In
1937, twenty six year old Marcel Prawy became personal secretary to
Polish singer/actor Jan Kiepura and Hungarian operetta singer Martha
Eggert (also Marta Eggerth, Martha Eggerth, originally Márta
Eggert).
In this function Prawy could combine his knowledge, organizational
talent and his love for music and drama. The engagement was the beginning
of a remarkable career.
Marcel
Prawy - in full Marcel Horace Frydman, Ritter von Prawy -
was born on December 29, 1911, in Vienna. From an early age on music,
and especially opera, was his passion. However, after passing his
gymnasium exam, he did not study music and musicology full time at
the "Viennese State Academy for Music and Dramatic Art" (Wiener Staatsakademie
für Musik und dramatische Kunst), but attended university to
study law instead. He became a Juris Doctor (Doctor of Law) in 1934
and practiced in a law firm. Yet music was all the time on his mind.
In
1938 Jan Kiepura made his debut at the Met in New York. Marcel
Prawy, now personal secretary to the famous couple, planned to join
him, but he did not have the appropriate documents for leaving Austria.
The political situation in Austria was getting grimmer and grimmer
and those who planned to leave the country should not hesitate. Thor
Johnson studied in Salzburg, Vienna, and Leipzig, during the
season 1936-1937. In a letter to his parents he described the pre-war
situation: "Austria is one of the poorest countries of Europe.
The streets are filled with cripples and beggars and Vienna is considerably
run down. The war (WW I, ed.) certainly took its toll. The only man
who seems to have had any ability to do anything for Austria was Dollfuss
and the Nazis took his life because they realized his importance."
("Thor Johnson, American Conductor", by Louis Nicholas,
1982.)
In an attempt to counteract the influence of the Nazis, Engelbert
Dollfuss instated his dictatorship banning the Nazi party and also
excluding the social democrats from taking part in government. Dollfuss
was assasinated in 1934 and succeeded by Kurt von Schlussnig who followed
the same policy, but to no avail.
As
Jan Kiepura was engaged at the Metropolitan Opera, migration to the
US was the obvious move for Prawy to make. This became the more urgent
when on March 12, 1938, Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany. The new
Nazi government meant important changes and restrictions for all Austrian
citizens. Also for performing artists. On the day after the Anschluss
it was announced that actor Robert Valberg, with whom Prawy had worked
while synchronizing and editing Kiepura's latest movie, was appointed
head of all the artists in the new constellation. This came as a shock.
Prawy had never suspected that the man with whom he was on friendly
terms was a Nazi. However, it was Robert Valberg, who arranged for
the necessary official documents and Prawy could quickly leave the
country.
Together
with Jan Kiepura and Marta Eggerth, he left for Italy.
From there they traveled by boat to the United States. Prawy was registered
at Ellis Island. Strangely enough Jan Kiepura and Marcel Prawy returned
to Europe for a short while in 1939 in order to collect important
private belongings and documents in Berlin, a voyage which was not
without risk. In the end they decided not to continue the trip to
Berlin and to leave Europe just in time and reached New York. Marcel
Prawy also obtained an affidavit for his father, who came to America
as well, but died there. Dr. Richard Frydmann von Prawy, 1882-1942.
Just
before World War II many scientists, musicians, composers, performers,
and artists fled Europe. Many were well known or became famous after
the war. They were of many nationalities.
Many names were linked in some way or other to the Austrian-Hungarian-German
music culture: Robert Stolz (conductor), Oscar Strauss
(composer/conductor), Paul Abraham (composer), Emmerich
Kalman (composer), Erich Wolfgang Korngold (composer/conductor),
Béla Bartók (composer), Andor Foldes (pianist),
Fritz Busch (conductor), and many, many more.
Not all were
in a position to perform or have their works performed to earn some
sort of living. There were exceptions: Robert Stolz conducted
in New York. Fritz Busch led the New Opera Company, Hungarian
born singer Martha Eggert and her Polish husband Jan Kiepura
sang at the Met, and Marta Eggerth made movies in Hollywood. In 1940
she sung in the Broadway musical 'Higher and Higher'. The couple played
in the Broadway production of the operetta 'The Merry Widow' (Lehar)
in the 1943-1944 season. Many immigrants produced cultural gatherings
for other immigrants in New York, with success. As Donald Gabor knew
Martha Eggert he asked her to make recordings for his Continental
label which he later released on Continental CLP 2012. Gabor
also recorded pianist Andor Foldes and, together with Laszlo
Halasz, he made the now famous recordings of Béla Bartók.
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The
United States of America Certificate of Nationalization of Marcel
Prawy (white, male, ruddy complexion, 5 foot 11.5 inches tall)
was issued on November 2, 1943 in Maryland.
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Like
George Curtiss (later director of the Webster pressing plant in Massachusetts),
also Marcel Prawy enlisted in the US Army in 1943 and obtained US
citizenship. From then on Prawy was no longer secretary of the famous
movie couple, but became instructor and taught languages, history,
and customs of European countries to recruits in order to be prepared
when they would come to Europe.
In
1944 Prawy was sent to England were he entertained the American troops
together with cabarettist/pianist/composer Georg Kreisler (a
sample of the latter's art are the "Nichtarische Arien"
-Not Arian Arias- recorded in 1966). From England Prawy went to Paris.
There too Prawy and Kreisler performed the musical reviews they partly
had written together.
When the Germans had finally capitulated in May 1945, he was stationed
in Germany and for a short while in Bordeaux. In 1946 he returned
to Vienna. From May 1946 to 1950 he was a "Military Civilian"
and as such became editor of "Welt im Film" (The World in
Pictures), the adaptation for Austrian cinema goers of the American-British
news reel, to which he added more items about music than about politics,
he later confessed in his book "Marcel Prawy erzählt aus
seinem Leben" (Marcel Prawy talks about his life).
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Marcel
Prawy in the nineteen seventies.
Picture
taken from Deutsche Grammophon Lp 2532 001 - Wagner: Tristan
und Isolde.
Photo credit: Will Appelt, Wien.
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Marcel
Prawy produced many recordings on his own account like 'Rêve
de valse' (Ein Walzertraum, Dreamwaltz) by Oscar Srauss, released
in France on Counterpoint CMC 120.001, the composer conducting
the 'Tonkünstlerorchester', listed in 1955.
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The
conversation between Donald Gabor and Marcel Prawy in New York resonated
at the end of the nineteen forties when Gabor contacted Prawy and
asked him to produce recordings for release on his newly founded Remington
Records label. They made a deal.
From 1950 on Prawy produced numerous recordings with the Orchestra
of the Viennese Symphonic Society, also called Austrian Symphony Orchestra,
Niederösterreichisches Sinfonieorchester (Symphony Orchestra
of Lower Austria), and Tonkünstler Orchester. He had a two year
contract with the orchestra. Conductors were Fritz Busch, Kurt
Wöss, Rudolf Moralt, Wilhelm Loibner, Gustav Koslik, Felix Prohaska,
Paul Walter, George Singer, Anton Paulik, Max Schönherr, and
Hans Wolf, to name a few. Prawy also
made deals with performing artists and artists of the younger generation,
those who just had finished their studies in Vienna.
Prawy even asked conductor Paul Sacher to make recordings for
the Remington label and, in a letter, tried to convince him by mentioning
that recordings had been made with George Enesco; Bela Bartok interpreting
his own compositions; Giuseppe de Luca singing arias; Walther Schneiderhan
playing Mendelssohn`s Violin Concerto and Beethoven Sonates; Giovanni
Martinelli and Karin Branzell singing arias and songs; Andor Foldes
with a special piano album; Robert Stolz conducting his own works;
Jan Kiepura in The Merry Widow (Lustige Witwe); Oscar Strauss conducting
Viennese music; and a series of great symphonies conducted by the
excellent conductor H. Arthur Brown
had been completed. Prawy talked as if he was invlolved with the Bartok,
Enesco and Foldes rercordings which were made by Don Gabor in America.
However, he could have been present when Bartok and Foldes made the
recordings. It is known that Prawy was an able negociator and also
someone who liked to give importance to himself as well as the cause
he was working for. In this case Remington Records.
Marcel
Prawy discovered and contracted pianist Jörg Demus for
his first recordings ever, with works of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and
Schubert. Prawy also approached young pianist Alexander Jenner
who, in 1949, had won the "Bösendorfer-Preisflügel" (Bösendorfer
Grand Piano Prize), which was awarded by the famous Viennese piano
manufacturer to the best student. It was the obvious recommendation
to have Alexander Jenner to make his debut recordings for Remington.
Alexander Jenner told me: "Mr. Prawy would
ask you to study, say Beethoven's 'Diabelli Variations', and to be
ready in two weeks time for a recording session."
The sessions arranged by Prawy in Vienna produced material to be released
on the Remington label for which also pianists Frieda Valenzi,
Hilde Somer, Fritz Weidlich, and Felicitas Karrer performed.
These recordings were often released on Gabor's Plymouth and Merit
labels as well. Prawy recorded cellists Gaspar Cassado
and Richard Matuschka, and violinists Michèle Auclair,
Eva Hitzker, Helen Airoff, Walter Schneiderhan, and Gérard
Poulet. He made recordings or obtained radio recordings of the
many artists who can be found on the Remington releases starting at
R-199-1 with pianist Felicitas Karrer performing Beethoven's Emperor
Concerto, up to and about R-199-128 on which Michèle Auclair
plays 'Kreisler Favorites' and Gaspar Cassado plays 'Cello Encore's,
and R-199-130, the record of Gustav Koslik conducting the Austrian
Symphony Orchestra in 'Polovetsian Dances' from Prince Igor (Borodin)
and 'Night on the Bald Mountain' (Mussorgsky).
A
few of Prawy's productions were released on the Masterseal label in
the early years. These were special editions not styled by Alex Steinweiss
or another artist who would be in charge. The records were offered
in luxurious gatefold covers with a luxurious snake skin pattern and
liner notes originally written by Marcel Prawy himself. The most famous
ones are the Busch Memorial Album, the recording with cellist Gaspar
Cassado playing gems and accompanying baritone Paul Schoeffler
(Masterseal MW-45). On Masterseal MW-49 it is Vittorio Gui who
conducts Mendelssohn Bartholdy's 'Reformation Symphony' and Hebrides
Overture, and on Masterseal MW-50 he conducts Great Overtures of Rossini,
Cherubibi and Wolf-Ferrari. The pressings were done on quality vinyl,
not the cheap substitute used for the Remingtons. Therefor prices
were high, $6.45 for a 12 inch Lp record. Other Masterseal releases
were Bruckner's Symphony No. 1 with conductor Volkmar Andreae
(Masterseal MW-40); "Erich Wolfgang Korngold plays Korngold",
an Lp on which the composer plays the piano, and soprano Hilde
Zadek and tenor Anton Dermota sing, while Wilhelm Loibner
conducts the "Austrian State Symphony" (Masterseal MW-46).
And there are the recordings by Oscar Strauss on MW-47 and
48, and of course the Fritz Busch Memorial Album (MW-39). All
special recordings.
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Recordings
produced by Marcel Prawy were re-released on the Vibraton
label in the nineteen sixties and seventies. These records
were pressed in Italy from better matrices on a better quality
vinyl.
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When
conductor Fritz Bush had suddenly died in London on September
14, 1951, of a heart attack, Don Gabor released a 'Fritz Busch
Memorial Album' on his Masterseal label, reference MW 39. Since
the recordings had been produced by Marcel Prawy, Gabor honored
the producer by adorning the liner notes with the above emblem.
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The
collaboration between Marcel Prawy and Don Gabor lasted until the
beginning of 1953. It was then that Donald was offered to have Berlin
as the main recording venue and tape performances with the RIAS Symphony
Orchestra.
Marcel Prawy writes in his biography:
"(...)
between 1950 and 1955, I made many recordings, mostly for the
American firm "Remington", of which Donald and Wally
Gabor from New York were the founders, who, for the first time,
wanted to release a budget series of the newly invented LP.
I made many records on my own account. There was a contract
with the 'Niederösterreichisches Tonkünstlerorchester'.
(...) On my records conducted the great conductors Fritz Busch
and Vittorio Gui. Anton Dermota, Paul Schoeffler, Astrid Varnay
were singing."
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In
the beginning several records were produced together with conductor
Hans Wolf who also had fled to America and had enlisted in the US
Army. After World War II Hans Wolf (1913-2005) had come back
to Europe, but returned to the US for good in 1950. Before he left,
he recorded six works for Remington, among others César
Franck's Symphony in D, Ludwig van Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, Symphony
No. 2 by Johannes Brahms, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Haffner"
Symphony, all with "The Austrian Symphony Orchestra".
and Haydn's Cello Concerto with Gaspar Cassado. Hans Wolf is
better known as a conductor of opera and of operetta.
It
truly was a budget series. The Remington recordings made in Austria
give evidence that Prawy was more concerned about recording an artist,
an orchestra, the composition, and adding another work to his and
Gabor's catalog, than he cared about the quality of the sound recording
per se. Prawy tried to sell his recordings also to radio stations
in Sweden and Germany (RIAS), and to other recording companies in
England and the USA (Capitol) but to no avail.
When
the collaboration with Remington Records had ended, Donald Gabor
wrote a Letter of Recommendation on the stationary of his Record Corporation
of New England: "This is to certify that Mr. Marcel Prawy was
employed as director and producer of musical recordings by our division,
Remington Records, Inc. Mr. Prawy started for us on January 17, 1950
and was employed until December 1953 and was paid on a weekly basis
the sum of $500. We were extremely satisfied with Mr. Prawy's unique
talent and loyalty and it is a pleasure to recommend him for any position
which he would undertake." Signed: Donald H. Gabor, President.
Although 1953
is mentioned as the end of the contract, for the recordings of the
Beethoven and Brahms Violin Concertos performed by American violinist
Albert Spalding, Laszlo Halasz traveled to Vienna to supervise
the recordings which were made useing the new Musirama 4 microphone
placement. It is plausible that recording director Laszlo Halasz traveled
to Vienna, together with violinist Albert Spalding, and supervised
these recordings, made in November 1952. Although Marcel Prawy had
tried to sell his "musical recordings" to radio stations
in Germany (RIAS) and Sweden, dan contacted record companies in England
and the USA (Capitol Records), it seems that Remington was the only
record company who released his recordings (apart from a few recordings
issued in Germany on the Opera label (Bertelsmann) and in France (Counterpoint).
These early years
of producing were significant for Prawy's later career and his experiences
paid off. In 1955 he became a member of the board of directors of
the 'Volksoper' and he dared to introduce 'the musical' to the conservative
Viennese public by staging Cole Porter's 'Kiss me Kate', followed
by Leonard Bernstein's 'Wonderful Town' (1956), Irving Berlin's 'Annie,
Get your Gun' (1957), and Leonard Bernstein's 'West Side Story' (1968),
and many more.
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Leontyne
Price and William Warfield. Picture
taken from the RCA Lp release with highlights from Porgy and
Bess.
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In 1952 the American
opera company which traveled through Europe performing George Gershwin's
Porgy
and Bess also visited Vienna. Prawy had first seen 'Porgy
and Bess' in New York during the war. Porgy in the 1952 performance
was William Warfield whom Prawy had met in the army. Bess was the
young and newly discovered star, soprano Leontyne Price. It was the
first Blevins Davis/ Robert Breen production. (The second production
toured Europe in 1956).
In 1965 Marcel Prawy himself produced 'Porgy and Bess' with
the Wiener Volksoper. It was the complete, original version and it
is said that Prawy set the trend to perform 'Porgy and Bess' as an
opera, many years before the Met did. In 1965 Olive Moorefield was
Bess. Porgy was again his army friend William Warfield.
Prawy's career
was gaining more and more in importance. He became a famous television
presenter and as such was called 'Mister Oper'. He supervised and
compiled a series of opera records for Deutsche Grammophon, engaged
famous stars and discovered new talents. He wrote many books and was
dramaturge at the State Opera (Staatsoper). He was one of Vienna's
most remarkable figures who left an imprint on the cultural life and
on the lives of many artists, opera singers, conductors, musicians,
stars, and in the early nineteen fifties on Gabor's Remington Records.
Marcel Prawy,
who considered living in a hotel the best way to be able to dedicate
himself fully to his work - he may have taken up the habit when changing
from one hotel to another during his stay in New York - passed away
on February 23, 2003, at the age of 91, leaving numerous documents,
books, photographs and objets, all documenting the musical history
of Vienna over many decades.
In the nineteen thirties Jan Kiepura predicted that Marcel Prawy was
going to have a great career. And indeed he was to. Placido Domingo
described Prawy as "an authority for everything concerning music".
And that was also very true.
Data compiled
and text written by Rudolf A. Bruil - Page first published in December
2006.
Some facts about his work for Jan Kiepura, his stay in the USA and
a quotation, were taken from the book "Marcel Prawy erzählt
aus seinem Leben" (Marcel Prawy talks about his life), Kremayr
& Scheriau, Vienna, 2001.
