Meistersextett

Successor ensemble of the "Comedian Harmonists." After the Nazi government had forced the Jewish members of the earlier "Comedian Harmonists" into exile, the "Aryan" members Robert Biberti (bass), Erwin Bootz (piano), and the Bulgarian Ari Leschnikoff (1st tenor), who remained in Germany, founded a new group under the Reichskulturkammer-approved German name "Meistersextett." Additional members were Richard Sengeleitner (2nd tenor, - June 1936), Fred Kassen (tenor buffo), and Walter Blanke (baritone, - June 1936). The group made its first recordings for Electrola in August 1935. In November 1935, the ensemble won the official permission to call itself "Das Meister-Sextett Früher Comedian Harmonists" (The Meister-Sextett, Formerly Comedian Harmonists). In August 1936, the group hired Alfred Grunert (2nd tenor) and Herbert Imlau (baritone) to replace Blanke and Richard Sengeleitner. Because Grunert's hire was delayed, the 2nd tenor part on August 1936 recordings was sung by Zeno Coste a.k.a. Zeno Costa. In November 1938, pianist Rudolf Zeller replaced Bootz, who left to become musical director of the "Kabarett der Komiker" cabaret in Berlin. The ensemble with Zeller made several more recordings with Electrola, the last ones in March 1939. Their last concert took place on July 11, 1939 in Munich, then the group split up over financial and other disagreements. Biberti tried to revive the ensemble by hiring five new members, and they performed at a number of concerts between December 1940 - February 1941 but made no new recordings.