody else outside the group, but as I wrote – they are all gone and we were not there. A lawsuit followed… After the war Biberti on his tour denounced them (and three other persons) as Nazis.
Certainly you know the documentary film by Eberhard Fechner (done in 1975), but I would like to recommend it to those who are interested in “Comedian Harmonists” and those who understand German, it is worth seeing. It is touching to hear Ari’s voice, full of tenderness when he speaks about his little boy (Jessica’s father) and about his wife’s courage – she saved during the bombing of their house in Sofia not only their son but many other children too.

About Ari Leschnikoff in Bulgaria. You wrote: “Ari had already had to return to Sophia to carry out his duties as a senior officer in the Bulgarian army” and then you wrote also: “He fought with the partisans in the mountains to prevent the Russians and the Nazis from entering Bulgaria during the war”. Interesting is that Ari was probably able to return to Berlin in 1939 or even 1940? – he recorded there alone.

Then back in Bulgaria he continued to sing and record too. During 1940-41 he was responsible for the musical section of the company “Microphone”.

From 1942 to 1943 he was an assistant commander, and from 1943 – the commanding officer of the Central Rail Station in Sofia. At least it is what he says in the documentary and I don’t see why he should lie. Now – how could he be in two places at once – in Sofia with an important mission and in the mountains as a partisan in the same time? Do you mean he deserted secretly the army to join the partisans? Because the partisan movement was guided by the Communist party and so coordinated with the Soviet communist party as well. That’s why the partisans did not fight to prevent Russians entering Bulgaria. And if he was a partisan, after the war he would have enjoyed the privileges many partisans received, but it does not seem to be the case.

You write as well: he smuggled Jews and gypsies out of the country during the war too. Not many people know this, and I am proud of it, since my mother is Jewish.

I don’t know how and when he smuggled Jewish or Roma (Gypsies), but there is one thing that not many people outside Bulgaria know: during the Second World War the Jewish people in Bulgaria have had a very different destiny compared to those in the other Europe’s parts. Please read this.

In Bulgaria they were not victims of deportation to Germany. When the first Jewish groups for the first deportation train arrived in Plovdiv, the population protested violently and the (future) Bulgarian Patriarch warned that he will join the Jewish people. The deportation was stopped. There were even rumors that Tzar Boris III was poisoned after his meeting with Hitler in 1943, when he made clear his position about the Jews. Yes, some of them were sent to the countryside for labors, but they all returned, and this I know myself not only from older friends, but also from older Jewish acquaintances. The Jewish from the “new” parts of Bulgaria (Jews from Aegean Thrace (now in Greece) and Vardar Macedonia (now Republic of Macedonia), which were then under German occupation and Bulgarian administration) were sent to Germany and it could be possible that as a commandant of the Rail Station Ari was in a position to help. But I think you can be proud of your grandfather in any case, even if your mother were not Jewish :-).

Ari Leschnikoff was seen as a traitor in the 50’s not because of his singing in foreign languages. That was the case with Snegina Tchelebieva. Ari offended the Regime because he sang old city songs (starigradski pesni) and this was considered as bourgeois.

I have to correct the following too: “Did the Communist Party outlaw all the fantastic operas from France or Italy: yes – because they were seen as bourgeois. That’s why so many opera stars that emerged from Russia and the former Soviet Union only sang Verdi in Russian!”

The communist regime did outlaw neither Italian nor the French operas – otherwise the Russian or Soviet singers will not be able to sing it at all, not even in Russian. But they sang in Russian – because such was the old tradition. Already in the end of the 19th century and the beginning of 20th in Russia the operas were translated in Russian, giving the public the possibility to understand everything.

A small example:

The famous Russian singer A. Nezhdanova 1906 in “Caro Nome” (Verdi)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Not less famous L.Sobinov 1911 in “Je crois entendre encore” (Bizet)

Click here to view the embedded video.

So it was possible to hear in Russia an opera with the Russians singing in Russian and the guests in Italian. In Bulgaria the future singers had to learn Italian to be able to understand and sing in the original language too. But many other nations did the same. Same could be said about the original editions of sheet music (Urtext) – only in the last 30-40 years they began to be of importance.
An interesting parallel – in West Germany during many years after the war all the movies were translated in German without subtitles. The foreign movies shown on the TV were in German too. Some operas were sung in German as well, here Hermann Prey and Fritz Wunderlich in Rossini:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Jessica, I think today it should be not a problem for you to learn more about Ari’s second family and your uncle in Bulgaria:

And do visit Bulgaria when you have the opportunity!

Best regards
Anna

The piano stairs

Anna — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:58:34 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

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And the composer is…

Anna — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 22:26:06 +0000

…Daniel Steibelt (1765-1823)!

I admit that it was a difficult quiz, as there are no recordings of his music, except only one sonata. But Georgi was very close with his guess-congratulations! (And I also would like to thank Acnapyx and Michel for their participation.)

What I really wished is to show that the “charlatans” can write wonderful music too. :-)

More about Steibelt coming soon… stay tuned!

A quiz

Anna — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 23:18:31 +0000

Before I begin to write about another forgotten composer, one more representative of the departing 18th and beginning 19th century, I would like to propose a small quiz: an excerpt from one of his piano sonatas. A little hint is offered – he is often (even by honorable scholars) branded as a charlatan:

Sonata c minor

And the composer is…..

Happy New Year!

Anna — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 09:56:07 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Comedian Harmonists 3 – Ari Leschnikoff

Anna — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 09:32:00 +0000

Lately in a private conversation Snezhina Tchelebieva, a well-known Bulgarian actress and reciter mentioned how quickly an actor’s life goes on and how even quicker he gets forgotten. I would add – same applies to a musician as well.
So even though there is enough biographical information about the members of “Comedian Harmonists” on the web, I wanted to write even if little but separately about the Bulgarian Ari (Asparouh) Leschnikoff and to give some evidence of his later musical existence.
Ari remained in Germany until about 1940 when he returned in Bulgaria to join the army. After the war he was able to continue to sing, recording a good deal for the Bulgarian label Balkanton.
Interesting is the variety of the songs he interpreted – including the Bulgarian version of the popular Russian song “Katiusha”:

Asparouh Leschnikoff – Katiusha

Then in the late 50’s he was accused being a traitor (probably because he sang some old town songs), and although it was done anonymously, he was no more allowed to work as a singer.

Such a proceeding was not an exception during the communist regime. Under the mask of politically correct behavior many less talented fellows got rid of their successful rivals. So for example in the 1950’s the phenomenal Bulgarian musician, the pianist Trifon Siljanovski spent years in a labour camp because of an “anonymous” letter by another musician, also a pianist. Even 20 years later, in 1975 the actress Snejina Tchelebieva, by then a brand name in Bulgaria, was forbidden to work – Snejina was accused to recite in foreign languages like Spanish or French, which was seen as a conduct of a traitor. This interdiction came as a result of an anonymous letter (by an actress) too.
On the other hand – how big were Leschnikoff’s musical chances as a representative of an older generation in the rapidly changing musical (and not only) world of the 60’s and 70’s?
A rare TV documentation of the aging Ari with still great voice – in a small excerpt from the song “I love the women passionately”:

Click here to view the embedded video.

What can a musician do more except for playing or singing, especially if already over 60 years old? It seems that he worked as a cleaner or gardener and as such he certainly received a meager pension.

Asparouh Leschnikoff – Bitter coffee

On some of the Bulgarian sites the people are questioning why Leschnikoff as a member of such a famous ensemble did not receive any according remuneration in Bulgaria. But he did not represent Bulgaria during those years in Germany (partly already Nazis’ Germany) and later exposed as a betrayer, his work and recordings in Bulgaria were for sure being seen as unworthy such remuneration. Other wondered why he never received any help (in form of royalties from their recordings) he asked for Biberti in the last years. It is easily forgotten today that Leschnikoff has lived in a different world – behind the Iron Curtain, where the contacts with the Western countries were prohibited. Same Biberti helped Frommermann who was back to Germany. Or was it the old quarrel (ending eventually in a lawsuit) they had with Ari which stopped Biberti from helping his former friend and colleague? How could we know?
Unfortunately, little is known about Ari’s second marriage and the son, named Henry (who was alive in 2006) or may be even some grandchildren.
We can only hope that his granddaughter from the first marriage, the singer Jessica Leschnikoff (who has already a blog about her distant ancestry) will be able to write about him too. Even if she never met him, she is certainly the person who knows more than anybody else.
“The whisper of the waves”:

Click here to view the embedded video.

In my Bulgarian entourage there is no one who does not know Leschnikoff’s name. He is still remembered in Bulgaria and that’s all that counts.

“White stone fountain”:

Click here to view the embedded video.