Werner Müller (2 August 1920 – 28 December 1998) was a German composer,

kapellmeister ( , , ), from German (chapel) and (master), literally "master of the chapel choir", designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term has evolved considerably in i ...

and conductor of light classical music and, to a greater extent, popular music. In some of his works, he collaborated with

Caterina Valente Caterina Germaine Maria Valente (14 January 1931 – 9 September 2024) was an Italian-French multilingual singer, guitarist, and dancer. She spoke six languages and sang in 13. While she was best known as a performer in Europe, Valente spent pa ...

and Horst Fischer, the trumpeter.

Career

In 1949, Müller took over the then newly re-established dance orchestra of RIAS Berlin merican Sector Radio whose style followed the formula of "swing with a lot of string". In the 1950s and 1960s, Müller's was famous for his composition "Sport and Music" from the sports reporting in the weekly show. A world success became his arrangement of " Malagueña" in the mid -1950s, composed around 1928 by the Cuban composer

Ernesto Lecuona Ernesto Lecuona y Casado (; August 7, 1895 – November 29, 1963) was a Cuban composer and pianist, many of whose works have become standards of the Latin, jazz and classical repertoires. His over 600 compositions include songs and zarzuelas as ...

, in the vocal version with multilingual singer

. Müller proudly named his own motor yacht after this title. As a producer, Müller helped many vocal Europe-based vocal soloists from the post-WWII years, such as

Rita Paul Rita Brigitte Paul (2 December 1928 in Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List o ...

, Mona Baptiste or Bully Buhlan. After 18 years in

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

, Müller moved to

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

in 1967, took over the

WDR Big Band WDR Big Band is the jazz big band of German public broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) in Cologne, Germany. History Origins After World War II, the ''Kölner Rundfunk-Tanzorchester'' (''Cologne Radio Dance Orchestra'') was active from ...

there and was also seen in many television shows. Over time, dozens of records were created with the name "Orchestra Werner Müller", of which very few have made it into the CD period. Because of the umlaut "Ü" in his name, Müller also called himself "Ricardo Santos" for records abroad. His many tango recordings and instrumental titles such as "

Baia Baia (; ; ) is a commune in Suceava County, in the historical region of Western Moldavia, northeastern Romania with a population of 7,261 as of 2021. It is composed of two villages, namely Baia and Bogata. Located on the Moldova (river), Moldova ...

" by Brazilian composer

Ary Barroso Ary Evangelista de Resende Barroso (Portuguese pronunciation: ; 7 November 1903 – 9 February 1964) was a Brazilian composer, pianist, soccer commentator, and talent-show host on radio and TV. He was one of Brazil's most successful songwriters ...

or the Lecuona songs " Siboney" and "Malagueña" as well as many other titles became successful. Numerous contemporary, including international hits, were re-recorded by the orchestra Werner Müller as instrumental versions and used in the WDR radio.Contemporary witness interviews with Roger Handt, including on September 6, 2019 on WDR 4 in the "Musiktalk" over the 1970s with Peter Großmann

Discography (LP)

References

External links

Space Age Music maker
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Werner Easy listening musicians Rundfunk im amerikanischen Sektor people 1920 births 1998 deaths 20th-century German musicians 20th-century German male musicians