Federick Hollander

General information

Frederick Hollander was born to German parents in London on October 18, 1896.

His father Victor was a widely acclaimed composer of revues, operettas and popular songs, still known today for his "Kirschen in Nachbars Garten" and "Schaukellied."

Frederick grew up in Berlin, surrounded by an exceptional musical family, including uncles Gustav Hollaender, head of the famous Stern Conservatory, and Felix Hollaender, writer and dramatist with Max Reinhardt.

Young Frederick studied composition at the Stern Conservatory, and was one of Engelbert Humperdinck's master students. During World War I, Hollander served in the military as musical director, entertaining troops on the front lines in France.

Soon after the war, he began his theatrical career writing stage music for Max Reinhardt's productions and was a house composer for such avant-garde literary cabarets as "Sound and Smoke" ("Schall und Rauch"), "Wild Stage" ("Wilde Bühne") and "Megalomania" ("Größenwahn"). In addition to writing his own popular music and lyrics, Hollander collaborated with many famous authors including Kurt Tucholsky, Klabund and Walter Mehring. It was during this prolific period that Hollander garnered fame and recognition for his series of "Songs of a Poor Girl" ("Lieder eines armen Mädchens"), written for his first wife, singer Blandine Ebinger. In the following years he went on to write numerous hit songs and over a dozen popular revues (often in conjunction with Rudolf Nelson and Marcellus Schiffer), including "Laterna Magica," "Das bist Du!," "Bei uns um die Gedächtniskirche rum" and "Der rote Faden." Hollander also worked with the sensational jazz band, Weintraub Syncopators.