Gustav Albert Lortzing

Gustav Albert Lortzing (October 23, 1801 - January 21, 1851) was a German romantic composer. He was renowned for his comic operas where he combined the spoken dialogue with musical segments and added in humorous elements which were very popular with audiences. Lortzing was able to derive a formula for his operatic successes to give his audiences the music, drama and humor that they expected. Lortzing's philosophy of social ethics was to be of service to others with his musical compositions.

Biography

Born in Berlin to parents who both were actors, at the age of 19 Lortzing began to play the role of youthful lover (Jugendlicher Liebhaber) at the theatres of Düsseldorf and Aachen, sometimes also singing in small tenor or baritone parts.

His first opera, Ali Pascha von Janina, appeared in 1824, but his fame as a musician rests chiefly upon the two operas Der Wildschütz (1842) and Zar und Zimmermann (1837).

File:Lortzing Statue.jpg

Statue of Lortzing in the Tiergarten, Berlin

Zar und Zimmermann was received with very little enthusiasm by the public of Leipzig. However, subsequent performances in Berlin produced a much more positive reaction. The opera was soon placed on all the stages of Germany, and is now regarded as one of the masterpieces of German comic opera. It was translated into English, French, Swedish, Danish, Dutch, Bohemian, Hungarian and Russian. The story is based around Tsar Peter I 'The Great' of Russia, who travelled to Germany, Holland and England disguised as a carpenter in order to gain first-hand knowledge he believed necessary for his country's economic progress, such as modern ship-building techniques.

Der Wildschütz was based on a comedy by August von Kotzebue, and was a satire on the unintelligent and exaggerated admiration for the highest beauty in art expressed by the bourgeoisie gentilhomme.

Of his other operas it is only necessary to note Der Pole und sein Kind, produced shortly after the Polish insurrection of 1831, and Undine (1845).

Lortzing was well known in Berlin and after his death, a memorial statue was erected in the Tiergarten in Berlin.

Selected works

• Die Himmelfahrt Christi Oratorium (Münster 1828)
• Der Pole und sein Kind (1831)
• Szenen aus Mozarts Leben (Münster 1832)
• Der Weihnachtsabend (Münster 1832)
• Die beiden Schützen (Leipzig 1837)
• Zar und Zimmermann (Leipzig 1837)
• Hans Sachs (Leipzig 1840)
• Casanova (Leipzig 1841)
• Der Wildschütz (Leipzig 1842)
• Undine ([[Magdeburg 1845)
• Der Waffenschmied (Vienna 1846)
• Regina (Vienna 1848)
• Rolands Knappen oder Das ersehnte Glück (Leipzig 1849)
• Die Opernprobe (Frankfurt 1851)

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Dietrichkeit, Walter, Gustav Albert Lortzing: Schauspieler, Sanger, Komponist, Kappelmeister: eine Biographie, Bad Pyrmont: Heimatbund Niedersachsen, Gruppe Bad Pyrmont, 2000. OCLC 52477539
• Kobbe, Gustav; Harewood, George Henry Hubert Lascelles, Earl of, The definitive Kobe's opera book, NY: Putnam, 1987. ISBN 0-399-13180-9
• Lortzing, Gustav Albert; Gunter, Horst; Pfeifle, Alfred, et al, Zar und Zimmermann (The czar and the carpenter), England: Decca, 1953. OCLC 9149905

External link

• George Overmeire's Albert Lortzing Website Retrieved May 22, 2007.
• [1] Retrieved May 22, 2007.
• [2] Retrieved May 22, 2007.

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