Martin Böttcher
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Martin Böttcher (born June 17, 1927, Berlin) is a German composer and conductor.
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[edit] The beginning
Böttcher (on foreign records and articles often written "Bottcher" or "Boettcher", latter being the correct transliteration of the German "o-umlaut") began taking piano lessons at an early age. But his first passion was flying, and he wanted to become a test-pilot. Not yet seventeen years old, he got his military training in the German Luftwaffe. However, due to lack of fuel, he never went into action.
During his captivity, Böttcher managed to get hold of a guitar and taught himself to play it. Following his release from captivity, he went to Hamburg. There he started his musical career with the then Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk, in the dance and entertainment orchestra which had been newly created by Willi Steiner, and which was held in high esteem in England.
At first, Böttcher concentrated on jazz, and he became the number two guitarist in a poll concerning the performance of German Jazz musicians[citation needed]. He also gained important experience as an arranger for film composers, among them Michael Jary and Hans-Martin Majewski, for whom he arranged part of the music for Liebe '47.
[edit] Early Years
In 1950, Böttcher, who liked to work on new sounds, recorded the first trick guitar pieces in Germany in the style of Les Paul. In 1954, Böttcher left the music stand and turned to manuscript paper. His talent did not escape the attention of the German film industry, which was just gaining new momentum at that time.
Thanks to producer Artur Brauner, Böttcher made his debut in 1955, composing the music for the military satire Der Hauptmann und Sein Held. His second soundtrack turned out to be a milestone in German film history. Die Halbstarken directed by Georg Tressler and starring Horst Buchholz, met with tremendous success. Mr. Martin's Band comprised the top German jazz musicians, among them Horst Fischer, Fatty George, Bill Grah, Ernst Mosch or Hans 'James' Last.
Böttcher also composed for Hans Albers and Heinz Rühmann's 'Father Brown'movies. Max, Der Taschendieb (1962), contained the track Hawaii Tattoo (on record with "The Waikikis"), which Böttcher had written under the pseudonym of Michael Thomas. Within a short time, this theme became famous all over the world[citation needed], and even received attention in the American Billboard charts as the very first German track[citation needed].
[edit] The hit writer
Martin Böttcher found his greatest success composing the music for ten of the Karl May Westerns in the 1960s. The movies starred, among many others, American actor Lex Barker and British actor Stewart Granger. The audience was enthusiastic about the wistful tunes, the fanfare-like music accompanying attacks, and the cheerful hillbilly themes. These themes were held top positions in the German charts and sold thousands of copies. The Karl-May-movie-music are landmarks in German film music history. The success of these movies, accompanied by Böttcher's music, made possible the "Spaghetti Westerns" with the music of Ennio Morricone.
With the film industry declining at the end of the 1960s Martin Böttcher increasingly focused on working for German TV, which, at that time still being in its infancy, benefited from his talents as well in many series and TV shows.
In the 1970s Martin Böttcher wrote a number of successful soundtracks, among them music for the TV series Sonderdezernat K 1 (in parts today being used in Hilcona noodle commercials) or for numerous episodes of Der Alte and Derrick, which are also known outside Germany. He again utlized the pseudonym Karl May when he wrote the soundtrack for the 26-episode Kara Ben Nemsi Effendi series. The writere of Der Illegale (a TV mini-series), Henry Kolarz, said, "Even if I spoilt it, Böttcher's music is much too good for everything to go wrong."
Throughout the years that followed, Martin Böttcher composed yet more evergreen themes for TV-series, such as Es muss nicht immer Kaviar sein (It doesn't always have to be caviar), Schöne Ferien (Beautiful holidays) or Forsthaus Falkenau. In the 1990s, among others, Air Albatros took off, which proved something special to the composer, for he could pay a musical tribute to his passion for flying. And when Pierre Brice mounted his horse again as Winnetou for the ZDF station, he was, of course, accompanied by a soundtrack by Martin Böttcher.
Even the Americans became aware of his performance as an arranger and orchestra director. When they heard his rendering of world-famous themes such as "Tara's Theme" or "A Summerplace", Martin Böttcher was made an honorary member of the Max Steiner Society. Of that one he is especially proud.
In 1998, the composer once more conquered German hit parades. A band from Cologne, the "Superboys", scored a hit with a vocal version of the "Winnetou" theme. Their song "Ich wünscht' du wärst bei mir" ("Wish U Were Here") even reached the top of the ZDF television hit parade. Another cover version by the Czech group Tezkej Pokondr called "Vinetu" even received double-platinum in their country in March 2000.
The "master of tunes" was honored in a very special way in 2002: as a jury member (Europäischer Förderpreis - a European talent award) Martin Böttcher represented Germany at that year's European Biennial for Film Music in Bonn.
[edit] Awards
- On October 9, 1995, the Deutsche Filmmusikpreise (German movie-music-awards) were awarded at the Bonner Bundeskunsthalle. Martin Böttcher was honoured with the prize for an "outstanding contribution to German film history, which shows in an abundant musical oeuvre" as the very first person to receive this prize (in later years also Mikis Theodorakis and Ennio Morricone were among the receivers).
- The continuous success of the Winnetou-themes was the reason why, at the Karl May Festival in Bad Segeberg in 1997, the Schacht-Musikverlage honoured the tremendously successful composer with a "special award".
- On April 15, 2000, Martin Böttcher received the "Edgar Wallace-award in Gold" for his merits in German crime movies and
- On January 25, 2004 Martin Böttcher was awarded in St. Moritz with the German Bundesverdienstkreuz (Federal Cross of Merit) for his lifetime achievement.
[edit] Literature
- Reiner Boller: Winnetou Melodie - Martin Böttcher - Die Biographie. Gryphon Verlag, 2003, 99 Seiten mit einem Vorwort von Pierre Brice. ISBN 3-896-024-442
