Erwin Schulhoff - Partita (1920)

I've decided to post a few lesser known examples of early classical records influenced by jazz. One of the earliest I'm aware of, at least on records, is Erwin Schulhoff's Partita composed in 1920. It consists of 4 parts: a. Tango-Rag No.3; b. Tempo di Fox alia Hawaii; c. Tango No. 7; d. Shimmy-Jazz No. 8. Recorded for Polydor in 1928 with Schulhoff playing. The last piece is clearly the most jazz inspired. Schulhoff (1894-1942) was an early German modernist who went through several quite different phases, the 1920's being his best known. Wikipedia has a brief biography of him. Yet another whose life ended in a German concentration camp in 1942. Everything was against him. He was Jewish, wrote music banned by the Nazis and was involved with Communism.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Schulhoff
• jazz
• 1920's

[PaduaFernandes]

These recordings of Schulhoff's music by the composer himself can be found in the disc Schulhoff: Concerts alla jazz, from Decca.

[merrihew]

Thank you VERY much for this info. Actually, the title is Concertos Alla Jazz. Very hard to find, at least in the US - I had to pay $48.

[tightlygagged]

I'm assuming that the extremely fine playing is in fact Schulhoff's own?

[merrihew]

yes

[cleomagoolando]

Have you considered converting this LP to MP3 somehow, if only for posterity's sake?

[merrihew]

I simply have too many records to even think about such an overwhelming project. I'll always have the original and, of course, now its on YT.

[Tubatoofpaste]

Thanks for posting this. I'm currently rehearsing the flute sonata.

[PaduaFernandes]

You're welcome. The discs from the series Entartete Musik are now hard to find. I was lucky to buy this cd in Buenos Aires (in Brazil, I could not find it).

[thinking213]

most of the work would have been done while recording this. Converting to mp3 is the quickest part. ;)

[merrihew]

He made quite a few records but they are very difficult to find. Thanks for uploading your playing of his works.

[Vladipiano]

Very interesting! His music perfectly reflects the 1920-s atmosphere. Thank you for posting!