Gebirgsjägers Gruß

Discussions on the music in the Third Reich. Hosted by Ivan Ž.
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Alarm_Uboat
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Gebirgsjägers Gruß

#1

Post by Alarm_Uboat » 21 Nov 2022, 17:15

[Topic title corrected by the host, Ivan Ž.]

In the book by Prieberg, it is only stated that it was recorded in 1941 and its chorus is "Hörst du dann ein Lied erklingen". Does anyone have the full text of the recording? The song is uploaded at archive.org.

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Ivan Ž.
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Re: Gebirgsjägers Gruß

#2

Post by Ivan Ž. » 23 Nov 2022, 19:36

Although this song was credited as "Gebirgsjägersgruß" on the record label that you came across, its original title was actually "Gebirgsjägers Gruß" (two words). This forgotten and probably never-widely-known composition originates completely from the city of Gera, Thuringia. It was written, composed and self-published (in 1941 and 1942) by Laurent Toepel, arranged by Helmut Michel and recorded for H. Peter (all based in Gera). Its only known recording was made, for a seldom-known label, by a small group of anonymous singers with an accordion, guitar and bass.

You can find a different label of the same record at Grammophon-Platten.de (this one is also listed at the German National Library website).

Even though one might assume that few people had an opportunity to hear about such a low budget piece, it seems that it may have been known and sung by (some of) the troops after all. According to the Innsbrucker Nachrichten article "Zwei Abende zum 'Tag der Wehrmacht'", 24.03.1941, at a show in Innsbruck, a soldiers' choir opened their performance with a song called "Gebirgsjäger-Gruß" (notice the spelling without one "s"). Note that such a song title wasn't really original (regardless of the spelling variations), so there could have been more songs with the same or similar title. However, none seem to be known (today), except for Toepel's one. So maybe it was indeed his song that was sung in Innsbruck.


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