Franz Grothe

Franz Grothe (17 September 1908 – 12 September 1982) was a German composer, arranger, songwriter, conductor, and pianist active from the mid 1920s until his death in 1982 at the age of 73. He was a prolific composer for German cinema, and was a writer of popular songs. He was particularly known for his output of successful musical films. While principally a composer for the screen, he also wrote some musicals and operettas for the stage. Historian Robert Letellier stated that "Grothe was among the most popular German composers and conductors of the 20th century." Grothe was required to be a member of the Nazi Party (No. 2.580.427), but flouted the party's ban on jazz music by continuing to compose in a swing style. During World War II he served as Werner Egk's deputy while Egk was in charge of the composer division of the Reichsmusikkammer. After the war he had a major success with the musical film The Spessart Inn (1958). In his later career he composed for German television and spent the last ten years of his life as chairman of the board of GEMA. He was the recipient of several awards, among them the Paul-Lincke-Ring (1966), the…Citește mai mult

Life and career Franz Grothe was born in Berlin on 17 September 1908. He was trained as a pianist and composer at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin, and began working in Dajos Béla's band at the age of 18. In his early career he wrote lighter popular songs and worked as an arranger for Robert Stolz, Franz Lehár, and Emmerich Kálmán. During the Great Depression he penned a number of escapist optimistic tunes of a lively nature. With the rise of sound film, Grothe oriented his career into composing for the cinema. He composed the music to a total of 167 films from 1929 through 1967. Several of his films were operettas or musicals; many of which were created with lyricist Willy Dehmel whom was his most frequent collaborator. He also worked on films with Fritz Rotter, Robert Gilbert, and Karl Wilczynski among others. He wrote several songs that became popular hits in German speaking countries, and was particularly known for his dance music and love songs. Many of these were recorded and performed on the radio by popular German entertainers. In 1935 Grothe's stage musical Vier unter einem Dach premiered. This was followed by the operettas Die…Citește mai mult