Karl Lindau (also Carl Lindau, born Karl Gemperle; 26 November 1853 – 15 January 1934) was an Austrian actor and writer. He excelled in comic roles at the Theater an der Wien, and wrote several plays, librettos for operettas and songs.

Career

Karl Gemperle was born in Vienna, the son of Anton Gemperle, a

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manufacturer. His grandfather, the Swiss Johann Baptist Gemperle, had founded the first Viennese surrogate coffee factory. After a technical school education Lindau turned to theatre and made his debut on 20 October 1870 in

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

in the title role of Schiller's '' Don Carlos''. Engagements followed at the ''Deutsches Theater'' in

Pest Pest or The Pest may refer to: Science and medicine * Pest (organism), an animal or plant deemed to be detrimental to humans or human concerns ** Weed, a plant considered undesirable * Infectious disease, an illness resulting from an infection ** ...

, in Frankfurt am Main and in Dresden, in 1879 again in Graz and in 1880 briefly in Olmütz. During this time, Lindau slowly turned from classical roles to comic roles. In 1880, he toured successfully through the United States and Canada with

Josefine Gallmeyer Josefine Gallmeyer (27 February 1838 in Leipzig – 3 February 1884 in Vienna) was an Austria, Austrian actress and theatre director of Germans, German origin. Life Josefine Gallmeyer was the illegitimate daughter of the actress with opera ...

Wilhelm Knaack Wilhelm may refer to: People and fictional characters * William Charles John Pitcher, costume designer known professionally as "Wilhelm" * Wilhelm (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname Other uses * Mount ...

and Franz Tewele. In 1881, he was finally engaged by director

Franz Steiner Franz Baermann Steiner (12 October 1909 – 27 November 1952) was an ethnologist, polymath, essayist, aphorist, and poet. He was familiar, apart from German, Yiddish, Czech, Greek and Latin, with both classical and modern Arabic, Hebrew, Turk ...

as a comedian at the Theater an der Wien and was a member of the ensemble until 1901. His roles in operettes and Wiener Possen made him a darling of the audience. He played Süffle in the premiere of Zeller's ''

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

'' on 10 January 1891. From 1876, Lindau was also active as a writer for the stage. In total he wrote more than 100 full-length plays, including ''s'', farces and libretti for operettas, some of which became very popular. Together with Leopold Krenn (1850–1930), he wrote farces (') such as ''Heißes Blut'' (''Hot Blood'', 1892), ''Ein armes Mädel'' (''A Poor Girl'', 1893) and ''Der Nazi'' (1895). In their operettas, Krenn and Lindau provided parade roles for Alexander Girardi, such as Korporal Kratz in ''Der Fremdenführer'', with music by Carl Michael Ziehrer. Lindau also translated French comedies into German. Lindau died in Vienna.

Works

Lindau wrote several librettos for operettas: * 1899: ''

Die Landstreicher ''Die Landstreicher'' ("The Tramps") is a German-language operetta in one prologue and two acts by Carl Michael Ziehrer (libretto by Leopold Krenn and Karl Lindau). It was first performed on 26 July 1899, at the summer theatre "Venedig in Wien", ...

, Operette in zwei Akten und einem Vorspiele''. Libretto with Leopold Krenn. Music by Carl Michael Ziehrer. (premiere 26 July 1899) * 1900: ''Der Schelm von Bergen. Komisch-romantische Operette in 3 Akten''. Libretto with Konrad Loewe. Music by Alfred Oelschlegel. * 1902: ''Der Fremdenführer. Operette in einem Vorspiel und drei Akten''. Libretto with Leopold Krenn. Music by Carl Michael Ziehrer. * 1903: ''. Operette in drei Akten''. Libretto with . Music by Ernst Reiterer "after Josef Strauss motives". (premiere: 9 May 1903) * 1904: ''Die Eisjungfrau. Operette in 2 Akten''. Libretto with Julius Wilhelm. Music by

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(after

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). * 1904: ''Wien bei Nacht. Burleske in 1 Akt''. Libretto with Julius Wilhelm. Music by Josef Hellmesberger. * 1904: ''Jung Heidelberg. Operette in 3 Akten''. Libretto with Leopold Krenn. Music by Ernst Reiterer nach Motiven von Karl Millöcker. (UA: 9 July 1904) * 1905: ''Frauenherz. Operette in 3 Akten''. Libretto (after the French). Music by Josef Strauss, arranged by Ernst Reiterer. * 1905: ''Die Schützenliesel. Operette in 3 Acten''. Libretto with Leo Stein. Music by

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. * 1905: ''Der Schnurrbart. Operette in 3 Akten''. Libretto with Leo Stein. Music by . * 1906: ''1001 Nacht. Fantastische Operette in einem Vorspiel und zwei Akten''. Libretto with Leo Stein. Music by

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, edited by Ernst Reiterer. (UA: 27 October 1907) * 1906: ''Künstlerblut. Operette in 1 Vorspiel und 2 Akten''. Libretto with Leo Stein. Music by Edmund Eysler. * 1907: ''Monte Carlo. Operette in 3 Akten''. Libretto with F. Antony (nach einem Stoff von Heribert Hülgerth). Music by Ludwig Roman Chmel. * 1911: ''Die romantische Frau. Operette in 3 Akten''. Libretto with

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(after a comedy by

Ernst Wichert Ernst Alexander August George Wichert (11 March 1831 – 21 January 1902) was a German lawyer, judge, and author. Biography Wichert was born in Insterburg, Prussia, (today Chernyakhovsk, Russia) and attended schools in Pillau and Königsberg. He ...

). Music by

Charles Weinberger Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "f ...

. * 1911: ''Vielliebchen. Operette in drei Akten''. Libretto with

Rudolf Österreicher Rudolf Österreicher, also ''Rudolf Oesterreicher'', (19 July 1881 in Vienna – 23 October 1966 idem) was an Austrian writer, librettist, comedy author, author of cabaret texts and biographer. From 1945 to 1947 he was director of the .

and . Music by Ludwig Engländer. * 1911: ''Das geborgte Schloß. Operette in 3 Akten''. Libretto with Verő György. Music by

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. * 1911: ''Der Frauenfresser. Operette in 3 Akten''. Libretto with Leo Stein and Eugen Spero. Music by Edmund Eysler. * 1915: ''Der Weltenbummler. Operette in einem Vorspiel und 2 Akten''. Libretto with Fritz Löhner-Beda. Music by

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. * ''Graf Sandor. Operette in 3 Akten''. Libretto with Leopold Krenn. Music by Hermann Dostal.

Filmography

*'' The Vagabonds'', directed by

Luise Fleck Luise Fleck, also known as Luise Kolm or Luise Kolm-Fleck, née Louise or Luise Veltée (1 August 1873–15 March 1950), was an Austrian film director, and has been considered the second ever female feature film director in the world, after A ...

and Jacob Fleck (Austria, 1916) *''Schützenliesel'', directed by

Rudolf Walther-Fein Rudolf Walther-Fein (20 November 1875 – 1 May 1933) was an Austrian film director and producer of the Silent and early sound era. He directed the first full sound film to be released in Germany ''It's You I Have Loved'' in 1929.Kreimeier p.182 ...

and

Rudolf Dworsky Rudolf Dworsky (1882–1927) was a German film producer and film director, director of the Silent era. His production company was called Aafa-Film (Althoff-Ambos-Film), Berlin, the co-owner was the producer Gabriel Levy. Selected filmography Pro ...

(Germany, 1926) *'' The Vagabonds'', directed by Karel Lamač (Germany, 1937) *''Frühlingsluft'', directed by Karel Lamač (Germany, 1938) *''Schützenliesel'', directed by Rudolf Schündler (West Germany, 1954) *''Die Landstreicher'', directed by Peter Dörre (West Germany, 1968, TV film)

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lindau, Karl 1853 births 1934 deaths Writers from Vienna Austrian stage actors Austrian male writers Austrian operetta librettists