Weimar Republic hits new crescendo
Max Raabe and Palast Orchester revives the hits of 1920s- and ’30s-era Germany with its own twist
In 1985, German Max Raabe was studying to become a baritone opera singer at Berlin University for the Arts when he formed the Palast Orchester with 11 other students.
The idea behind the band was to perform some of the sheet music of popular songs from the Weimar Republic era that the vocalist had been buying at flea markets. Raabe was a huge fan of the music from the 1920s and 1930s. He wasn’t alone.
From its first performance, Max Raabe and Palast Orchester hit the right note with its interpretations of songs by such largely forgotten geniuses as the Comedian Harmonists, an internationally renowned German all-male harmony ensemble that performed a repertoire ranging from folk tunes to adaptations of the latest jazz-age hits from the U.S. and more.
Due to the fact three of the members were Jewish or of Jewish descent, the combo was eventually banned from performing and its brilliant music became a historical footnote.
Reviving The Comedian Harmonists’ music and other tunes from that tumultuous era in German history became Raabe’s goal. He also turned his hand at writing chart hits such as the 1992 sex-tango Kein Schwein ruft mich an (No swine gives me a call).
“I wrote that when I was a student, in the 1920s style, but with these lewd words based around a common German saying,” said Raabe.
“And it was something quite different for someone to be wearing a tuxedo and singing these lewd and strange lyrics to a beautiful melody. But this was the song that gave us a chance to tour and really establish the band.”
It also gave the group a chance to really develop its catalogue. From those original random finds at flea markets, the songs just kept rolling in. Raabe notes the “forgotten era” was much closer in the minds of the public than they were aware of.
“I have no idea why I liked the music so, as it was never in my parents’ or friends’ collections,” he said. “But on Sundays, there were these black-and-white films from that time on and there was always a scene with an orchestra and someone would be singing some classic song or other. Even the cartoons often had these songs in the background, so this makes everyone somewhat familiar with the music even if they didn’t actively listen to it.”
This certainly explains the immediate appeal for the group’s distinct style at home, but Max Raabe and Palast Orchester has enjoyed soldout performances across North America, including a stand at Carnegie Hall captured in the fantastic 2008 double-live CD Heute Nacht oder nie (Tonight or Never).
The singer thinks the Nazi-era mass exodus of leading composers, arrangers and performers to the U.S. — particularly Hollywood — brought that distinctive, big, brassy “German swing” style to far wider realms.
“Intelligent, interesting and smart people had to leave the country and with them went that great lyrical irony, too,” Raabe said. “Of course, we had some excellent music after ’33 with some beautiful melodies, but nothing that had that particularly German, often Jewish, black humour and double meaning of those popular songs from the 1920s and 1930s.”
This frivolity found its way into the performances. Besides turning out in formal wear of the era, the group featured everything from classic bandstands to chorus lines and even threw in some straight-up joke numbers. Typically, these were 1920s interpretations of such pop pabulum as Britney Spears’ Oops! ... I Did It Again. The band has done quite a few of these in its decades together.
“This was a joke we did once, but it was very successful in East Germany and in Russia, so we have done it more than once, although it certainly isn’t our passion,” Raabe said. “We have remained quite dedicated to that; even my two albums with very famous pop singer Annette Humpe still have that 1920s, ’30s style and very black humour lyrics. That has brought us in a whole new, younger audience.”
Entering its third decade with 20 recordings to its name, Max Raabe and Palast Orchester has maintained almost all of the original membership dating back to that college pickup group. Raabe says it has been a lot of hard work keeping the large ensemble together all this time.
“We are in a very lucky situation as we have learned how to work together very well and keep going,” he said.
“And, at last, we have real success and have become like this excellently running company, always getting the job done well. It was a short time that we focus upon, particularly in Germany and Austria, but we still get new material coming in from collectors and academics these days.”