Walter Bransen Explained

Walter Bransen, also Walther Bransen (6 May 1886 – 21 October 1941),[1] was a German physician, violinist and composer. His pseudonyms were Will Rollins, Sam Fox and Karl Wetter.

Life

Bransen was born in 1886 as Walter Abramssohn in Braunschweig. After studying medicine, he switched to music in the 1920s and became a student of the Russian-Swiss composer Paul Juon.

He wrote operas and operettas, chamber music and incidental music[2] but also songs and Schlager, the latter mostly under the stage name "Will Rollins". He worked with renowned lyricists such as Fritz Rotter, Robert Gilbert and Willy Rosen. Bransen published with several Berlin publishers. Popular performers ensured the circulation of his pieces, which were performed by bands such as Dajos Béla, ("Dobbri") and Paul Godwin, performed by singers like Serge Aranovic, and Leo Monosson.

Soon he was also working for the new media of gramophone, radio and cinema. For the newly founded Berlin record company Vox[3] he composed a "Vox-Foxtrot",[4] which the orchestra Bernard Etté recorded in January 1925.[5] It was through this company, whose building in Berlin, the, also housed the first German radio station in 1923,[6] that his path to broadcasting led him. From June 1925, he headed the department for instrumental and vocal arts at the "Deutsche Stunde, Gesellschaft für drahtlose Belehrung und Unterhaltung G.m.b.H." whose radio orchestra, also from June 1925, was conducted by Bruno Seidler-Winkler.

Together with the dance teacher Walter Carlos, who also worked on the new medium of radio as a "radio dance teacher", he created the "German Dance" DETA in autumn 1927, which was also distributed on records[7] For two feature films he was involved as a film composer[8] The songs from the film Ich war zu Heidelberg Student (director Wolfgang Neff. World premiere: 1 July 1927, Berlin, U.T. Turmstraße) were popularised by the German singer Franz Baumann,[9] who also wrote lyrics himself. Bransen wrote the premiere music for the film Die Frau, nach der man sich sehnt (director Kurt Bernhard. Premiere 28 April 1929, Berlin, Mozartsaal). Other compositions for the film were provided by Edward Kilenyi and Giuseppe Becce.[10]

Bransen was married to the Polish-born soprano Dorothea Manski.[11] There is evidence of a test recording of her with a composition by her husband ("Anita-Boston") for the Berlin company Vox, whose lyrics "Baby, träum' von mir, träume süss" were written by Karl Brüll.[12] [13]

As a Jewish artist[14] he saw his existence threatened by the strengthening of the National Socialists and was forced to emigrate; with his wife and daughter Inge[15] he left Germany even before the Machtergreifung in 1933.[16] On the steamship "Ïle de France[17] they sailed to America. Bransen would have had to have his medical training in Germany recognised in the USA by taking another exam, which he refused to do. He preferred to play the violin in the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera in New York,[18] where his wife was engaged as a singer.

In America, he continued to compose songs. He set poems by Robert Burns and Christina Georgina Rosetti to music, as well as several texts by Thomas Grant Springer. Walter Bransen died in Bloomington, Indiana (US) in 1941.

Work

Worldcat lists 28 titles by Bransen:.[19]

a) for "Will Rollins":

b) for Walter Bransen:

Recordings (selection)

The documents can all be found on YouTube:

Recordings

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Bransen, Walter (* Donnerstag, 6. Mai 1886 † Dienstag, 21. Okt. 1941) . Digitales Archiv des Landesarchivs Thüringen . de . 16 February 2021.
  2. among others for the performance of Kleist's Kätchen von Heilbronn at the Deutsches Theater Berlin on 29 December 1925, and at dieterleitner.de
  3. Rainer E. Lotz: Kurze Firmengeschichte
  4. cf.Vox 01782 Vox-Foxtrot (M: Walter Bransen) in the Discovering Music Archives
  5. cf. Lotz, Rainer E.: Artist Discography (PDF; 2.1 MB).
  6. http://www.oldtimeradio.de/sender-R-bln-voxhaus.php cf. Deutsches Rundfunk Museum
  7. Deta : A German Dance by Walter Carlos / Walter Bransen. Performer(s): Dajos Béla Dance Orchestra. Odeon O-2287 / A 45 268 (Be 6358), cf. the DNB entry
  8. cf. filmportal.de
  9. cf. label of the Tri-Ergon record T.E.1059 Ich war zu Heidelberg Student,
  10. cf. silentera.com "Music score by Edward Kilenyi; song "Stascha" by Giuseppe Becce and Walther Bransen; song "Bist du das Glück, nach dem ich mich gesehnt" by Giuseppe Becce." The film was released in the US in 1929 under the title Three Loves (silent) by Moviegraphs, Inc. A synchronised version for screening in the US with music by Edward Kilenyi and Walther Bransen was circulated by Associated Cinemas in 1931, cf. marlenedietrich-filme.de
  11. a Wagnerian singer who sang the roles of Sieglinde and Isolde in Bayreuth and Berlin, cf. the memoirs of Patricia Callaway at http://www.healthyvoicestudio.com/blog/my-own-voice-teacher, differing from http://www.isoldes-liebestod.info/Isolden_ohne_Liebestod/Manski_Dorothea.htm, where Walter Bransen is confused with the Swedish music critic Walter Brandon.
  12. cf.Discovering Music Archives
  13. cf. Discovering Music Archives and Lotz, Rainer E.: Vox-Künstlerdiskographie (PDF; 2.1 MB) : "Vox-Matr. 1118-BB, without order no., Dorothea Manski with grand piano accompaniment. Presumably unpublished test recording, 9 December 1926. (M Walter Bransen [?])"
  14. cf. Stengel-Gerigk p. 41
  15. the latter, like her mother, also became a singer, cf. http://www.esdf-opera.de/saengerliste/saengerliste%20ma-mc.html: MANSKI, Dorothée (also Dorothea) [soprano, 1891 Berlin – 1967 Atlanta, Georgia, USA], MANSKI, Inge [soprano, mezzo 1923 Berlin- 2001 Chicago, Illinois, US]
  16. Frau.Callaway mentions the year 1928
  17. "I think that Inge said they sailed on the SS Île de France and that there were fleas..." recalls Mrs. Callaway
  18. according to Mrs.Callaway's memoirs at healthyvoicestudio.com
  19. Web site: Results for 'au:Bransen, Walter' [WorldCat.org]]. www.worldcat.org.
  20. Web site: [WorldCat.org]]. www.worldcat.org.
  21. http://www.jjonz.us/RadioLogs/pagesnfiles/logs_files/1940s/1941/41_12dec/%5Bw%5D41-12-04-%28Thu%29.pdf Radiologs 1940
  22. Web site: MusicSack / Music Sack. musicsack.com.
  23. Web site: Object Metadata @ LexM. www.lexm.uni-hamburg.de.
  24. Book: Bransen, Walter. with Marian Anderson. February 16, 1940. 63564560. Open WorldCat.
  25. https://books.google.coù/books/about/Funk_tanz_tanz_stil_1928.html?id=Qh1vGwAACAAJ&redir_esc=y Googlebooks
  26. http://www.lotz-verlag.de/Vox-Kuenstlerdiscographie.pdf Diskografie
  27. Web site: Bitte. www.lotz-verlag.de.
  28. Web site: emsbs Hommage fuer Walter und Marianne Kaiser. www.emsbs.ch.
  29. http://tantner.net/publikationen/Tantner_Swing_ZeitRaum1995-2.pdf here page 45: „Schon vor dem Beginn der NS-Herrschaft hatte der Rundfunk-Tanzlehrer Walter Carlos den "Deta", den Deutschen Tanz entwickelt; Tanzfunktionäre setzten nach der "Machtergreifung" diese Suche nach Alternativen zu den wilden Tänzen der Jazz-Fans fort und kreierten zum Beispiel den „Marschfoxtrott“ oder den „Deutschländer“.“

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