Ernst Joseph Maria Lert, originally Ernst Joseph Maria Levy (1883,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

– 1955,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

) was an Austrian stage director, writer, composer, librettist, and

music historian Music history, sometimes called historical musicology, is a highly diverse subfield of the broader discipline of musicology that studies music from a historical point of view. In theory, "music history" could refer to the study of the history o ...

. He was the brother of conductor

Richard Lert Richard Lert (19 September 1885 – 25 April 1980) was an American conductor of Austrian birth. Born in Vienna, he was the younger brother of stage director Ernst Lert. After graduating with a music degree from the University of Vienna, he took ...

who was married to writer Vicki Baum. He taught opera at the

Curtis Institute of Music The Curtis Institute of Music is a private conservatory in Philadelphia. It offers a performance diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in opera, and a Professional Studies Certificate in opera. All students attend on full scholarship. Hi ...

. Lert studied music history, piano, and singing at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

. In 1909 he was appointed the " regisseur" of the

opera house An opera house is a theatre building used for performances of opera. It usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and building sets. While some venues are constructed specifically for o ...

in Breslau where he remained for three years. In 1912 he became the director of the Oper Leipzig where he remained for seven years. In 1919 he took the position of theatre director at the

Theater Basel Theater Basel is the municipal theatre of the city of Basel, Switzerland, which is home to the city's opera and ballet companies. The theatre also presents plays and musicals in addition to operas and operettas. Because the theatre does not ha ...

, but left there a year later to become theatre director at the Opern- und Schauspielhaus Frankfurt. In 1924 he joined the directing staff at

La Scala La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...

, leaving there in 1929 to become a theatre director at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

in New York City. He remained at the Met for two seasons.Dictionary of Music", by A. Della Corte and GMGatti, Loescher, 1956, pag.343 He spent his remaining career working as a freelance director with major theatres and opera houses internationally. He notably directed the world premiere of

Gian Carlo Menotti Gian Carlo Menotti (, ; July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian composer, librettist, director, and playwright who is primarily known for his output of 25 operas. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept h ...

's ''

Amelia Goes to the Ball ''Amelia al ballo'' (''Amelia Goes to the Ball'') is a one-act ''opera buffa'' by Gian Carlo Menotti, who set his own Italian libretto. Composed during 1936 when Menotti was in his mid-twenties, it was the composer's first mature opera and first c ...

'' which was presented on April 1, 1937 at the

Philadelphia Academy of Music The Academy of Music, also known as American Academy of Music, is a concert hall and opera house located at 240 S. Broad Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its location is between Locust and Manning Streets in the Avenue of the Arts area of ...

. As a music scholar, Lert published several biographies on notable musical figures and wrote the book ''Mozart auf dem Theater'' (''Mozart and the Theatre'', published 1918). He also contributed articles to numerous magazines, music journals, and newspapers. He wrote the libretto for Hugo Weisgall's ''The Tenor'' (1952) and wrote the German libretto for Riccardo Zandonai's ''Die Kavaliere von Ekeby'' (''

I cavalieri di Ekebù is an opera composed by Riccardo Zandonai to an Italian libretto by . The opera is based on '' Gösta Berlings Saga'' by Nobel laureate Selma Lagerlöf. It was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, ...

'').

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lert, Ernst 1883 births 1955 deaths Austrian male composers Austrian composers Austrian opera directors Austrian theatre directors Austrian music historians Austrian opera librettists University of Vienna alumni Austrian Jews Levites Musicians from Vienna Writers from Vienna 20th-century Austrian historians 20th-century Austrian writers 20th-century Austrian male writers 20th-century male musicians Austrian emigrants to the United States