Carl Adam Johann Nepomuk Zeller (19 June 1842 – 17 August 1898) was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n composer of

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

s. Zeller was born in Sankt Peter in der Au, the only child of physician Johann Zeller and Maria Anna Elizabeth. Zeller's father died before his first birthday, after which his mother remarried Ernest Friedinger. In 1875, Zeller married Anna Maria Schwetz. Zeller had a fine soprano voice, and sang in the

Vienna Boys' Choir The Vienna Boys' Choir () is a choir of boy sopranos and altos based in Vienna, Austria. It is one of the best known boys' choirs in the world. The boys are selected mainly from Austria, but also from many other countries. The choir is a privat ...

before studying and composition in the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

. He worked as a civil servant at the Imperial Ministry of Education while composing choral works and a number of operettas, the best-known of which is ''

Der Vogelhändler ' (''The Bird Seller'') is an operetta in three acts by Carl Zeller with a libretto by Moritz West and Ludwig Held based on Victor Varin's and de Biéville's ' (1857). In 1891, Helen Tretbar translated the original German libretto into English an ...

''. All of his librettos were written (or co-written) by Moritz West, often together with

Ludwig Held Ludwig Held (14 April 1837 – 2 March 1900), resident in Vienna from the 1860s, was a theatre critic and librettist, writing libretti for operettas by Carl Zeller and Franz von Suppé. Life Held, born in Regensburg Regensburg (historicall ...

. Legal troubles, including a

perjury Perjury (also known as forswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an insta ...

conviction, ended Zeller's career at the ministry and led to prison and public disgrace in the mid-1890s (although his prison sentence was later repealed). After an injury in 1895 from falling on the ice, he spent his last years physically and then mentally ill. Zeller died of pneumonia in

Baden bei Wien Baden (Central Bavarian: ''Bodn''), unofficially distinguished from Baden (disambiguation), other Badens as Baden bei Wien (Baden near Vienna), is a spa town in Austria. It serves as the capital of Baden (district of Austria), Baden District in t ...

at the age of 56.

Operettas

*''Joconde'' (1876) *''Die Fornarina'' (1878) *''Capitän Nicoll, oder Die Carbonari'' (1880) *''Der Vagabund'' (1886) *''

'' (The Bird Seller) (1891) *'' The Mine Foreman'' (Der Obersteiger) (1894) *''Der Kellermeister'' (1901; completed by Johannes Brandl)

References

External links

Biography of ZellerZeller at the Johann Strauss Society of Great BritainBrief profile of ZellerMore complete German Wikipedia entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeller, Carl 1842 births 1898 deaths category:Composers from Austria-Hungary Composers from Vienna Austrian Romantic composers Austrian opera composers Austrian male opera composers 19th-century Austrian classical composers Deaths from pneumonia in Austria 19th-century Austrian male musicians 19th-century musicians