CD290 - SS Schwarze Korps

The Waffen SS was an elite international combat brotherhood drawing recruits from all over Europe.

Historical Facts:
The very concept implicit in the SS was "the best of everything", and listeners will hear that top quality borne out in this recorded program of music performed by Germany’s National Socialist elite. It includes, appropriately enough, Adolf Hitler's personal favorite, the Badenweiler March. Although Georg Fürst's composition was already well-known before the birth of the NSDAP, it has since then become identified with the Fuehrer. After he achieved power in 1933, lyrics were added by the poet, Oskar Sauer-Homburg

Cover Art:
Our front cover picture is from a Dutch SS recruiting poster in the collection of Ray & Josephine Cowdery.

TITLES ON THIS CD:

From original Third Reich Recordings

1. Praesentiermarsch mit SS Treueschwur Nov 9, 1935 Choral 3:22
2. Wir treten zum Beten (Niederlaendisches) Choral 1:58
3. Das Schwarze Korps Choral 2:27
4. Wenn alle untreu warden Choral 2:38
5. Himmler Bundesmarsch 2:44
6. Radio Olso Hirdsangen Choral-Norway 1:43
7. Germanentreue 2:28
8. Maerkische Heide Choral 3:15
9. Au revour, petite Monique Choral-France 3:08
10. Bravour Marsch 3:31
11. Lied des estnischen Batallions Choral-Estonia 1:56
12. Marsch der Ordensritter 2:16
13. Imnul Biruinti Choral-Romania 3:20
14. Budstikken Gikk Choral-Norway 1:46
15. Friheten leve Choral-Sweden 3:21
16. Marsch der 7 SS Prinz Eugen Div 0:46
17. Vir er danske Legionaerer Choral-Denmark 1:11
18. In Treue fest 2:57
19. Cantate dei Legionari Choral-Italy 2:34
20. Treue um Treue 3:07
21. Cara al Dol Choral-Spain 3:11
22. SS Kavalierie Lieder - Wir sind die alte Garde mit einem jungen Gesicht - Wohlauf, Kameraden, aufs Pferd - Morgenrot Choral 5:39
23. Fliegermarsch von Richthofen Choral 3:22
24. Fahnen wehen stolz in Wind Choral 3:29
25. Badenweiler Marsch 2:56
26. Wir treten zum Beten (Niederlaendisches) Choral 1:55

TOTAL PLAYING TIME 69:09

CD290 - SS Schwarze Korps

$20.00 +s/h

SS Schwarzekorps is the quintessential SS music album. That’s saying a lot, considering the numerous SS collections of this genre which have come and gone over the years, but it’s true. PzG 290 blasts off with the first selection, a “live” recording of that traditional German march, the Praesentier, performed as never before or since by what must have been an immense brass band during swearing-in ceremonies for recruits at Munich Feldherrnhalle, where 16 early National Socialists fell to Conservative bullets on November 1923. The recorded ceremony took place 12 years to the day later in a kind of “you-are-there” for 21st Century listeners, who hear the commanding officer’s shouted commands to his honor guard, followed by the loyalty oath recited by new SS men.

Six years later, their “Black Corps” grew beyond its German roots to embrace volunteers from all over Europe with the Fuehrer’s invasion of Communist Russia, as evidenced in the Norwegian, French, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Rumanian, Italian and Spanish selections. In addition to these rarities are a pair of German-SS numbers even afficionados of these period pieces have probably never heard before. Although the Bravourmarsch is a pre-Third Reich composition, its rendition here by an SS band brings this wrongly neglected work thundering back to life with great power and precision.

Another, no less unfamiliar masterpiece is the Fliegermarsch von Richthofen, dedicated to the memory of World War One’s “Red Baron”. While some listeners may assume this song really belonged to the Luftwaffe, they may not realize that the SS operated its own aviation section. Some SS men were also horse-mounted troops, as bourn out by the medley of SS Cavalry Songs included in this album.

To audition these selections for the first time is to experience “new” music from Hitler’s Germany, itself a rare encounter, but never to be forgotten.

- Marc Roland