Steelworkers make music (1953)
Memories of a ball experience
Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven, but also concert entertainment music and modern jazz were part of the repertoire of the factory symphony orchestra of the Hüttenwerk Oberhausen AG (HOAG) in the 1950s. In 1953, the musicians played a concert that was even immortalized on celluloid.
The film “Smelters make music” presents the 54-member ensemble under the direction of their conductor Albert Röhring during a concert in the Oberhausen factory restaurant. The piece played is “Memories of a Ball Experience” by the German pianist and composer Hans Bund (1898–1982). In real life, the orchestra members were workers at the Oberhausen steelworks. The camera portrays individual musicians playing solos or instruments, then fades in and shows them at their workplaces in the steelworks. The contrast between the hard physical work and the sublime orchestral music could not be stronger.
The HOAG factory symphony orchestra enriched the cultural life of the factory and the city of Oberhausen with its concerts. Since 1934, the amateur orchestra has regularly given classical concerts in the factory restaurant for the workforce, their families and guests. Out of a love of music, conviction and plenty of discipline, the orchestra studied demanding classics. Making music was a welcome change and a different mental activity after a 12-hour working day.
The composer Hans Bund wrote the catchy piece “Memory of a Ball Experience” in 1939. It is a character piece of sophisticated entertainment music that was often played by radio orchestras or at spa concerts until the 1960s. Bund founded the Hans Bund Jazz Orchestra in Berlin in the early 1930s and appeared there in the film “The Winner” with Hans Albers, among others. As a pianist and arranger, he accompanied various artists and produced a large number of records with entertainment music. In April 1946, he was hired by the Cologne radio station to form a new band there. He put together a 35-person orchestra, which developed into the WDR radio station orchestra in 1947.
In November 1953, the film was presented in the works restaurant together with the industrial film “Ropes of Steel” by Hüttenwerk Oberhausen AG Werk Gelsenkirchen vorm. Boecker & Comp. At the initiative of the production company, the film was shown in the program of the III. West German Short Film Festival Oberhausen in 1956.
Astrid Dörnemann, thyssenkrupp Corporate Archives, Duisburg
Filmographic information:
Year of production: 1953
Client: Hüttenwerk Oberhausen AG
Production: Industrie-Film AG, Cologne
Director: Hermann Kahlo
Camera: Willy Krakau
Music: Hans Bund: Memories of a ball experience played by the factory symphony orchestra of the Hüttenwerk Oberhausen AG under the direction of Albert Röhring
Format: 35mm optical sound
Color: Black and white
Language: German
Running time: 8 min.
Archive: thyssenkrupp Corporate Archives, Duisburg
Contact
thyssenkrupp Corporate Archives
Astrid Dörnemann MA
Friedrich-Ebert-Strasse 12
47119 Duisburg
corporate-archives@thyssenkrupp.com
Request concert of the factory symphony orchestra of the Hüttenwerk Oberhausen AG under the direction of Albert Röhring in the company's factory restaurant in February 1953. Photographer: Erich Angenendt.
Source: thyssenkrupp Corporate Archives, Duisburg
The wind players of the factory symphony orchestra of the Hüttenwerk Oberhausen AG at a request concert in February 1953. Photographer: Erich Angenendt.
Source: thyssenkrupp Corporate Archives, Duisburg