Name Mitja Nikisch | ||
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Parents Amelie Nikisch, Arthur Nikisch People also search for Arthur Nikisch, Nora Gregor, Ernst Rudiger Starhemberg, Heinrich Starhemberg | ||
Mitja Nikisch Tanz-Orch.- Ich kann, ich will (Should I) 1931
Mitja Nikisch was a classical pianist and dance band leader, born in Leipzig, Germany on May 21, 1899 and died in Venice, Italy on August 5, 1936.
Contents
- Mitja Nikisch Tanz Orch Ich kann ich will Should I 1931
- Mitja nikisch tanz orch such a casual love affair eine liebelei so nebenbei 1931
- Career
- Recordings
- References
Mitja nikisch tanz orch such a casual love affair eine liebelei so nebenbei 1931
Career
Mitja Nikisch was the son of the celebrated orchestral conductor Arthur Nikisch and, like his father, became a fine interpreter of classical works. Nonetheless, while respected in that literature—he made his debut as piano soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra on April 22, 1918; performed with luminaries such as Wilhelm Furtwängler and Sir Henry J. Wood; and composed a piano concerto, completed shortly before his death—he was most celebrated as leader of a popular jazz band in Berlin during the Weimar Republic era. The band played in fashionable clubs and included some of the most admired popular performers in Germany of the day; prominent guitarist Otto Sachsenhauer described it as "the best dance band ever heard in Berlin." The ascendence of the Nazi Party in Germany put an end to the band, however; despairing, Nikisch committed suicide.
He had been married to and divorced from stage and film actress Nora Gregor.
Recordings
As a classical performer, Mitja Nikisch left some reproducing piano rolls and one commercial recording, a 1934 account of Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 20 in D Minor, K. 466, with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Rudolf Schulz-Dornburg. The Tahra label reissued it in 2007 as part of a set of 4 compact discs (TAHRA 595-598).
Recordings by the Mitja Nikisch Tanz Orchester included one in 1931 of the Nacio Herb Brown-Arthur Freed tune for the MGM film Lord Byron of Broadway, Should I (Reveal Exactly How I Feel), in German as Ich kann, ich will with vocalist Paul Dorn.