Heinz Matthéi

This is the first ever biography of Heinz Matthéi; it's based on his and his wife's private archive. That archive is very rich, but it's not 100 percent complete, so don't expect all of his performances to be listed here.

Heinz Matthéi grew up in Schwerin. He studied voice with his father Walter (a tenor born in Chicago and hence a US citizen, albeit of German parents), and subsequently (1926–33) at the Berlin academy of music with Jacques Stückgold, the teacher of Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender, Marcel Wittrisch, Zinka Milanov, Anny Konetzni and – Bruce Low, a Dutch pop singer very popular in post-war Germany. (Isn't it amazing that a master of vocal perfection like Domgraf-Fassbaender and an operatic foghorn like Milanov had the same teacher?)

Matthéi became a concert singer like his father. He sang his first concerts while still studying: his probable debut was a concert with sacred music at a church in Schwerin in December 1926. At the Berlin academy, he performed Schönberg's Gurrelieder (not in a singing part but as the Narrator, 1931) or Haydn's Jahreszeiten (under the baton of academy director Franz Schreker, 1933). In 1932, his first "independent" concerts, in churches and small concert halls in Berlin and Heilbronn. A more prominent concert came in 1933 (14 April) at the Berlin Cathedral: Mozart's Requiem together with Elisabeth Höngen (then a beginner just like Matthéi). In May, he sang Haydn's Schöpfung in Neustrelitz.

In 1934, he made his debut on the Berlin radio (23 September, Matthéi sang four sacred lieder by Joseph Haas). His very first opera followed, again on the Berlin radio, in December: Pfitzner's Christelflein. That year, he also sang his first concerts for the various subdivisions of the Nazi party that now engaged in cultural activities, from local chapters and works councils to the NS-Kulturgemeinde (National Socialist Cultural Community) or the fiercely racist "Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur" (Militant league for German culture), which entertained its own orchestra, the Kampfbundorchester (soon renamed Landesorchester Gau Berlin, or Berlin County Orchestra). Matthéi, in February 1935, gave his first concert with that orchestra. In April 1935, he sang abroad for the first time: Bach's two grand Passions (St. Matthew's and St. John's) in Riga, St. Matthew's Passion also in Warsaw. Particularly in Warsaw, it was very successful. Generally, Matthéi got excellent reviews when and where reviews meant anything (from 1933 in Germany, they didn't, since any kind of criticism was forbidden for art, music and theater critics; if a critic ignored the ban, nothing happened, but most of them respected it anyway). Exporting German culture was the Nazi government's ambition, they organized those foreign stands of German musicians very efficiently. At some point of time, Matthéi also sang in Bucarest, but any details are lost.

After Warsaw and before travelling back to Berlin, he sang on the radio in Königsberg (today Kaliningrad): Deutsches Heldenrequiem by Gottfried Müller, an outspoken Nazi composer; the Heldenrequiem, premiered the previous year, came with a dedication to the Führer.

Surviving as a concert singer must have been tough, though. Among all his reviews and concert programs, Matthéi and his wife kept one single newspaper clip totally unrelated to himself: a report on a 1935 panel discussion where concert contralto Eva Liebenberg had lamented how the large concert halls preferred to hire famous opera singers also as concert soloists, and demanded that opera theaters must not grant their members any leaves for concert engagements. Of course, it did not happen. But Matthéi or his wife marked the passage in red; it must have described his own situation. (Liebenberg also complained that German concert singers could never sing abroad because everywhere else but in Germany, Jewish concert agents reigned the world. That could be dismissed as the typical German blah-blah of the Nazi period, were it not, other than disgusting, also so devastatingly stupid. For sure, Ms. Liebenberg didn't know that German pre-Nazi joke, a dialogue that goes: "The Jews are our misfortune". – "Yeah, of course, the Jews and the cyclists!!" – "Wait... how come the cyclists?" – "How come the Jews?")

On the Berlin radio, again in April 1935, he sang a small role in Chajkovskij's Iolanta. In October, Händel's Messiah for the City and the National Socialist Cultural Community of Marienwerder (near Berlin), and Judas Maccabaeus for the National Socialist Cultural Community in Görlitz. In the function room of a hotel in Halle an der Saale, Händel's oratorio L'allegro e il pensieroso in November. More prominently, in a week of concerts dedicated to the composer Felix Draeseke in Dresden, the oratorio Tod und Sieg des Herrn on November 24th. Draeseke was greatly promoted as an Aryan model composer by the Nazis; not Draeseke's fault: he had died in 1913, and didn't have any "Aryan" inclinations. (His widow did, and tendered his memory to the Nazis.) On December 1st, Matthéi sang a Schubert concert in Hannover, with the local male choral society. December 6th, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony for the National Socialist Cultural Community in Berlin. December 8th, Paul Graener's Marien-Kantate for the National Socialist Cultural Community in Bottrop. On December 10th, Matthéi participated in the Essen world premiere of Der ewige Strom, an oratorio by Wilhelm Maler. And at Christmas, he was back to Riga for two Heinrich Schütz oratorios. Finally, on December 31st, Beethoven's Ninth at the Berlin Volksbühne.

1936 started with Bruckner's Te Deum in Lübeck and a lieder recital in Łódź. In February, a vocal quartet concert at the concert hall of a Berlin parish.

February 1936 is also an example of Matthéi's archive not always being complete. There's no trace in it of a Berlin radio production of Schumann's opera Genoveva, and yet it was made on February 9th, 1936, with Hans Rosbaud conducting, Elisabeth Friedrich, Hanns-Heinz Nissen, Hans Gareis (future John Garris) – and with Matthéi in the role of the Edelknecht (Esquire); the recording still exists somewhere. I could not unfortunately hear it, which would be very interesting as far as Matthéi: the Edelknecht is a persona muta!! On the radio??! Certainly, the opera (which is generally considered unplayable) came in a revised edition, where the Edelknecht was no longer mute. Whether he sang or just spoke, has to remain undecided for the time being; in any case, it must have been a tiny role.

In March 1936, the world premiere of a passion by Michel Rühl, Kreuzweg, in Düsseldorf; Händel's Trionfo del tempo e del disinganno (in German, of course!) in Hannover for the local Nazi stage and concert organization; in Berlin, Haydn's Schöpfung twice, with and at the Sing-Akademie (a venerable Berlin choir with its proper concert hall); St. Matthew's Passion in Halle an der Saale and in Leipzig; and Beethoven's Ninth in Polish Katowice.

In July followed what seems to have been his operatic debut: at the Göttingen Händel festival, Emilio in Partenope on June 24th and 27th, and Acis in Acis and Galatea on June 25th and 28th. In October, Matthéi was in Copenhagen for Bach's Mass in B minor at the cathedral, with the Leipzig Gewandhaus choir under its legendary conductor Günther Ramin. A few days later, at the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, Liszt's Faust Symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic: two concerts on a clearly different level from everything he had achieved until then. In November, he sang Missa solemnis on the Leipzig radio. In December, another prominent concert: his debut with the Dresden Philharmonic in La damnation de Faust.

In 1937, he sang at the annual convention of German composers: one of the instruments of Nazi domination over the cultural sector. Matthéi had sung a lot in the regime's orbit, but he had never come as close as on that occasion. Otherwise, he sang Missa solemnis in Dresden, St. Matthew's Passion in Halle an der Saale and in Berlin (Sing-Akademie under Franz von Hoeßlin). And Schultze's Schwarzer Peter (see below for an explanation and recording) on Germany's international (shortwave) radio in July. In October, Die schöne Müllerin at a small Berlin concert venue as well as in Neustrelitz, a large-scale concert at the Sing-Akademie (Schumann's Szenen aus Goethes Faust and Bruckner's Te Deum), Schumann's oratorio Das Paradies und die Peri in Lübeck, and a Bruckner concert with the Landesorchester Gau Berlin at the Berlin cathedral. In November, Beethoven's Ninth in Gelsenkirchen, Haydn's Jahreszeiten in Gdańsk/Danzig, and Bach's Mass in B minor in Stuttgart. In December, another highlight: the same Mass in B minor in Brussels and Liège, with a Leipzig choir. Reviews were, once more, unanimously positive. Finally, Schöpfung in Mülheim an der Ruhr, and Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium in Leipzig, not with "a" but with "the" Leipzig choir, Ramin's Gewandhaus. The tough times were over for Heinz Matthéi.

1938 started with Haydn's Jahreszeiten in Hamburg; a newspaper review was less flattering for Matthéi than usually. Next, a concert for the local chapter of the Nazi party in Bad Freienwalde; a concert performance of Händel's Semele in Jena, another less than enthusiastic newspaper review; Das Paradies und die Peri in Duisburg in March; a Schumann concert for the Nazi afterwork organization "Kraft durch Freude" in Cologne; Bruckner's Mass in F minor in a church in Neustrelitz; Händel's Samson at the Dresden cathedral. In April, Bach's St. John's Passion in Cologne and Bonn; and, much more prominently again, Beethoven's Ninth in Berlin with the Philharmonic Orchestra under Carl Schuricht, and with Käthe Heidersbach, Gertrud Freimuth and Rudolf Watzke. A concert with light music, unusual for Matthéi, and Acis and Galatea, both on the Leipzig radio. St. Matthew's Passion with the Gewandhaus choir and orchestra under Ramin at the Leipzig St. Thomas Church, with Gerhard Hüsch. A concert with a male choral society in Ulm. In June, Beethoven's Ninth in Ustí nad Labem, in only just independent Czechoslovakia ("shortly before German takeover", as Matthéi noted on the reverse of an Abendroth photo taken on the occasion). On the radio, two concerts as a part of a vocal quartet in Berlin, Die Schneider von Schönau (opera by Jan Brandts-Buys) in Munich, and Arno Vetterling's operetta Venezia on the international shortwave station. This, again, was very unusual for Matthéi: he abhorred light music, and normally declined any offers to sing it. His son recalls that years later, some important personality from the music business visited Matthéi at home and wanted to talk him into singing operetta; he adamantly refused.

Back to 1938: in November, Jahreszeiten in Flensburg, and in Lübeck Händel's Festoratorium (the Aryanized Nazi version of the Occasional oratorio, "cleansed" from all Jewish names and references). Bruckner's Mass in F minor in Bonn, Schöpfung in Gdańsk/Danzig. And a non-musical event: Matthéi, still a US citizen after his father, was conferred German citizenship, for which he had applied years before. In December, a concert on the Frankfurt radio.

The next year, 1939, started with Händel's Alexander's feast in Hamburg and Schöpfung in Schwerin. A solo concert for the National Socialist Cultural Community in Nysa/Neisse in February (lieder by Schubert, Brahms, Wolf, baroque arias), the same program again for "Kraft durch Freude" in Jelenia Góra/Hirschberg. A Weber program on the Leipzig radio. Before Easter, St. John's Passion in Luxembourg and (stepping in for Walther Ludwig) in Bonn. A concert with opera and operetta arias on the Munich radio. At the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Das hohe Lied vom Leben und Sterben, oratorio by Waldemar von Baußnern, broadcast on the Leipzig radio in April, and in June and August, concerts of light music for the same radio station.

That Germany started WWII in late summer 1939 rocked the setup of Matthéi's life: as a mere concert singer, he wouldn't have been considered "essential to the war efforts", like most opera singers. So he found himself faced with the choice of either joining the army, or a theater troupe. He did the latter, and became a member of the municipal theater of Lübeck, where he moved with his family. He would sing in Lübeck until all German theaters were closed down, due to the war, in 1944. Opera, not quite his cup of tea up to that time... and it didn't grow on him now, either, on the contrary: he hated his new job. While for his concert activities, he meticulously kept contracts, playbills, newspaper reviews, dates and places, he took only rudimentary notes of his operatic endeavors in Lübeck. In his and his wife's archive, not a single playbill, no contract, few reviews, few dates; only a number of stage photos compiled by his wife, noting works and roles.

Of course, he continued his concert activities, as well: Haydn and Donaudy arias in a symphony concert in Lübeck in October. In November, he was Gottfried in Doktor und Apotheker by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf at his new workplace, the Lübeck theater, and Acis at the Leipzig Gewandhaus under Hermann Abendroth; a "Kraft durch Freude" concert in the same city few days later was recorded by the radio (for an excerpt that has survived, see below). In December, Jahreszeiten in Mülheim an der Ruhr, and Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium with the Berlin Philharmonic under Günther Ramin in Paris (Salle Pleyel). On December 31st, a prominent moment in Matthéi's career: Beethoven's Ninth at the Leipzig Gewandhaus under Abendroth; a broadcast of that evening has been preserved (see below). Prominent, yes, but a failure: only the ladies (Lea Piltti and Charlotte Wolf-Matthäus) defend themselves well, for the three gentlemen (Matthéi, Josef Greindl, and above all Abendroth), it would certainly have been better had that evening not been captured for eternity. For Matthéi, in particular, a concert on that level (famous conductor, famous orchestra, well-known colleagues, radio broadcast) could have been a breakthrough. But it was not. I guess it was his nerves; the voice, barely recognizable in this recording as compared to the other two that preserve it, was basically intact – the Così selection was recorded just four weeks earlier (at the "Kraft durch Freude" concert mentioned above), but you'd would hardly guess it's the same singer.

In 1940, Matthéi sang Bach's Mass in B minor in March four times, in Frankfurt twice in concert and once on the radio, and at the Bremen cathedral; Jahreszeiten in Mülheim an der Ruhr; a Schubert choir concert in Lübeck. In April, St. Matthew's Passion in Heidelberg and Frankfurt, Missa solemnis under Oswald Kabasta in Munich – and at the Lübeck theater, he sang Alfredo, his only Verdi role. In October, he was Baron Kronthal in Wildschütz for the season opening in Lübeck. In November, he sang Schubert's Mass no. 3 in Krefeld. and Almaviva as well as the title role in Alessandro Stradella at the Lübeck theater. In December, he was back at the Leipzig Gewandhaus for Acis and Galatea under Abendroth.

In March 1941, he sang An die ferne Geliebte for the Nazi Women's Association (Deutsches Frauenwerk) in Hannover, Schöpfung in Mönchengladbach, and St. Matthew's Passion in Heidelberg. In October, he sang Tamino in Lübeck, and a concert with the Berlin Philharmonic at the Sing-Akademie (Szenen aus Goethes Faust and Te Deum). In November, Mozart's Requiem in Erfurt. In December, Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium in Frankfurt.

His activities shrinked further in 1942: an aria and lieder recital at a Lübeck music school in January, and a similar concert in Bad Doberau in February; Bach's Mass in B minor in Frankfurt and again (like the year before) St. Matthew's Passion in Heidelberg in March; in April, another St. Matthew's Passion in Frankfurt, and Die schöne Müllerin in Hannover; Beethoven's Ninth in Bad Nauheim in July. In December, Acis and Galatea in Offenbach, and Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium in Hannover. No information at all about opera in Lübeck; perhaps he sang the same roles as before, in any case he and his wife didn't keep any records.

Things improved for Matthéi in 1943. In January at the Händel festival in Hannover, he participated in the premiere of Wilhelmus von Nassauen, a positively embarassing Nazified version of Judas Maccabaeus (the Nazis had their problems with Händel's Old Testament subjects...). Matthéi was indisposed, had to beg excuse with the audience and to sing with half-voice. February 1st brought a new operatic role for him in Lübeck: Rodolfo! The same month, he sang three Bach cantatas in Hamburg. Two pre-Easter St. Matthew's Passions, that year; the first, very prominently, at the Vienna Musikverein with Ria Ginster, Luise Richartz, Hans Duhan, Otto von Rohr, and Oswald Kabasta conducting; the second at a less prominent venue in Munich. In May, Missa solemnis with an amateur choir in Hannover. In July, his first radio contract in more than three years, a mixed program for the shortwave station. Die schöne Müllerin in Neustrelitz in October. In November, Das Paradies und die Peri in Gera, and Tamino as a guest in Schwerin. In December, Missa solemnis in Graz.

In 1944, he sang another "Kraft durch Freude" concert in Frankfurt in March. That summer, all German theaters were closed due to the war. I think that was it with his affiliation with the Lübeck theater; after all, he had always hated to sing there, and after the war, the motivation of entering the theater troupe (to avoid being drafted) was outdated and meaningless. In his curriculum vitae, typed by his wife many years later, the dates for his Lübeck engagement are actually "1939–45". Nevertheless, his son seems to remember that he continued to sing on the Lübeck stage also after the war, and that he quit only after a fierce debate with the theater management: he had been offered to sing Beethoven's Ninth under Furtwängler (in Berlin or Leipzig, his son doesn't remember well) – and the theater management did what Eva Liebenberg had urged back in 1935, and didn't grant him a leave. Personally, I guess that was not after but during WWII (Furtwängler was banned from musical life from 1945 to 1947, and had Matthéi continued to sing on the Lübeck stage for such a long time, at least some document should have survived), and that it was thus not the reason why he left the stage; but in any case, it must have further shattered his relationship with the Lübeck theater.

I've already mentioned that he didn't deem his operatic activities important enough to be documented; for two of his Lübeck roles, there is no other evidence than the photos collected by his wife: Belfiore in Mozart's La finta giardiniera, and Fenton in Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor. No idea when he sang them, but anyway in Lübeck. Another operatic role to be found in the stage photo collection is Monteverdi's Orfeo in Göttingen, unspecified at which venue, unspecified when, but from the stage and costume designs, I'd say after the war.

Following the 1944 theater lockdown, the male singers of the Lübeck troupe were drafted. The stepfather of Matthéi's wife was in the High Command of the Wehrmacht, and responsible for the motorized units; soldier Matthéi was employed as a stockman in a car accessories depot. Anticipating the outcome of the war, he always carried his long-expired US passport with him, as a German soldier! And when cycling home to Lübeck (from Hamburg, his last place of deployment) immediately after German capitulation and still in his uniform, that old passport actually served him well, and the advancing British army allowed him to pass.

On May 30th, 1945, he addressed the US occupation authorities so as to regain his US citizenship, something that never happened. His first post-war appearance was a lieder recital in Lübeck in August, together with soprano Kathleen Kersting. It was the very first post-war concert in Lübeck, and such a success that it had to be repeated several times. (On a side note, he pianist in those concerts was Josef Müller-Marein – a Nazi journalist (music critic and later war reporter), who had studied musicology and after the war tried to work as a conductor for a short time, before returning to journalism. Following a 180 degree ideological conversion, he became one of West Germany's most important journalists, and editor-in-chief of Germany's foremost weekly "Die Zeit".) Back to Heinz Matthéi: Schöne Müllerin, again in Lübeck, followed in October, and that was 1945 for him. Times were tough again for a singer who was not quite famous, and had lost all his contacts: the concert agents with whom he had worked under the Nazi reign were no longer there; many musicians (not least conductors) were banned from musical life for their Nazi affiliations; concerts were few, many concert halls were destroyed, and there was no money anywhere. Matthéi was on his own. And at least partly, voluntarily so: when many German singers organized a convention so as to rebuild musical life, he inexplicably refused to participate: he didn't want to have any dealings with "those people". He started teaching voice in Lübeck, and his wife started doubling as his manager.

1946: St. John's Passion in Frankfurt in April (he had not sung for half a year); Alceste in Arianna in Creta at the Göttingen Händel Festival in June and July (7 performances). Schöne Müllerin in Frankfurt in October. And nothing else.

Again half a year later, in April 1947, St. John's Passion in Würzburg. In June, Missa solemnis in Neuß. Later that month, he was back at the Göttingen Händel Festival, singing the title role in Teseo (7 performances). In September, St. Matthew's Passion in Wiesbaden; in October, Samson in Cologne. In November, St. Matthew's Passion in a Konstanz church, and Verdi's Requiem in Remscheid, with Anneliese Kupper and Hellmuth Schweebs. In December, Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium with Lore Hoffmann in Hamburg. It wasn't enough. Matthéi started writing letters to people that he hoped could hire him for their concerts. Around that time, he also developed respiratory problems that required surgery.

In March 1948, he sang St. John's Passion in Düsseldorf and in Hamburg-Altona. In August, Beethoven's Ninth in Bad Homburg. In November, a concert with an amateur choir in Falkenstein am Taunus, where he lived meanwhile: having just an oral agreement to become a voice professor at the Frankfurt conservatory, he had moved to Hesse. But the oral agreement was not honored.. That year's Weihnachtsoratorium took place at a church in Cologne.

In 1949, he was slightly busier, but not exactly at prominent venues. Jahreszeiten in Geilenkirchen in March with the local choral society. St. Matthew's Passion at a Krefeld church and at the Aachen cathedral in April (in Aachen, one favorable and one not so favorable review). St. John's Passion in Osnabrück the same month; Matthéi was indisposed, had difficulties to sing his part. In Hamburg-Altona, Mozart's Requiem in November and Weihnachtsoratorium, of course, in December.

In 1950, all of a sudden, Matthéi ventured into Switzerland, trying to pursue his career internationally. In March, he sang Messiah in a church in Olten. A concert in Lucerne and radio appearances in Beromünster, Geneva and Sottens were envisioned, but there's no trace of them in Matthéi's archive, so I don't know whether they really came about; at least on Radio Beromünster, he seems to have actually sung, as his son remembers, brokered by a private contact. Back in Germany, he sang St. Matthew's Passion (twice) in tiny Neheim, with local amateur choirs, and in April at the Fulda cathedral, as well as St. John's Passion at a Wiesbaden church. Reviews were mostly very good. In April, as well, he was on the Baden-Baden radio station with a short Hugo Wolf program. In May, he participated in a Bach week in Frankfurt, organized by the Lutheran Church. In June, he was in Neheim again, for Schöne Müllerin, and in Bad Kissingen for Schöpfung, this time at a catholic church. In July in Darmstadt, Bach's Cantata no. 198. In fall, his wife was writing letters to various personalities in the French and Swiss music business, trying to get contracts there. Lots of letters. Answers, if any, were friendly but noncommittal or evasive; his Paris plans were bound to founder for Matthéi's adamant refusal to sing in any other language than German, but he did go to Switzerland and auditioned with at least two conductors. Both were positive and tried to recommend him elsewhere, but didn't hire him themselves. One of them, Luc Balmer, sent a very friendly note, albeit stressing how irritated he had been when reading, in Matthéi's preceding letter, that it was "not easy to conquer a country"; as a Swiss having lived under constant menace by Nazi Germany for years, Balmer wrote, he had receive that remark "with mingled feelings". Matthéi apologized saying that he always only thought of music and never of politics. The concert agent to whom Balmer recommended Matthéi (he should represent him in Switzerland) was "very interested" like most others, but those negotiations, too, fizzled out in 1951.

So did Matthéi's career. Two lieder recitals in Marl-Hüls (February and March), another Messiah in Olten, St. John's Passion in Frankfurt (stepping in for a sick colleague), and St. Matthew's Passion in Remscheid, all in March. A cantata by Kurt Hessenberg in Neheim in April. Messiah in Hannover in May. A lieder recital in Königstein am Taunus, a neighbouring town to his new place of residence. And in December, he actually had a contract in Switzerland: Händel's Israel in Egypt twice in Basel, with the local choral society. In Cologne, Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium in a Lutheran church. For 1952, there are no playbills or reviews in Matthéi's archive; whether he didn't sing that year, or whether he and his wife just didn't maintain the archive, I don't know. In any case, he can't have sung much, since he changed the profession that year, and started working as a – highly successful – rep for kitchen appliances (until 1958). His singing career was over; he was just 45 years old. In fall 1953, his archive chronicles one performance of Die Schöpfung in Bad Soden, close to where he lived. On September 11th, 1956, he sang Schubert's Mass in G major and Bruckner's Tantum ergo at a church jubilee in Königstein am Taunus. It was his last appearance in public.

In 1959, he worked for a concrete factory for a few months, then built up what was probably Germany's first fully automatic chicken farm. 1963 was a traumatic year for Matthéi: he possessed a few unique private records that captured his voice of almost 30 years ago, and now had them transferred to reel tape en route to his in-laws in Hamburg. Having driven all day, he arrived late, didn't unload his car, and went to sleep. The next morning, the car had been broken open; certainly not for the records and tapes, but they were gone, and even with the help of a newspaper article, he failed to get them back. In 1964, a disease killed all his chickens, and so he moved to Hamburg and took over the mica import trade of his wife's stepfather (the ex-Wehrmacht commander). Matthéi retired in 1968.

Many, many thanks to Rolf and Christina Matthéi for putting their (grand)father's personal archive at my disposal, and for sharing their memories.
Reference for the Genoveva radio production

The below pastiche from "Schwarzer Peter" is Matthéi's only disc recording. "Schwarzer Peter" is a very interesting work – a children's opera by Norbert Schultze, the composer of "Lili Marleen"! The Nazis pushed that opera to some popularity, not because of the plot of the opera, obviously (it's a fairy tale), but because of Schultze's then excellent relationship with the regime. He fell from grace later, because of "Lili Marleen", which was considered by Goebbels to demoralize German martiality.