The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Lortzing, Albert Gustav

LORTZING, Albert Gustav, a German composer, born in Berlin, Oct. 23, 1803, died there, Jan. 21, 1851. His father, who was connected with the theatre, introduced him upon the stage while a child, and in a few years he began to compose songs and marches. He officiated in the twofold capacity of actor and singer from 1819 to 1822 at Düsseldorf and Aix-la-Chapelle, and afterward at Cologne till 1826, when he became connected with the theatre at Detmold. In 1833 he accepted an engagement at Leipsic, where he made himself well known as a composer. In 1846 he became connected with the stage at Vienna, and in 1848 went to Leipsic. In 1850 he returned to Berlin, where at the time of his death he was chapel-master at the Friedrich-Wilhelmstadt theatre. His best known compositions are Der Pole und sein Kind (1826), Zar und Zimmermann (1837), Hans Sachs (1840), and Undine (1845). His opera Regina was announced for representation for the first time at Nuremberg in 1874.—See Düringer, Albert Lortzings Leben und Wirken (Leipsic, 1851).