The art of cabaret was essentially a Parisian creation, though there were parallel developments in other countries. The opening of Le chat Noir in Montmartre on November 18th 1881 may be regarded as the event that initiated a half century “Golden Age” of cabaret that climaxed in Berlin in the 1920s. Within a few years cabaret had already established itself in Germany at the notorious “Eleven Executioners” in Munich where the subversive lyrics of frank Wedekind soon attracted the unwelcome attentions of the German authorities. From Munich cabaret spread to Berlin when Ernst von Wolzogen founded the “Uberbrettl” in 1901. Under the Weimar Republic, cabaret became perhaps the most characteristic art form of Berlin.
In this brief 15 year period Berlin surpassed even Paris as a magnet for the artistic talents of the whole of Europe. From Schoenberg and Schreker to Korngold and Lehar, Berlin sucked in much of the musical talent of Central Europe. At the crossroads of east and west, Berlin saw a flowering of an extraordinary array of movements in the visual arts including Expressionism, Dada, constructivism as well as the modernist design that came from the celebrated Bauhaus. Above all though, it was the harsh, hard-edged realism of the “Neue Sachlichkeit painters (Otto Dix, George Grosz and Christian Schad) that defined the mood of slightly sinister hedonism that we associate with Weimar Berlin. Their musical equivalent was provided by a remarkable group of composers who wrote for the various forms of musical theatre that thrived in 1920s Berlin. This brilliant and versatile group included Kurt Weill, Hanns Eisler, Friedrich Hollaender, Werner Richard Heymann, Mischa Spoliansky, Franz Wachsmann (later Waxman) and Rudi Nelson. Ironically none of these composers quintessentially Berlin composers were born in the city and all were of Jewish origin. Mischa Spoliansky, once dubbed “the Offenbach of Berlin” was born at Bialystok in Russia and no more German that the ultra Parisian Offenbach was French.
When Hitler took power in 1933 all these composers were forced to flee, not only because they were Jewish but because their gloriously subversive art could not thrive under the yoke of a totalitarian regime. For most of these refugee composers, Paris was the first port of call. Kurt Weill arrived in Paris in March 1933 with a well-established reputation. Die Dreigroschenoper had already achieved an astonishing 133 new international productions since its Berlin premiere in 1928. There had also been successful Parisian productions of “Mahagonny” and “Der Jasager” and a triumphant concert of Weill’s music in the Salle Gaveau in December 1932. While in France Weill wrote songs for the popular singer Lys Gauty but surprisingly his renewed collaboration with Bertholt Brecht that resulted in the superb “Seven deadly sins” which was premiered at the Theatre des Champs Elysees in June 1933 proved a failure.
If Weill and Brecht could count on the support of left wing intellectuals there is no doubt that the composer most loved by the French public in general was Werner Richard Heymann. This was thanks to the delightful songs he wrote for the films of Lilian Harvey that were made in both German and French (with Henri Garat replacing Willi Fritsch in the French versions). For a brief time in the early 1930s the irresistible melodies of Heymann helped to make Lilian Harvey the most popular film star in Europe. Unlike Marlene Dietrich, Lilian Harvey did not transfer successfully to the other side of the Atlantic and after 1933 she proved too English for the Germans and too German for the French and the English. Despite his huge popularity in France (where his “Les Gars de la Marine” was taken up as an unofficial anthem of the French navy), Heymann moved on rapidly to Hollywood where he wrote the musical scores for such memorable movies as “Ninotchka”, “The shop around the corner” and “To be or not to be”.
Heymann’s life long colleague and friend Mischa Spoliansky also had a certain reputation in France that was mainly based on the international success of the song he later referred to as his “passport”, “Heute Nacht oder nie”. Retitled “La chanson d’une nuit” this was recorded in French by a long list of singers that included Roger Bourdin, Miguel Villabella, Reda Caire, Jose Luccioni and Andre Dassary. Even before this, in 1931 the jaunty tune of Spoliansky’s “Mir ist so nach dir” was given an entirely new French text and transformed into an effective vehicle for the greatest of all French music hall stars Mistinguett under the title of “Viens”. The poignant “Leben ohne Liebe kannst du nicht “ was inserted into the film “Calais-Douvres” as “On ne lutte pas contre l’amour”. Like Heymann, Spoliansky also moved on rapidly to a successful career as a film composer, this time in England.
Franz Wachsmann (Waxman) emigrated to Paris in 1934 after being beaten up on a Berlin street by nazi thugs. While in Paris he found time to the achingly beautiful “La belle croisiere” which helped to launch the career of the dusky voiced lesbian chanteuse Suzy Solidor, before moving on to Hollywood where his score for the 1935 movie “Bride of Frankenstein” did as much as that of Korngold’s “Captain Blood” to transform expectations of what movie music could do.Friedrich Hollaender was yet another composer who followed the call to Hollywood. The raunchy songs he wrote for Marlene Dietrich to sing in the 1931 movie “the Blue Angel” proved to be his “passport”. These songs carried Dietrich’s fame around the world and made Hollaender’s name at the same time, but in fact Dietrich’s sexually ambiguous persona had already been established through the songs that Spoliansky wrote for the 1928 revue “Es liegt in der Luft” and which provided Dietrich with her first major Berlin success.
Though France had its own history of virulent anti-semitism dating back to the ugly rants of Edouard Drumont in the nineteenth century and the bitterness surrounding the Dreyfus Affair, for a few years in the mid `1930s Paris provided a haven for a generation of German Jewish composers. Amongst the most extraordinary songs of the period was “Israel. Va-t’en”, an exceptional expression of French sympathy for the plight of Jewish refugees, at a time when there were those who followed the slogan “Better Hitler than Blum” (Leon Blum, leader of the left wing Popular Front.”
Patrick BADE

René Dorian.
01. Israel, va-t’en. Lys Gauty.
Franz Wachsmann (Waxman)
02. La Belle Croisière. Suzy Solidor
03. Toute Seule. Marianne Oswald
Werner Richard Heymann
04. Amusez-vous. Comedian Harmonists
05. Avoir un bon copain.(“Le chemin de paradis”) Henri Garat
06. Margot. ( “Florestan 1er, Prince de Monaco”) Henri Garat
07. Ville d’amour. (Le Congrès s’amuse) Leila Ben Sedira.
08. Serait-ce un reve? (le Congrès s’amuse) Leila Ben Sedira
Mischa Spoliansky
09. Viens (from the revue “Paris qui brille”) Mistinguett
10. Pour toi je veux réver. Lys Gauty
11. Cette nuit mon amour. José Luccioni
Friedrich Hollander
12. Amoureuse de la tête aux pieds. Berthe Sylva
13. Je veux (du film “Flagrant delit”) Florelle
14. Qui j’aime. (valse chantee du film “ Tumulte”) Florelle
Kurt Weill
15. La complainte de la Seine. Lys Gauty
16. Complainte de Mackie. Damia
17. Le chant de Barbara. Florelle
18. La fiancée du pirate. Florelle
19. Chant des canons. Florelle
Rudi Nelson
20. Je ne dis pas non. Jean Gabin
21. Je ne dis pas non. Maurice Chevalier
Richard Heymann
22. Les gars de la marine. Comedian Harmonists