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Polish Tango 1937: Janusz Popławski - Za rok (In a Year's Time)

4,284 views · Published 9 September 2014 · 2:49 · Indexed 27 October 2026

Channel: 240252 · 2014 · Music

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Janusz Popławski & Orkiestra Odeon pod dyr. J. Gerta – Za rok (Gdy drzewa znów pokryje szron) [In a Year’s Time /When Hoarfrost Covers the Trees Again]  Tango (F.Scher – Jerry), Odeon 1937 (Polish)

NOTE: This lovely tango was composed by a Polish pianist and composer Alfred (Fred) Scher. Born in 1900, as son of a highly educated in music family in Lwów, Poland (- his father and two uncles were professional musicians in the symphonic orchestras in Lwów and in Vienna),  Alfred completed his education in the piano class in Viennese Conservatory. After studies he travelled to Warsaw, where in 1935 he got into the circles of Warsaw cabaret and film composers. He started working for the film business and within two years – thanks to excellent dance music he wrote for the film comedies “Dwie Joasie” (Two Joannas), “Książątko” (A Little Prince)  and “Amerykańska awantura” (American Adventure)  -  he joined the elite of Warsaw pop-music composers of the 1930s. His tango “Jak gdyby nigdy nic” (As If Nothing Happened)  or the haunting English waltz “Szkoda” (Pity) belong to the diamond evergreens in history of the Polish dance music. However in 1937, Alfred Scher captivated by his success, ceased his Polish career and travelled to Paris, where he was employed as pianist in the Lido music-hall in Champs Elysees. His dance compositions, which he published under the pseudonym Cher, became popular on radio and on records, and some of them even travelled across the Channel to the UK, where his “Oh, Santa Margherita” became a seasonal dance hit issued on Decca  records. In September 1939,  with the outbreak of WW2 he was mobilized  and fought in the east of France, where he was wounded and he spent the rest of war in the German officers camp in Koenigsberg in East Prussia. After 1945 he was back in Paris, where he conducted dance orchestras for the Philips and Pathe records, he also led musical programs in Radio France Internationale for Polish soldiers who after war stayed on the emigration in Western Europe.  He also became the musical director of  French public broadcast, however in 1954, on the wave of anti-communist hunt, which was provoked by French engagement into the Indochine-conflict, Scher became a victim of the absurde accusation of “being a member of the communist party”. The suspicion followed by temporary suspension of his professional duties, became reasons why Fred Scher decided to leave France and travelled to the US. In Los Angeles he was offered several lucrative propositions to create musical scores for movies, yet in 1956 an unfortunate accident suddenly  cancelled all his plans. He was attacked with a knife by a mentally ill trespasser, as a result his right hand was paralysed  and during a long rehabilitation Scher slipped out of the professional market. Finally, he decided to withdraw from the musical activity and moved to New York, where he died in 1968.  

See the clips with two most wonderful compositions by Alfred Scher:  tango “Jak gdyby nigdy nic” (sung by Mieczysław Fogg, 1936) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xAKvEXEtyw and by Albert Harris https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGoLIunH3PY  and English waltz “Szkoda” (Pity) sung by Adam Aston (1935) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC8w8nyYKRo

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