Robert Anton Winterberg (27 February 1884 – 22 June 1930) was an Austrian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

, and theatre director. He is best known as a composer of German-language

operettas 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 ope ...

, most of which he created during the 1910s and 1920s. Two of his operettas were adapted into English for

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

: ''Die Dame in Rot'' (1911, Vienna) as '' The Lady in Red'' (1919, Lyric Theatre) and ''Die schöne Schwedin'' (1915, Vienna) as ''The Girl from Brazil'' (1916,

44th Street Theatre The 44th Street Theatre was a Broadway theater at 216 West 44th Street in the Theater District of Manhattan in New York City from 1912 to 1945. It was originally named Weber and Fields' Music Hall when it opened in November 1912 as a resident ve ...

). His most successful operettas in Europe were ''Die Dame vom Zirkus'' (1919) and ''Günstling der Zarin'' (1921).

Life and career

Born into a Jewish family in Vienna on 27 February 1884, Robert Winterberg was the son of journalist Friedrich W. Winterberg (1835–1908) who was the founder of the Viennese newspaper ''Wiener Kommunalblatt''. His mother was Pauline Schönfeld. At the age of 14, he chose to cease practicing his Jewish religion. Winterberg studied music privately with

Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic music, Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and ...

Robert Fuchs Robert Fuchs may refer to: * Robert Fuchs (composer) Robert Fuchs (15 February 1847 – 19 February 1927) was an Austrian composer and music teacher. As Professor of music theory at the Vienna Conservatory, Fuchs taught many notable composers, w ...

, and

Hermann Graedener Hermann Graedener or Grädener (8 May 1844 – 15 September 1929) was a German composer, conductor and teacher. Biography He was born in Kiel in the Duchy of Holstein. He was educated by his father, composer Karl Graedener. He then studied ...

. At the age of 15, he produced his first music compositions which included a

piano sonata A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement (Liszt, Scriabin, Medtner, Berg), others with two movemen ...

, a

string quartet The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two Violin, violini ...

, and several

art song An art song is a Western world, Western vocal music Musical composition, composition, usually written for one voice with piano accompaniment, and usually in the classical music, classical art music tradition. By extension, the term "art song" is ...

s. A few years later, the first public concert of his music was given at Ehrbar Saal (English: Ehrbar Hall) inside the Palais Ehrbar by baritone Joseph Schwartz and soprano

Olga von Türk-Rohn Olga von Türk-Rohn, also known by her title through marriage as Baroness von Türk-Rohn and by her maiden name Baroness Olga von Rohn (3 June 1865 – 26 February 1940), was an Austrian soprano and voice teacher. She began her career as a conce ...

with Winterberg as pianist. In 1906, Türk-Rohn and Winterberg were invited to

Peleș Castle Peleș Castle ( ) is a Neo-Renaissance palace in the Royal Domain of Sinaia in the Carpathian Mountains, near Sinaia, in Prahova County, Romania, on an existing medieval route linking Transylvania and Wallachia, built between 1873 and 1914 ...

Sinaia Sinaia () is a town and a mountain resort in Prahova County, Romania. It is situated in the historical region of Muntenia. The town was named after the Sinaia Monastery of 1695, around which it was built. The monastery, in turn, is named after ...

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where they gave a concert of Winterberg's music for the queen. Winterberg's first experience writing music for the stage was for a new staging of Paul Wertheimer's play ''Die Frau des Rajah'' (1906) at the

Volkstheater The Volkstheater (translated as "People's Theatre") in Vienna was founded in 1889 by request of the citizens of Vienna, amongst them the dramatist Ludwig Anzengruber and the furniture manufacturer Thonet, in order to offer a popular counter weig ...

in 1909 for which he wrote

incidental music Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as th ...

. In 1910, he married the actress and singer Margarete Isbary. That same year, his first operetta, ''Fasching in Paris'', was staged in Vienna. This was followed by two more operettas written for Viennese theatres: ''Ihr Adjutant'' (1911,

Theater an der Wien The is a historic theatre in Vienna located on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district. Completed in 1801, the theatre has hosted the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music. Since 2006, it has served prim ...

) and ''Madame Serafin'' (1911, premiered at the Neuen Operntheater, Hamburg but was a co-production with the Johann Strauss Theater in Vienna). Winterberg's early operettas in Vienna were not particularly successful, and he relocated to Berlin in hopes of achieving better success in that city. There, he had his first major success as a composer with the operetta ''Die Dame in Rot'' at the

Theater des Westens The Theater des Westens (Theatre of the West) is one of the most famous theatres for musicals and operettas in Berlin, Germany, located at 10–12 in Charlottenburg. It was founded in 1895 for plays. The present house was opened in 1896 and ded ...

in 1911. Well received, the work enjoyed popularity both in Germany and abroad. American playwright

Anne Caldwell Anne Marsh Caldwell (August 30, 1867 – October 22, 1936), also known as Anne Caldwell O'Dea, was an American playwright and lyricist. She wrote both pop songs and Broadway shows, sometimes working with composer Jerome Kern. Biography An ...

adapted it into an English language version for

entitled '' The Lady in Red'' which starred

Adele Rowland Adele Rowland (born Adele P. Levi; July 10, 1883 – August 8, 1971) was an American actress and singer. Biography She was born on July 10, 1883, as Adele P. Levi in Washington, D.C., the youngest daughter of Abraham D. Levi and Addie (Lloyd) ...

. It was performed at the Lyric Theatre in 1919 prior to going on a national tour. ''Die Dame in Rot'' was the second of Winterberg's operettas to reach the Broadway stage. His 1915 operetta ''Die schöne Schwedin'' (English: ''The Beautiful Swede'') premiered at the Theater an der Wien and was his first operetta to gain popular appeal in Vienna. It was adapted by

Sigmund Romberg Sigmund Romberg (July 29, 1887 – November 9, 1951) was a Hungarian-born American composer. He is best known for his Musical theatre, musicals and operettas, particularly ''The Student Prince'' (1924), ''The Desert Song'' (1926) and ''The New Moo ...

, Edgar Smith, and Matthew C. Woodward into ''The Girl from Brazil''. This modified version of Winterberg's operetta premiered at Broadway's

on 30 August 1916 and enjoyed a New York run of 61 performances before going on tour. Winterberg's greatest success as an operetta composer among European audiences was ''Die Dame vom Zirkus'' (1919) and ''Günstling der Zarin'' (1921). His operettas were staged in cities in Germany, Austria, Latvia, and Czechoslovakia during his lifetime, sometimes with Winterberg conducting or staging the performances. In 1925, Winterberg married his second wife, Hedwig Russak, in Berlin. He died of a lung infection in on 22 June 1930.

Partial list of operettas

*''Fasching in Paris'' (1910), librettists

Benno Vigny Benno Vigny (real name Benoit Philippe Weinfeld; 28 October 1889 – 31 October 1965) was a French-German screenwriter, novelist, songwriter, and librettist. Born into a Jewish family in France and raised in Vienna, Austria, Vigny's first signifi ...

and Louis Windhopp *''Ihr Adjutant'' (1911), librettists Franz von Schoenthan and Rudolf Öesterreicher *''Madame Serafin'' (1911), librettists Georg Okonkowski and Bruno Granichstaedten *''Die Dame in Rot'' (1911), librettists Julius Brammer and Alfred Grünwald *''Die Frauen von Monte Carlo'' (1912), librettist

Alfred Deutsch-German Alfred Deutsch-German (1870–1943) was an Austrian journalist, playwright, screenwriter, and film director. From 1913 he worked for the Wiener Kunstfilm company as a screenwriter.Kay Weniger: ''Das große Personenlexikon des Films. Die Schauspie ...

*''Hoheit – der Franz!'' (1913), librettists Artur Landsberger and

Willi Wolff Willi Wolff (16 April 1883 – 6 April 1947) was a German screenwriter, film producer, and director. He was married to the silent film star Ellen Richter, whose films he often worked on. Selected filmography Director * ''Lola Montez, the King's ...

*''Unsere Feldgrauen'' (1914), librettists Alfred Müller-Förster and Josef Bendiner *''Die schöne Schwedin'' (1915), librettists Julius Brammer and Alfred Grünwald *''Die Blumen der Maintenon'' (1916), librettist Reinhard Bruck *''Der sanfte Hannibal'' (1917), librettists Alfred Müller-Förster and Arthur Lokesh *''Graf Habenichts'' (1918), librettists Jean Kren and

Bernhard Buchbinder Bernhard Ludwig Buchbinder (7 July or 20 September 1849 – 24 June 1922), pseudonym ''Gustav Klinger'', was an Austro-Hungarian actor, journalist and writer. His best-known operetta libretto remains '' Die Försterchristl''. Career Buchbinder ...

*''Die Dame vom Zirkus'' (1919), librettists Jean Kren and

*''Der dumme Franzl'' (1919), librettist Reinhard Bruck *''Circe und die Schweine'' (1919), librettist

Max Brod Max Brod (; 27 May 1884 – 20 December 1968) was a Bohemian-born Israeli author, composer, and journalist. He is notable for promoting the work of writer Franz Kafka and composer Leoš Janáček. Although he was a prolific writer in his ow ...

*''Der Günstling der Zarin'' (1921), librettists Hermann Feiner and Richard Keßler *''Der blonde Engel'' (1921), librettists Richard Keßler and Arthur Rebner *''Die Herrn von und zu'' (1922), librettists Jean Kren and Richard Bars *''Der Trompeter vom Rhein'' (1926),

singspiel A Singspiel (; plural: ; ) is a form of German-language music drama, now regarded as a genre of opera. It is characterized by spoken dialogue, which is alternated with ensembles, songs, ballads, and arias which were often strophic, or folk- ...

, librettists August Neidhart and Cornelis Bronsgeest *''Der junge Dessauer'' (also known as ''Anneliese von Dessau'') (1926) librettists Richard Keßler and Max Jungk

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Winterberg, Robert 1884 births 1930 deaths Austrian conductors (music) Austrian musical theatre composers Austrian Jews Austrian opera composers Austrian pianists Composers from Vienna Musicians from Vienna