Paul Burkhard was Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

. He wrote primarily Oratoria

Oratorio

An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...

, Musicals

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

 and Operetta

Operetta

Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...

s.

His probably most famous artistic creation was the song Oh mein Papa (Oh my Papa

Oh My Pa-Pa (O Mein Papa)

"O mein Papa" is a German song, as related by a young woman remembering her beloved, once-famous clown father. It was written by Swiss composer Paul Burkhard in 1939 for the musical Der Schwarze Hecht , reproduced in 1950 as Feuerwerk to a libretto by Erik Charell, Jürg Amstein, and Robert Gilbert...

), about the death of a beloved clown-father, written for the musical "Der Schwarze Hecht" (re-issued in 1950 as "Feuerwerk") that premiered in April 1939. The song rose to #1 on the Sheet Music Chart and stayed in the chart for 26 weeks. The song has been performed and recorded by numerous artists since then, including Alan Breeze

Alan Breeze

Alan Louis Breeze was a singer with the Billy Cotton Band Show.He was born in West Ham, London, to Louis Breeze, a concert and oratorio singer and a member of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, and Isobel, who taught with the old London County Council.At the beginning of his career, Breeze sang in...

, Annette Klooger, Billy Cotton

Billy Cotton

William Edward Cotton , better known as Billy Cotton, was a British band leader and entertainer, one of the few whose orchestras survived the dance band era. Today, he is mainly remembered as a 1950s and 1960s radio and television personality, although his musical talent emerged as early as the 1920s...

, Billy Vaughn

Billy Vaughn

Richard "Billy" Vaughn was an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, orchestra leader, and A&R man for Dot Records....

, Connie Francis

Connie Francis

Connie Francis is an American pop singer of Italian heritage and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1950s and 1960s. Although her chart success waned in the second half of the 1960s, Francis remained a top concert draw...

, Diana Decker, Eddie Calvert

Eddie Calvert

Eddie Calvert was an English trumpeter, who enjoyed his greatest successes in the 1950s. Calvert had his first United Kingdom, number one instrumental single in 1954, with "Oh Mein Papa".-Biography:...

, Eddie Fisher

Eddie Fisher (singer)

Edwin Jack "Eddie" Fisher , was an American entertainer. He was one of the world's most famous and successful singers in the 1950s, selling millions of records and hosting his own TV show. His divorce from his first wife, Debbie Reynolds, to marry his best friend's widow, Elizabeth Taylor, garnered...

, The Everly Brothers

The Everly Brothers

The Everly Brothers are country-influenced rock and roll performers, known for steel-string guitar playing and close harmony singing...

, Harry James

Harry James

Henry Haag “Harry” James was a trumpeter who led a jazz swing band during the Big Band Era of the 1930s and 1940s. He was especially known among musicians for his astonishing technical proficiency as well as his superior tone.-Biography:He was born in Albany, Georgia, the son of a bandleader of a...

, Ken Mackintosh, Lys Assia

Lys Assia

Lys Assia born Rosa Mina Schärer on 3 March 1924, Rupperswil, Aargau, Switzerland) is a Swiss singer who won the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956. When Lys Assia was a young girl she was a dancer. In 1940, however, she stood in for a female singer...

, Malcolm Vaughan, Muriel Smith, Ray Anthony

Ray Anthony

Ray Anthony is an American bandleader, trumpeter, songwriter and actor.- Biography :...

 & his Orchestra, Russ Morgan

Russ Morgan

Russ Morgan was a big band orchestra leader and musical arranger in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s.-Early life:...

 & his Orchestra, The Beverley Sisters, The Brasshats, The Radio Revellers, and many others.

Works (Selection)

• 1935 - Hopsa
• 1950 - Feuerwerk (Original: Der schwarze Hecht, 1939) with the hit song O mein Papa
• 1951 - Die kleine Niederdorf-Oper
• 1960 - Frank V - Comedy with Musik; „Oper einer Privatbank“, by Friedrich Dürrenmatt
  Friedrich Dürrenmatt
  Friedrich Dürrenmatt was a Swiss author and dramatist. He was a proponent of epic theatre whose plays reflected the recent experiences of World War II. The politically active author's work included avant-garde dramas, philosophically deep crime novels, and often macabre satire...
  
  
• 1960 - Zäller Weihnacht - Christmas play
• 1965 - Noah - The story of Noah and the Arc - for children
• 1971 - Zäller Oschtere - Easter passion play

Literature

External links

• O mein Papa - Documentary film about Paul Burkhard - launch September 2007