The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Lortzing, Gustav Albert

LORTZING, lôrts'ĭng, Gustav Albert, German composer: b. Berlin, 23 Oct. 1801; d. there, 21 Jan. 1851. His parents were actors and at 19 young Lortzing made his theatrical debut at Aachen and Düsseldorf. In 1824 he brought out his first opera, &lsquo;Ali Pascha von Jannina,&rsquo; but attracted little notice. Two years later he became a member of the Court Theatre Company at Detmold. &lsquo;Der Pole und sein Kind&rsquo; appeared in 1831. Lortzing's fame, however, rests on the two operas, &lsquo;Czar und Zimmermann&rsquo; (1837) and &lsquo;Der Wildschütz&rsquo; (1842). The former is one of the masterpieces of comic opera and still holds the boards in German opera-houses, although it was indifferently received at its first production at Leipzig. &lsquo;Undine&rsquo; appeared in 1845 and &lsquo;Der Waffenschmied&rsquo; in 1846. Lortzing was made conductor of the Leipzig Opera in 1844, but resigned soon afterward after a quarrel with the management. He was reinstated through the influence of friends, but his temperamental nature soon involved him in a second quarrel and brought about his removal. He was made capellmaster of the Friedrich Wilhelmstadtisches Theatre, Berlin, in 1850. Consult Kruse, G. R., &lsquo;Albert Lortzing&rsquo; (Berlin 1899) and Wittmann, Herman, &lsquo;Lortzing&rsquo; (Leipzig 1889).