1984 Bauer Giles von Ham (Hans Paetsch)

Farmer Giles of Ham

Release Date: 1984
Readers: Hans Paetsch
Language: German
Translators: Uthe-Spencker and Angela Held
Organisation: Der Hörverlag
ISBN: 9783899406566
Duration: 59 minutes
Unabridged: No
Country: Germany
Licenced: Yes
Formats: Cassette, CD, Digital

Hans Paetsch (7 December 1909 – 3 February 2002) was a legendary German actor, director, and voice artist, widely revered as the “Märchenonkel der Nation” (the nation’s faerie tale uncle). He possessed one of the most recognisable voices in the German-speaking world, primarily due to his prolific work as a narrator for children’s audio dramas and fairy tales. He was a mainstay of the Hamburg theatre scene and radio landscape.

In the 1960s and 1970s there was a “Golden Age” of radio drama production that occurred across Northern Europe (Sweden, Germany, Denmark). During this era, public service broadcasters like Sveriges Radio (SR) and Germany’s NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk) didn’t just record books; they treated radio plays as high-art theatrical events. They used the nation’s most prestigious stage actors (like Nils Eklund in Sweden or Hans Paetsch in Germany). These actors approached Tolkien’s “children’s stories” with the same sincerity they would a Shakespearean play.

Both Radioteatern and NDR were pioneers in using analog tape loops, synthesizers, and distorted vocal filters to create “non-human” voices for characters like Gollum or dragons. Hans Paetsch was the face of this style in Germany. Much like the actors at Radioteatern, he was a stage veteran who became synonymous with a specific “quality” of radio. His recording of Bauer Giles von Ham is a prime example of this public-radio aesthetic.

The recording was produced in 1984 by NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk) and is is a “gekürzte Lesung” (abridged reading), typically running about 59 minutes. It originated as a radio broadcast before being made available in commercial formats and has seen multiple physical and digital incarnations over the decades.

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