Obituary: “Schwarzwaldklinik” composer Hans Hammerschmid is dead

Millions know his distinctive theme song for the ZDF series “The Black Forest Clinic”: Now the composer Hans Hammerschmid is dead. He died peacefully at home on Saturday morning at the age of 94, his partner told the German Press Agency in Munich. “The Sunday before he was still sitting at the piano.” He played a famous song from the classic film “Casablanca”: “As Time Goes By”. He particularly loved this song, said his partner. The “Süddeutsche Zeitung” had previously reported on the death of the musician in the Munich suburb of Gräfelfing.

Hammerschmid was born on March 12, 1930 in Vienna and studied piano, conducting and composition in his hometown. He was a jazz pianist, wrote music for films and TV series and worked for prominent musicians such as Stan Getz, Udo Jürgens and Donna Summer. He also composed melodies for some episodes of “Traumschiff” and “Derrick”.

Compositions for Hildegard Knef

Hammerschmid was an important composer, especially for the chanson singer Hildegard Knef (1925-2002). The well-known song “From now on it went downhill,” for example, emerged from this collaboration. The joint hit “For me it should rain red roses” from 1968 became a pop classic. The song was later covered by many artists, including the punk band Extrabreit.

The record “Knef” from 1970, in which Hammerschmid and the singer experimented with beat, jazz and folk, is considered an underrated masterpiece from this time. The album flopped in the year it was released, but – more than 50 years later – climbed to number 23 in the German LP charts as a re-release in 2022.