Wikipedia:
Hermann Friedrich Krome (* May 27, 1888 in Berlin; † July 22, 1955 in Baden-Baden) was a German bandmaster, song composer and folk song researcher.
Hermann Krome began composing at the age of eleven, and at fifteen his ''Nur die Liebe, die macht selig'' was accepted by a music publisher. He completed a comprehensive musical education and in 1913 became Kapellmeister at the ''Königliches Potsdamer Schauspielhaus''. In 1915, he moved to Berlin to the Thalia Theater. His next stations were Frankfurt an der Oder, Munich, Gera, Stettin and Halle.
He collected folk songs and published several songbooks. As a composer and arranger, he made a great name for himself in the early 1920s by being active in the field of popular schlager (hits), singspiel and cabaret songs. For example, he arranged compositions by Jean and Robert Gilbert, Ralph Benatzky, and Austin Egen. He sometimes used various pseudonyms, the best known being "James Huntley" and "Fred Ralph". This period also saw his first attempts to reach people through the radio. Later (between 1929 and 1934) he composed some film scores. In the year of the outbreak of the war, he published two books of soldiers' songs.
Hermann Krome had become one of the busiest contributors to numerous music publishers in Berlin. Many new creations and arrangements of ''Schlagern'' and salon music, which appeared both as piano settings and in various orchestral versions, bear his name. The "Fred Ralph Arrangement" is a trademark of the Roehr music publishing house, whose repertoire was largely contributed by Hermann Krome.
After the war, he lived in Groß Glienicke, above Lake Glienicke, in the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany. His working center was still in Berlin. As commuters, the Kromes held a West Berlin passport, but in the early 1950s, due to the constant border controls, including increasing harassment, they felt compelled to move to the western part of Berlin altogether.[3] Here, however, Hermann Krome was only able to continue his career for a short time, as he died in 1955. In the Potsdam district of Groß Glienicke, a path was named after him.
Note: Translated from the German version of Wikipedia into English.
