Wikipedia:
Wilhelm "Willi" Ostermann (* October 1, 1876 in Mülheim am Rhein (today Cologne); † August 6, 1936 in Cologne) was a composer and lyricist of local and carnival songs mainly in Cologne dialect, which he also performed himself as a Krätzchensänger. One of his best-known pieces is Heimweh nach Köln (Homesick for Cologne).
Ostermann was born in Mülheim am Rhein. Fire Station 9 in Cologne-Buchheim stands today on the site of his birthplace. Ostermann was the son of the railwayman Peter Ostermann and his wife Gertrud, née Paas. In 1878 the family moved to Deutz, where the father, who was employed by the Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn, had been offered a better job. Since Deutz was a garrison town at that time, Willi Ostermann came into contact with the passing military bands at an early age.
Ostermann attended the Catholic elementary school in Deutz from 1883 to 1891. At that time, he was nicknamed "Ostermanns-Fuss" or "dä jlöhndije Fuss" (jlöhndije = "glowing", Fuss = "the fox", in Kölsch the word for "the red-haired one") because of his red hair. Fellow students later reported that he had already made dialect parodies of poems at school and always knew the latest carnival songs by heart.
After his father was unable to find him an apprenticeship as a locksmith, Ostermann began an apprenticeship in the electrical trade, but was dismissed after only a few months because of conflicts with his master. He then learned the profession of stereotypist and galvanizer in a printing shop in Deutz, which was more in line with his own wishes. He was presumably active in this profession until 1900, but no further details are known.
Career[edit source text]
In 1895 Ostermann became a member of an amateur theater group. He had already gained experience with a puppet theater and recited his own poems and songs at family celebrations and in inns in Deutz. This also gave him a sideline; however, since completing his apprenticeship, he had been trying to find permanent engagements in vaudeville shows or theaters. Ostermann first became known in 1899 through his song Et Düxer Schötzefeß (The Deutz Shooting Festival), which he performed during an appearance at the Deutz Shooting Club:
Jo nom Düxer Schötzefeß, do loß mer gonn,
when the lappers of the Stivvele fleute gonn,
jo om Düxer Schötzefeß, do eß et schön,
there mows joy and fun itself the oldest Möhn!
Ostermann could not read and write notes, but brought his compositions singing on sound carriers (in the beginning wax roller or zinc plate). In 1903 he married Katharina Maria Striebeck; this marriage was divorced again. In the following years, he was discovered by the chairman of a Cologne carnival society, who suggested that he write a carnival hit for the 1906/1907 session. In collaboration with the composer Emil Neumann, bandmaster at the Cologne Reichshallentheater, the title Däm Schmitz sing Frau eß durchgebrannt was created, which became the Shrove Monday hit of 1907. The piece consisted of an introductory march by Neumann and Ostermann's song as a trio. In 1908 Ostermann won the prize for the best song in Cologne dialect with Wä hätt dat vun d'r Tant gedaach! (Who would have thought that of the aunt), to which the pop composer and bandmaster Emil Palm had contributed the music. It was Palm who transferred many Ostermann compositions into sheet music.
In 1911 Ostermann married Palm's sister, the revue dancer Käte Palm. In the following years he continued the success he had begun. He wrote songs and carnival hits, published them himself and was able to make a living with them. He performed most of the songs himself; however, some were written for other performing artists. In the meantime he was booked by an agency for performances all over Germany. He did not limit himself to purely Cologne songs, but also wrote High German hits, especially waltz and march songs with the common themes of "Rhine", "wine", "woman" and "song". Several records became extraordinary sales successes; he also wrote songs for revue films.
According to Der Spiegel, a single Ostermann hit (Rheinland-Mädel: "Drum sollt' ich im Leben ein Mädel mal frei'n, dann muss es am Rhein nur geboren sein") went through the record press in 1927 with a million copies and generated a seasonal profit of 130,000 gold marks. Altogether there are at least nine versions of it in the time of origin, for the first time 1927 in the Ostermann music publishing house in Cologne Suelz published. Robert Koppel released the title in 1929 with the B-side Wenn Du eine Schwiegermutter hast, also written by Ostermann. When the film of the same name was released on May 6, 1930, Ostermann's Schunkellied was heard again in the version by actor Werner Fuetterer.
Towards the end of the 1920s, the economic situation in Germany worsened. Ostermann had fewer and less well-paid appearances. He also published sheet music and song texts of other composers and authors and wrote advertising texts. In addition, he published the humorous weekly Tünnes und Schäl from the end of 1930, but it was discontinued the following year. In 1930, he also wrote the evergreen Och, wat wor dat fröher schön doch en Colonia (Oh, how beautiful it used to be in Cologne).
Ostermann's relationship to National Socialism has not been reliably researched. The biographer Hans W. Krupp mentions the anecdote of a "contemporary and long-time musical companion", which is said to refer to a pinned party badge on Ostermann, but at the same time emphasizes that this story alone cannot prove a party membership. According to Fred K. Prieberg's Handbuch Deutsche Musiker, there was no record of membership in the NSDAP's Central Index. In 1936 Ostermann took part with other artists in a vacation trip of the NS organization KdF to Madeira and wrote the song Madeira and the poem Madeirafahrt for this occasion:
Und wenn no dat veezehndäjije Jlöck
es widder vörbei – un mer kömme zoröck
dann hät mer noch eimol su vill Loß am Jeschäff
dat danke mer all dann der K.d.F.
Illness and death[edit source text]
Ostermann gave his last guest performance in July 1936 in Bad Neuenahr, where he suffered a collapse on stage in the Kurhaus and was immediately admitted to the Lindenburg Hospital in Cologne. After a serious stomach operation, he remained there until his death and it was here that he wrote his so-called "last song" Heimweh nach Köln (Homesickness for Cologne), better known under the song line "Ich mööch zo Foß noh Kölle gon" (I want to walk to Cologne). However, he used the melody of an earlier composition "Sehnsucht nach dem Rhein" (Longing for the Rhine), which had been written for the film "Der Traum vom Rhein" (1933, directed by Herbert Selpin).
Ostermann died in hospital on August 6, 1936. At his funeral on August 10, 1936, 35,000 spectators lined the funeral procession from Neumarkt to the Melaten Cemetery on Aachener Straße. His composition Och, wat war dat fröher schön doch en Colonia was played by a band as Ostermann was laid to rest. Cologne's businesses closed until the deceased was buried in the city's grave of honor in a tailcoat. In one of the obituaries at the open grave, carnivalist Thomas Liessem recited for the first time the refrain of Ostermann's last song, Heimweh nach Köln (Homesick for Cologne). It was to become one of his best-known typically melancholy Cologne mood songs after his death:
When I think of my homeland
and the cathedral is so close to me,
I want to think directly of home,
I want to go to Cologne on foot.
Estate and memento[edit source text]
On February 16, 1939 (Weiberfastnacht), the Willi Ostermann Fountain was festively inaugurated in Cologne's Altstadt. The sculptor Willy Klein had chiseled those 15 figures, which Willi Ostermann had sung about in his songs, out of a 14 cubic meter shell limestone block delivered from Bavaria for 38,000 Reichsmark. After 13 years Ostermann was still popular, for in 1949 his widow sold 45,000 copies of his Cologne songs.
Ostermann's lyrical and musical estate was administered in his own publishing house, which was initially continued by his wife Käte after his death. Later, it was taken over by the music publishers Hans Gerig KG. The Willi Ostermann Gesellschaft Köln 1967 e. V. maintains the memory of the artist. In 1949, a monument to Willi Ostermann was erected in Königswinter in the Nachtigallental of the Siebengebirge.
A figure was dedicated to him at the Cologne Council Tower.
The passenger ship Willi Ostermann, the last remaining "Möllemer Bötche", is named after Willi Ostermann.
Note: Translated from a German version of Wikipedia into English.
