Showing posts with label Engelbert Humperdinck. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Engelbert Humperdinck. Show all posts

September 1, 2025

20,000 vinyl LPs 393: Engelbert Humperdinck ~ Hansel & Gretel

 ~  
vinyl LP front cover detail 
 cover Design – Bob Israel & Michel Goldberg
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®


Today is the birthday of German composer Engelbert Humperdinck who was born on September 1, 1854, in Siegburg in the Rhine Province. Humperdinck's reputation rests chiefly on his opera Hänsel und Gretel, on which he began work in Frankfurt in 1890.  He first composed four songs to accompany a puppet show his nieces were giving at home. Then, using a libretto and thematic suggestions by his sister Adelheid Wette, rather loosely based on the version of the fairy tale by the Grimm Brothers, he composed a singspiel of 16 songs with piano accompaniment and connecting dialogue. By January 1891, he had begun working on a complete orchestration. The opera premiered in Weimar on 23 December 1893, conducted by Richard Strauss.      
 

vinyl LP front cover 
cover Design – Bob Israel & Michel Goldberg
photo of album cover by Styrous®


Care should be taken to not confuse the 19th century German composer, Engelbert Humperdinck, with the 20th century British pop singer, Engelbert Humperdinck.              




Hänsel und Gretel is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 as part of Grimms' Fairy Tales (KHM 15). According to folklorist Jack Zipes, the tale emerged in the Late Middle Ages Germany (1250–1500).        
 
Hansel and Gretel are siblings who are abandoned in a forest and fall into the hands of a witch who lives in a house made of breadcake, and sugar. The witch, who has cannibalistic intentions, intends to fatten Hansel before eventually eating him. However, Gretel saves her brother by pushing the witch into her own oven, killing the witch. The children then escape with the witch's treasure.          

Set in medieval Germany, Hansel and Gretel has been adapted into various media. A contemporary reimagining of the story, the Mátti Kovler musical fairytale Ami & Tami, was produced in Israel and the United States and subsequently released as a symphonic album     

         



































 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

   
Tracklist:
       
Side 1:
        
A        Act I, Scenes 1 & 2
       
Side 2:
 
B1        Act I, Conclusion
B2        Act II, Scene I        

Side 3:
        
C1        Act II, Conclusion
C2        Act III, Scenes 1 & 2
       
Side 4:
       
D        Act III, Conclusion
         
Credits:
       
    Conductor – Arthur Rother*
    Design – Bob Israel (2), Michel Goldberg (2)
 
Erna Berger, Berlin Mozart Boys' Choir, Symphony Orchestra Of Radio Berlin* – Hansel And Gretel
Label: Urania Records (3) – UR-5212-2
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo
Country:US
Released:
Genre: Classical
Style: Opera
        
         
Viewfinder links:        
         
Brothers Grimm          
Engelbert Humperdinck composer        
Engelbert Humperdinck pop singer       
Mátti Kovler        
Richard Strauss         
        
Net links:        
        
         
        
        
         
        
        
YouTube links:        
        
Hansel and Gretel (complete) (1 hr., 46 mins., 45 secs.)        
Evening Prayer        
        
         
        
        
        
Styrous® ~ Monday, September 1, 2025        
       
 
 














Mátti Kovler articles/mentions

 ~        
      
     
     
mentions:     
Engelbert Humperdinck ~ Hansel & Gretel    
      
     
     
     
     
     
     
Mátti Kovler - (מתי קובלר) 2013 
self-portrait 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
 
 
 
 
 
 

Brothers Grimm articles/mentions

 ~     
Engelbert Humperdinck ~ Hansel & Gretel    
     
     
     
mentions          
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
Brothers Grimm - 1847 



        
       
       
       
        
       














Engelbert Humperdinck articles/mentions

 ~        
Hansel & Gretel      
     
     
mentions:     
      
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
 
 
 
 
 
 

March 17, 2021

Ray Stevens articles/mentions

  ~         
      
     
The Coasters ~ Yakety Yak     
Engelbert Humperdinck ‎~ Help Me Make It Through the Night     
      
     
           
      
     
      
     
Ray Stevens     
date & photographer unknown     
      
     
      
     
      
     
      
     
      
     
      
     
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

October 16, 2020

45 RPMs 50: Bert Kaempfert ~ Wonderland By Night

~      
 45 RPM record
photo by Styrous®
 
 
Bert Kaempfert (born Berthold Heinrich Kämpfert, 16 October 1923 – 21 June 1980) was a German orchestra leader, multi-instrumentalist, music producer, arranger, and composer. He made easy listening and jazz-oriented records and wrote the music for a number of well-known songs, including  Moon Over Naples, which was sung by Al Martino, and Strangers in the Night, which was used in the score for the movie A Man Could Get Killed (which starred James Garner and Melina Mercouri) and was made famous and became a major hit for Frank Sinatra in 1966.                
 
 
 
 45 RPM record in sleeve
photo by Styrous®
 

Wonderland By Night (German title Wunderland bei Nacht), with its haunting solo trumpet by Charles Tabor, muted brass, and lush strings, topped the American pop charts and turned Kaempfert and his Orchestra into international stars. Tabor was an Austrian jazz trumpeter, born 5 January 1919 in Vienna, Austria, died 29 July 1999 in Griesstätt, Bavaria, Germany.          
 
 


Wonderland By Night was written by Klaus Günter Neumann with English lyrics by Lincoln Chase who wrote, Jim Dandy, which was recorded by American R&B singer, LaVern Baker.     

A cover, recorded and released by Louis Prima, also charted in the same year, reaching #15 on the Billboard charts. A vocal version by Anita Bryant, which included orchestrations by Lew Douglas, reached #18 on the US Pop Chart. Engelbert Humperdinck and Johnny Mathis also recorded vocal versions, while Floyd Cramer did a great cover on piano, with his "Nashville sound", of course.     
 
 
 45 RPM record label
photo by Styrous®
 
 
Kaempfert was born in Hamburg, Germany. He was hired by Hans Busch to play with his orchestra, before serving as a bandsman in the German Navy during World War II. He later formed his own big band and toured with them,       
 
His first hit with his orchestra was Wonderland By Night. Recorded in July 1959, the song could not get released in Germany, so he took the track to Decca Records in New York, which released it in America in the fall of 1960.       

Wonderland By Night was a Billboard number one hit for three weeks, starting January 9, 1961. It was recorded in July 1959.     
       

Bert Kaempfert ~ Dreaming the Blues
 45 RPM record
photo by Styrous®
 

In his capacity as record producer, Kaempfert played a part in the rise of The Beatles. In 1961, he hired the Beatles to back Tony Sheridan on an album called My Bonnie. Sheridan had been performing in Hamburg, and needed to recruit a band to play behind him on the proposed tracks. Kaempfert auditioned and signed the Beatles, and recorded two tracks with them during his sessions for Sheridan: Ain't She Sweet (sung by rhythm guitarist John Lennon) and Cry for a Shadow (an instrumental written by Lennon and lead guitarist George Harrison). The album and its singles, released by Polydor Records, were the Beatles' first commercially-released recordings.

On October 28, 1961, a man walked into the Liverpool music store owned by Brian Epstein and asked for a copy of My Bonnie, a song recorded by the Beatles but credited to Tony Sheridan. The store did not have it, but Epstein noted the request. He was so intrigued by the idea of a Liverpool band releasing a record that he investigated. That event led to his discovery of the Beatles and, through his efforts, their signing by George Martin to Parlophone Records after Kaempfert helped them avoid any contractual claim from Polydor.    

           

 

 
The "B" side, Dreaming the Blues, is a languid, New Orleans, ragtime, tune that is a perfect vamp song! I used it for one of the girls at the Hungy i on Broadway (link below).
 
 

 

Bert Kaempfert ~ Dreaming the Blues
 45 RPM record
photos by Styrous®

 

 

I have always enjoyed reading the artists who recorded for a label that were advertised on the record sleeves: I'd count to see which were the ones listed I had.     



 
Bert Kaempfert died suddenly on June 22, 1980, at the age of 56, following a stroke at his home in Majorca, the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain.            
 
On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Kaempfert among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.        
 
   
 
           
Tracklist:

Side 1:

A - Wonderland By Night (Wunderland Bei Nacht), written by Klaus Gunter-Neumann* - 3:12

Side 2:

B - Dreaming The Blues, written by Bert Kaempfert - 3:00

Companies, etc.

    Manufactured By – Decca Records, Inc.
    Published By – Roosevelt Music Co., Inc.
    Pressed By – Decca Records Pressing Plant, Gloversville

Credits:

    Soloist [Trumpet] – Charly Tabor

Notes:

Recorded in Europe by Deutsche Grammophon/Polydor (R) Series
 
Barcode and Other Identifiers

    Pressing Plant ID (B side label): ✤
    Matrix / Runout (A side matrix code - label): (DGG 24 086 A)
    Matrix / Runout (B side matrix code - label): (DGG 24 086 B)✤
    Matrix / Runout (A side matrix code - runout (stamped)): 45 DGG24086A 7
    Matrix / Runout (B side matrix code - runout (stamped)): 45 DGG24086B 3
    Matrix / Runout (A side matrix code (variation 1) - runout (stamped)): 45 DGG24086A 2
    Matrix / Runout (B side matrix code (variation 1) - runout (stamped)): 45 DGG24086B 5
    Matrix / Runout (A side matrix code (variation 2) - runout (stamped)): 45 DGG24086A 10
    Matrix / Runout (B side matrix code (variation 2) - runout (stamped)): 45 DGG24086B 2
    Rights Society: BMI

Bert Kaempfert And His Orchestra* ‎– Wonderland By Night (Wunderland Bei Nacht)
Label: Decca ‎– 9-31141
Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single, Gloversville Pressing
Country: US
Released: 1960
Genre: Jazz, Pop
Style: Big Band, Easy Listening


       
  
Viewfinder links:       
         
all things Beatles          
Anita Bryant       
Engelbert Humperdinck        
Pillow (She-Beast) & The Hungry i       
Frank Sinatra        
     
Net links:       
         
Stereogum ~ Bert Kaempfert ~ Wonderland By Night (review)        
Way Back Attack ~ Wonderland by Night (review)      
     
YouTube links:                 
             
Anita Bryant ~ Wonderland By Night       
Floyd Cramer ~ Wonderland By Night       
Engelbert Humperdinck ~ Wonderland By Night       
Bert Kaempfert ~ Dreaming the Blues        
Bert Kaempfert ~ Wonderland By Night         
Johnny Mathis ~ Wonderland By Night       
        
              
      
Styrous® ~ Friday, October 16, 2020