Who was/is Christel Schulze ? - CDs, Vinyl LPs, DVD and more
Christel Schulze
When the German meeting of the FDJ was approaching in 1964, Klaus Schneider, composer, head of the Dixieland band Jenaer Oldtimers and music editor of the Junge Welle of Radio DDR, set out in search of new songs. These should not sound like the old mass songs, but in his opinion "overcome rigid genre boundaries" and "unite many elements of the song, the chanson, also the chanson d'amour and the hit". The lyricist Rainer Kirsch, asked to cooperate, found a suitable text in a cantata that he had written, and remarked: "It is, however, a quite ordinary evening song and even has a bit of a hit character in the text". That didn't bother the composer Klaus Schneider, he made a piece out of it, "intended for young people with guitar, to sing at a campfire, to a club evening, or to recite only for their loved ones". Christel Schulze seemed to be the right interpreter for him.
Christel Schulze, born in 1936, had completed a classical vocal training in the early 50s and had become a pop singer through the radio series 'Die kleine Premiere'. Kurt Henkels had produced several titles with her. One of them was called, "I walk the streets and I'm all alone. On the
At the 1st dance music conference of the GDR in 1959 in Lauchhammer he was severely criticized because he was so negative. One should go to the Stalinallee in Berlin, there the people are not alone.
When Klaus Schneider came to Christel Schulze with the evening song in 1963, she immediately agreed. Later she sang other compositions by him as well as folk songs in twelve languages and jazz. She was a member of many Hootenannys, had her own folklore group and produced several titles with an ensemble of Soviet armed forces stationed in the GDR. From 1971 she was a lecturer for chanson and pop singing at the Hochschule für Musik 'Hanns Eisler' in Berlin.
A newspaper wrote about the evening song in 1967: "No southern night, no farewell on the quay, no love at first sight with fateful, sensual rhythm - yes, can it be such a hit? And all of this is presented carefully, not with elaborate strings, lamenting saxophones and a penetrating percussion instrument. Only guitar and vocals, a little sentimental too, I guess."
Extract from
Various - songwriter in Germany
Vol.2, For whom we sing (3-CD)
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