Rudolf Nelson
Encyclopedia
Rudolf Nelson was a German composer of hit songs, film music, operetta and vaudeville, and the founder/director of the Nelson Revue, a significant cabaret
troupe on the 1930s Berlin nightlife scene.
After secondary school, while simultaneously earning a living as an apprentice and subsequently clerk, he received a scholarship from Heinrich von Herzogenberg
to the Stern Conservatory
.
Nelson first came into public view during this same period when, in a contest organized by the newspaper Die Woche, he was awarded first prize for the best composition of a walse.
But the real turning point came when Nelson discovered the Überbrettl
, Berlin’s first cabaret
founded by Ernst von Wolzogen
. Inspired by the genre, he began his cabaret
career at the Potsdamer Straße cabaret
Roland, accompanying his own compositions on the piano.
In 1904, he joined forces with Paul Schneider-Duncker in the famed Chat Noir on Unter den Linden
, Berlin’s most fashionable avenue, going on to direct it on his own from 1907 – 1914. It also is here that Nelson composed his most famous hit song Das Ladenmädel, as well as from 1908 onwards wrote his famous operetta
works, notably Miss Dudelsack.
In 1920, Nelson married singer Käthe Erlholz, and in the same year opened the Nelson-Theater on Kurfürstendamm
(associated with the Sans Soucis restaurant). The revues he staged here are legend, presenting numerous top stars of the period, including names such as Josephine Baker
, who appeared on January 14 1926, Weintraubs Syncopators and comic Max Ehrlich
. During these years, Nelson also composed revues for Berlin’s famed Metropol-Theater in the Admiralspalast
.
Forced by the Nazis in 1933 to flee Germany - after stopping for stage appearances in Vienna and Zurich - Nelson founded a new theater troupe in Amsterdam, until after the German occupation he was interned in Westerbork
concentration camp
. Nelson survived the Holocaust, and in 1949 returned to Berlin where he reopened the Nelson-Revue-Gastspiel.
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
troupe on the 1930s Berlin nightlife scene.
Biography
Issued from a poor Prussian Jewish family, and raised in Berlin, Nelson began piano lessons at a very young age.After secondary school, while simultaneously earning a living as an apprentice and subsequently clerk, he received a scholarship from Heinrich von Herzogenberg
Heinrich von Herzogenberg
Heinrich Picot de Peccaduc, Freiherr von Herzogenberg was an Austrian composer and conductor descended from a French aristocratic family....
to the Stern Conservatory
Stern conservatory
The Stern Conservatory was a private music school in Berlin with many notable tutors and alumni.-History:It was originally founded in 1850 as the Berliner Musikschule by Julius Stern, Theodor Kullak and Adolf Bernhard Marx. Kullak withdrew from the conservatory in 1855 in order to create a new...
.
Nelson first came into public view during this same period when, in a contest organized by the newspaper Die Woche, he was awarded first prize for the best composition of a walse.
But the real turning point came when Nelson discovered the Überbrettl
Überbrettl
Überbrettl , later known as Buntes Theater , was the first venue in Germany for literary cabaret, or Kabarett, founded in Berlin in January 1901 by Ernst von Wolzogen. The German Kabarett concept was imported from France, from which it kept the characteristic atmosphere of intimacy...
, Berlin’s first cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
founded by Ernst von Wolzogen
Ernst von Wolzogen
Ernst von Wolzogen Ernst von Wolzogen Ernst von Wolzogen (April 23, 1855 - August 30, 1934 was a cultural critic, a writer and a founder of Cabaret in Germany.-Biography:Wolzogen came from a noble Austrian family; he studied Literature, Philosophy, and the history of art in Strasbourg and Leipzig. ...
. Inspired by the genre, he began his cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
career at the Potsdamer Straße cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
Roland, accompanying his own compositions on the piano.
In 1904, he joined forces with Paul Schneider-Duncker in the famed Chat Noir on Unter den Linden
Unter den Linden
Unter den Linden is a boulevard in the Mitte district of Berlin, the capital of Germany. It is named for its linden trees that line the grassed pedestrian mall between two carriageways....
, Berlin’s most fashionable avenue, going on to direct it on his own from 1907 – 1914. It also is here that Nelson composed his most famous hit song Das Ladenmädel, as well as from 1908 onwards wrote his famous 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:...
works, notably Miss Dudelsack.
In 1920, Nelson married singer Käthe Erlholz, and in the same year opened the Nelson-Theater on Kurfürstendamm
Kurfürstendamm
The Kurfürstendamm, known locally as the Ku'damm, is one of the most famous avenues in Berlin. The street takes its name from the former Kurfürsten of Brandenburg. This very broad, long boulevard can be considered the Champs-Élysées of Berlin — full of shops, houses, hotels and restaurants...
(associated with the Sans Soucis restaurant). The revues he staged here are legend, presenting numerous top stars of the period, including names such as Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker was an American dancer, singer, and actress who found fame in her adopted homeland of France. She was given such nicknames as the "Bronze Venus", the "Black Pearl", and the "Créole Goddess"....
, who appeared on January 14 1926, Weintraubs Syncopators and comic Max Ehrlich
Max Ehrlich
Max Michaelis Ehrlich was a German actor, screenwriter, and director on the German theater, comedy and cabaret scene of the 1930s.-Biography:...
. During these years, Nelson also composed revues for Berlin’s famed Metropol-Theater in the Admiralspalast
Admiralspalast
The Admiralspalast is a theatre in the Mitte district of Berlin, Germany, located on Friedrichstraße No. 101. Opened in 1910, it is one of the few preserved variety venues of the pre-World War II era in the city....
.
Forced by the Nazis in 1933 to flee Germany - after stopping for stage appearances in Vienna and Zurich - Nelson founded a new theater troupe in Amsterdam, until after the German occupation he was interned in Westerbork
Westerbork (camp)
Westerbork concentration camp was a World War II Nazi refugee, detention and transit camp in Hooghalen, ten kilometres north of Westerbork, in the northeastern Netherlands. Its function during the Second World War was to assemble Roma and Dutch Jews for transport to other Nazi concentration...
concentration camp
Nazi concentration camps
Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
. Nelson survived the Holocaust, and in 1949 returned to Berlin where he reopened the Nelson-Revue-Gastspiel.
Revues
- Chauffeur ins Metropol!
- Hoheit amüsiert sich
- Wenn die Nacht beginnt
- Karussell
- Seifenblasen
- Was träumt Berlin?
- Die Peruanerin
- Halloh, halloh
- Zwölf Monate
- Total Manoli
- Bitte zahlen!
- Wir stehn verkehrt
- Confetti
- Madame Revue
- Es geht schon besser
- Die Nacht der Nächte
- Du u. ich
- Die Lichter v. Berlin
- Quick
- Der rote Faden
- Glück muß man haben
- Es hat geklingelt
- Etwas für Sie
- Rudolf Nelson erzählt
Operettas
- Miss Dudelsack; librettoLibrettoA libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by Fritz GrünbaumFritz GrünbaumFritz Grünbaum was an Austrian Jewish cabaret artist, operetta and pop song writer, director, actor and master of ceremonies....
and H. Reichert - Der Damenkrieg
- Incognito
- New York-Berlin
- Die Damen vom Olymp
- Die tanzenden Fräuleins
Awards
- 1953: received into Ordre national du MériteOrdre National du MériteThe Ordre national du Mérite is an Order of State awarded by the President of the French Republic. It was founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle...
- 1959: the Paul Lincke-Ring, a bi-annual award for light music composition