Norbert Schultze (1911-2002)

[Ivan Ž.]

With a filmstrip (c. 1940)

From https://www.gettyimages.com/

[Ivan Ž.]

Conducting an orchestra (c. 1941)

From https://shop.interfoto.de/

[Ivan Ž.]

Playing piano

From https://shop.interfoto.de/

[GoeringsPetLion]

Old Schultze talks about the initial refrain melody of his "Vorwärts nach Osten!" and how Dr. Goebbels sat next to him, looked at the notes, and changed the ending to sound more determined (the variant that we all know today).

Here is the whole subtitled film of Schultze talking and playing piano: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpP_SOfxJZ8. The Goebbels anecdote starts at 52:41. Schultze auditioned the song for Goebbels. Goebbels was unsatisfied, sat down to the piano, looked at the score, and played his version, without the vocal run, which he considered too difficult for a soldier's song. He was a capable pianist. In 1909, at the age of 11 or 12, his father had bought him a piano, and he had self-taught himself based on an exercise book (Damm Klavierschule).

[Universe]

[Split from Film soundtracks]

I thought some would be interested to know that Norbert Schultze (composer of Lili Marleen) was ordered under arrest during denazification for his collaboration with the Nazi government, to a large extent related to his film soundtracks. The woman who worked with denazification efforts involving music had been involved in the German resistance and had been in prison for a year and a half until her release in April 1945.

[Ivan Ž.]

Schultze with his second wife, Bulgarian actress Iwa Wanja, performing for the Allies half a year after WWII. Schultze and Wanja recorded several of his soldiers'/sailors' songs together during the war (before they got married), for Telefunken: "Lieber Hein - auf das Wiederseh’n kommt’s an!", "Du bist mein kleiner Kamerad", "Lili Marleen", "Drei rote Rosen" (the last two in Bulgarian language) and "Das Lied vom deutschen U-Boot-Mann".

From https://newsroom.ap.org/

Norbert Schultze whose stage name is Frank Norbert is seen at the piano, on Dec. 22, 1945, while his wife who sings under the name of Iwa Wanja, during a programe given to Allied troops in Berlin. Norbert Schultze composed the melody for the song Lili Marlene which has become a World War 2 favourite. While directing one of his Operas in 1938, Schultze came across a book of poems written during the last war by Hans Leip. he set these poems to music and among them was Lili Marlene. When the song was broadcast over the Belgrade radio to the Africa corps, it became famous in a few days, soon thousands of Allied and enemy troops were singing the same song. (AP Photo)

[Ivan Ž.]

Old Schultze talks about the initial refrain melody of his "Vorwärts nach Osten!" and how Dr. Goebbels sat next to him, looked at the notes, and changed the ending to sound more determined (the variant that we all know today).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR46GDNPKto

Here is the whole subtitled film of Schultze talking and playing piano: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpP_SOfxJZ8. The Goebbels anecdote starts at 52:41. Schultze auditioned the song for Goebbels. Goebbels was unsatisfied, sat down to the piano, looked at the score, and played his version, without the vocal run, which he considered too difficult for a soldier's song.

I've just noticed, while preparing a reply in another thread, that Schultze's statement about this song in the documentary turned out to be misleading, due to director's editing. Schultze went to discuss the song with Dr Goebbels on Saturday evening (28 June), but the part he talks about in the next scene, about recording the song and waiting for the verdict, didn't happen later the same night, as the edited interview suggests, but the next day (Sunday, 29 June), around and after noon (PM - not AM, as was translated in the subtitled version). Also, he mentions not being able to sleep while waiting for the verdict - not because it was middle of the night, but because he didn't get much sleep over night, working on the song. An uncut version of Schultze's story about "Vorwärts nach Osten!" can be found in Prieberg's Handbuch, pp. 6391-6392.

Cheers,
Ivan