Paul Burkhard (21 December 1911,

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

– 6 September 1977,

Zell Zell may refer to: Places Austria * Zell am See, in Salzburg state * Zell am Ziller, in Tyrol * Zell, Carinthia, in Carinthia * in Upper Austria: ** Bad Zell ** Zell am Moos ** Zell an der Pram ** Zell am Pettenfirst Germany * Zell im Fichtelg ...

) was a Swiss

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

. He primarily wrote

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...

s, musicals and

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

s. The contemporaneous and similarly named Swiss composer

Willy Burkhard Willy Burkhard (17 April 1900 – 18 June 1955) was a Swiss composer and academic teacher, influential in both capacities. He taught music theory at the Berne Conservatory and the Zürich Conservatory. His works include an opera, oratorios, cantat ...

was no relation to him. Probably his most famous artistic creation was the song "" ("Oh! My Pa-Pa") about the death of a beloved clown-father, written for the musical ' (re-issued in 1950 as ') that premiered in April 1939. The song rose to #1 on the Sheet Music Chart and stayed in the chart for 26 weeks. The song has been performed and recorded by numerous artists since then, including

Alan Breeze Alan Louis Breeze (9 October 1909 – 15 January 1980) was an English singer of the British dance band era and regular entertainer on the post-war BBC radio programme the Billy Cotton Band Show. He was born in West Ham, London, to Louis Bre ...

Billy Cotton William Edward Cotton (6 May 1899 – 25 March 1969) as Billy Cotton was an English band leader and entertainer, one of the few whose orchestras survived the British dance band era. Cotton is now mainly remembered as a 1950s and 1960s radio a ...

Billy Vaughn Richard Smith "Billy" Vaughn (April 12, 1919 – September 26, 1991) was an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, orchestra leader, and A&R man for Dot Records. Biography Vaughn was born in Glasgow, Kentucky, United States, where his father, ...

Connie Francis Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero (born December 12, 1937), known professionally as Connie Francis, is an American pop singer, actress, and top-charting female vocalist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Called the “First Lady of Rock & Roll” ...

Diana Decker Diana Decker (born Isabella Charlotte Diana Decker, 9 January 1925 – 4 January 2019), was a British/American actress, singer, and television personality, who was popular from the 1940s to the early 1960s. Early life Decker was born to an Americ ...

Eddie Calvert Albert Edward "Eddie" Calvert (15 March 1922 – 7 August 1978) was an English trumpeter, who enjoyed his greatest success in the 1950s. Between 1953 and 1958, Calvert achieved seven instrumental hits on the UK Singles Chart, including two ch ...

Eddie Fisher Edwin Jack Fisher (August 10, 1928 – September 22, 2010) was an American singer and actor. He was one of the most popular artists during the 1950s, selling millions of records and hosting his own TV show, ''The Eddie Fisher Show''. Actress Eli ...

The Everly Brothers The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly (February 1, 1937 – August 21, 2021) and Phillip "Phil" Everly (January 19, 1939 ...

Harry James Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947 but shortly after he reorganized ...

Lys Assia Lys Assia (born Rosa Mina Schärer; 3 March 1924 – 24 March 2018) was a Swiss singer who won the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956. Assia was born in Rupperswil, Aargau, and began her stage career as a dancer, but changed to singing in 1940 ...

Ray Anthony Raymond Antonini (born January 20, 1922), known as Ray Anthony, is an American bandleader, trumpeter, songwriter, and actor. He is the last surviving member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Biography Anthony was born to an Italian family in Ben ...

& his Orchestra,

Russ Morgan Russell Morgan (April 29, 1904 – August 7, 1969) was an American big band leader and arranger during the 1930s and 1940s. He was best known for being the one of the composers of the song "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", with Larry Stock ...

& his Orchestra, and many others.

Works (selection)

* 1935: ' * 1950: '' Das Feuerwerk'' (Original: ''Der schwarze Hecht'', 1939) with the hit song ''

O mein Papa "" is a nostalgic German song, originally as related by a young woman remembering her beloved, once-famous clown father. It was written by Swiss composer Paul Burkhard in 1939 for the musical ' (''The Black Pike''), reproduced in 1950 as '' Das Feue ...

'' * 1951: ' * 1960: ' – Comedy with Music; ''Oper einer Privatbank'', by

Friedrich Dürrenmatt Friedrich Dürrenmatt (; 5 January 1921 – 14 December 1990) was a Swiss author and dramatist. He was a proponent of epic theatre whose plays reflected the recent experiences of World War II. The politically active author's work included avant-g ...

* 1960: ' – Christmas play * 1965: ''Noah'' – The story of Noah and the Arc – for children * 1971: ''Zäller Oschtere'' – Passion play

References

External links

* * *
O mein Papa – Documentary film about Paul Burkhard, September 2007
1911 births 1977 deaths Swiss classical composers 20th-century classical composers Swiss opera composers Male opera composers Musicians from Zürich Swiss male classical composers 20th-century male musicians 20th-century Swiss composers {{Switzerland-composer-stub