Heldur (Boris) Vatsel
September 19, 1916 Tallinn – March 1, 1982 TartuHeldur Vatsel, known as Estonian Kálmán in his lifetime, has created about a dozen operettas that have been successful in operetta competitions, reached the stage of the Vanemuine Theatre and achieved great success among the audience of the time.
From 1936, Heldur Vatsel studied composition for a short time at Tartu Higher Music School in Heino Eller's class. He wrote his first operetta "Kui muusikus armub" ("When a Musician Falls in Love") in 1933 as a student of the Hugo Treffner Gymnasium. The operettas "Õnnelend" ("The Flight of Fortune", 1934) and "Napoli pärl" ("The Pearl of Naples", 1936) were successfully performed in Vanemuine Theatre. Heldur Vatsel became a pioneer of the original Estonian operetta in a short time. Some operetta melodies also became widely known as popular songs, for example "Sa oled mul see ainsam" ("You're My Only One"), "Ela hästi, kallis kodu" ("Live well, dear home") and "Üks väike kummardus" ("One Small Bow"). Most of Vatsel's works were burned in the fire of war, the operetta "Tehoura", which was acquired by the Viennese operetta publishing house, was destroyed during the bombing of Vienna.
After the war, Heldur Vatsel worked for a short time as an editor at Estonian Radio, then as an orchestra conductor and artistic director of Tõrva, Mõisaküla and Pikasilla cultural houses, and as a piano teacher at children's music schools.