Albert Lortzing
Born in Berlin in 1801, actor and composer Albert Lortzing developed comic operas that became popular in Germany, yet he died poor. A man of the theater for the average town, Lortzing gained practical experience acting and singing. Initially content to write for an audience drawn to undemanding entertainment, Lortzing developed into an author of operas welcomed in German theaters. Lortzing's parents performed in theater, specializing in comic characters. Lortzing became a popular actor, and in 1824 composed his first one-act opera, premiering in Munster.
Born in Berlin in 1801, actor and composer Albert Lortzing developed comic operas that became popular in Germany, yet he died poor. A man of the theater for the average town, Lortzing gained practical experience acting and singing. Initially content to write for an audience drawn to undemanding entertainment, Lortzing developed into an author of operas welcomed in German theaters.
Lortzing's parents performed in theater, specializing in comic characters. Lortzing became a popular actor, and in 1824 composed his first one-act opera, premiering in Munster. Lortzing then married the leading lady, together having 11 children, though five died as infants. During these years Lortzing wrote many pieces, including themes for Don Juan und Faust and Die Himmelfahrt Jesu Christi.
In 1833 Lortzing moved to Leipzig, where he established himself as an actor and singer. He began his first full-length comic opera, Dei beiden Schutzen, in 1835, but it was not performed for two years because his company did not want him pursuing a second career and other theaters would not risk an unknown composer. Other operas followed, including the comic Casanova in 1841, the triumphant Der Wildschutz in 1842, and the magic opera Undine in 1845.
Yet Lortzing struggled to keep full time posts. In 1844 he was offered a contract as kapellmeister, but was dismissed a year later. In 1846 he took a position in Vienna, but 1848 proved disappointing as theater takings were irregular, and so was his salary. In 1849 an appointment in Leipzig fell through, so in 1850 Lortzing became Kapellmeister at Friedrich-Wihelmstadtisches Theater in Berlin. At that time comic operas were becoming less popular than political plays and farces. His last opera, Die Opernporbe, premiered in Frankfurt in 1851, and Lortzing died the following morning, unable to afford a doctor.
