At the beginning of the 20th century, Europe is living in peace and prosperity. The “Belle Époque” is an outgrowth of previous important historical events and developments. The networks that are created and which evolve funnel both people and their products, tangible and intangible. It is within this multi-layered world that sound recording and sound reproduction is invented. Early record labels send mobile crews literally all over the world to record local musicians. The range of the repertoire is endless. Cosmopolitanism in large urban centers favors polystylisms and polymorphisms. Colonialism, revolutions, conflicts, refugee flows; the theater, cinema, radio, photography, orchestras’ tours, but also circulations in all kinds of commercial channels in a world that evolves dynamically and anisotropically, form a complex network of “centers” and “peripheries” in alternating roles setting musical idioms in motion, both literally and figuratively. The network in which the Greek-speaking urban popular song participates, constantly conversing with its co-tenants, is magnificent. Discography has already provided important tools in understanding the relationships that developed between “national” repertoires. The result of this ongoing research is “Cosmopolitanism in Greek Historical Discography”.

Tango is one of the main musical elements of the national identity of modern Argentina. It is born in the marginalized environment of the port of Buenos Aires, but soon conquers Europe and the USA, where it is carried by traveling Argentine musicians and dancers during the first decade of the 20th century. Its acceptance by the upper and middle classes was due to its transformation from a multicultural musical expression of the underworld to a dance-music one for whites, as well as to its thematic cleansing of its overtly sensual origins. Primarily marginal types and their provocative liminality are replaced by quaint figures who are possessed by unquenchable, but stylized love passions. This is how a “tamed” musical genre emerges that recalls a more romantic Argentina. Tango takes Parisian cabarets by storm, and its initially targeted popularity soon develops into widespread appeal. Record companies, composers and orchestras manage it as an integral part of their business. At the end of the 1920s and the beginning of the 1930s, Greece succumbs too to this “tangomania”. During the interwar period, tango has a central place in the repertoire of elafro (light music) and enriches discography’s catalogs with hundreds of original compositions which complement the systematic arrangements of popular pieces, mainly of European origin, “dressed” with Greek lyrics. One such case is the recording "Orlof".

This is an adaptation with Greek lyrics of the Alex - Nadja's duet “Spiel', meine Jazzband, spiel'” from the second act of the three-act Austrian operetta “Der Orlow”, set to music by the composer and librettist Bruno Bernhard Granichstaedten (Vienna, September 1, 1879 - New York, May 30, 1944) and libretto by the screenwriter and director Ernst Marischka (Vienna, January 2, 1893 - Chur, Switzerland, May 12, 1963) and Bruno Bernhard Granichstaedten. The operetta premiered at the Theater an der Wien, in Vienna, on April 3, 1925 (see here).

Songs from the operetta, including the present recording, were published as a musical score in 1925, in Vienna and Berlin, by the Edition Bristol A.G.

“Der Orlow” was a turning point in the history of Viennese operetta. It was the first time that a jazz band (alto and tenor saxophone – an instrument that had not previously been used in the genre – cornet, trombone, drums, banjo, piano) constituted an integral part of the musical act, playing either alongside the orchestra or independently. However, apart from the musical content, there were other innovative elements, such as the car factory area where part of the stage action took place, which rendered the play groundbreaking for its time.

The operetta was a success, was adapted in several languages and staged in many European cities. For example:

On September 23, 1925, it was staged at the Fővárosi Operettszínház (Budapester Operettentheater) in Budapest under the title “Az Orlow”, and, the same year at the Theater des Westens in Berlin, with Hubert Marischka, brother of the librettist, in the role of Alex and Lea Seidl in the role of Nadja.

In 1926, an English adaptation of the operetta under the title “Hearts and Diamonds” was staged at the Strand Theater in London. The song from the recording, like other songs from the operetta, was published the same year as a musical score, with English lyrics by Graham John and under the title “Play my heart away”, by the Keith Prowse & Co. Ltd publishing house.

The following year, on October 22, 1927, it was staged at the Casino Teatre in Oslo (see here), with Kirsten Flagstad in the role of Nadja.

During the period 1927-1928, it was included in the program of performances of the National Theater in Maribor, Slovenia (see here).

In France, an adaptation of the operetta by Roger Ferréol and Georges Merry premiered on December 8, 1928, at the Folies Wagram in Paris, under the title “L'Orloff”, delivering 86 performances. French musical scores with songs from the operetta were published the same year in Paris by Max Eschig & Cie.

The present song was probably first recorded in instrumental form by Sándor Józsi’s orchestra, in Berlin, on July 31, 1925 (Odeon Be 4749 - BL A 44617 & O-3261). It was also recorded in instrumental form in Vienna, in late 1925, by the Jazzband Buchbinder (“Tango”, Columbia H 458 - D-7995), which also participated in the Vienna plays of the operetta.

The presence of the operetta in cinema is also noteworthy:

- In 1927, the German-produced silent film “Der Orlow”, which is based on the operetta of the same title, was released in movie theaters.
- On November 29, 1932, another film based on the operetta under the title “Der Diamant des Zaren” was screened in German cinemas.

In Greece, as it is written on the label of the record, it was performed for the first time by the Laoutaris - Kofiniotis troupe in 1926, and, during the period 1963-1964 (see here) and 1969-1970 (see here), it was staged by the National Opera in the Olympia theater, in Athens.

According to the data that are available so far, this recording is the only recording of the song and of the operetta in Greek historical discography.

Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis, George Evangelou and Nikos Ordoulidis