Comedian Harmonists: Europe's Successful Musical Group Before WWII

Comedian Harmonists Singen Nur Fur Odeon poster by Friedel, 70 x 93 cm. The group, The Comedian Harmonists performed between 1927 and 1934 as one of the most successful musical groups in Europe before World War II. It consisted of Harry Frommermann (tenor buffo), Ari Leschnikoff (first tenor), Erich Collin (second tenor), Roman Cycowski (baritone), Robert Biberti (bass), and Erwin Bootz (pianist). The hallmark of the Comedian Harmonists was its members' ability to blend their voices together so that the individual singers could appear and disappear back into the vocal texture. Its repertoire was wide, ranging from the folk and classical songs arranged by Frommermann to the more appealing and witty popular songs of the day. By the early 1930s, the group ran into trouble with the Nazi regime: three of the group members - Frommermann, Collin, and Cycowski - were Jewish, and Bootz had married a Jewish woman. The Nazis progressively made the group's professional life more difficult, initially banning pieces by Jewish composers, and finally prohibiting them from performing in public. The group's last concert in Germany was in Hannover on March 25, 1934.