Call of the Huia: 100 early New Zealand Art Songs
Paul SCHRAMM: Three Jazz Songs:
- Litanei am Wind
- Die Anprobe des neuen Anzugs
- Ashermittwoch
Paul Schramm Photo: Supplied by Helen Barnett
Paul Schramm (1892 – 1953) was an Austrian pianist and composer who arrived in New Zealand just prior to the outbreak of World War Two, with his wife Diny, also a pianist. The two performed regularly throughout New Zealand until the War curtailed their performing, as ‘enemy aliens’. Diny taught (including Bruce Greenfield), while Schramm drove a taxi until his licence was revoked, forcing him into factory work.
After the war his application for citizenship was declined, supposedly on the grounds that he hadn’t bought War Bonds. He left New Zealand in 1948 to try and restart his performing career in Australia, leaving his wife and son behind, however his career never recovered and he died in 1953 in a motor vehicle accident. He had become a salesman for women’s lingerie.
These songs were written sometime in the 1920s, the manuscripts, held in the Alexander Turnbull Library, are undated. They reflect the German avant-garde of the time, being similar in style to the mid-Twenties music of composers like Kurt Weill and Paul Hindemith.
Max Hermann-Neisse was a socialist poet who left Germany in 1933 and died of a heart attack in 1941. The poems set here by Schramm come from various collections of poetry published between 1914 and 1927. The text used by Schramm in all the songs differs from the published versions of the poems which might imply that Schramm had direct access to the poet and early versions of the poems.
Recorded 12 February 2021, St Andrew's on The Terrace, Wellington by RNZ Concert
Producer: David McCaw for RNZ Concert
Engineer: Darryl Stack for RNZ Concert
Video: Chris Watson for SOUNZ
The Call of the Huia research project by music historian Michael Vinten is funded by the Lilburn Trust with support from the Alexander Turnbull Library, the Hocken Library, SOUNZ Centre for NZ Music, RNZ Concert and others. The scores with CDs for Call of the Huia can be purchased in hard copy or as digital download from SOUNZ.
