Heinz Gerlach

German musician and composer (b. March 4, 1910 Berlin, Germany – d. October 25, 1943). A precision mechanic by profession, Gerlach was a gifted musician who learned to play more than three dozen instruments, including not only accordion, piano, and violin, but also bandoneon, balalaika, guitar, banjo, and mandolin. Before World War II, he led an accordion and a balalaika ensemble in Berlin. Despite his very weak vision, Gerlach was drafted to the army and was killed in action on the Eastern front shortly afterwards. Gerlach composed at least 59 songs, mostly dance music. All of his scores and his home recording studio fell victim to one of the air raids on Berlin, but the twelve songs published with Edition Metropol survive. One of them, the polka "Tanzende Finger" (Dancing Fingers, 1938), became one of the most famous accordion solos ever and a well-known standard.