Ludwig Hirsch (28 February 1946 – 24 November 2011) was an Austrian singer/songwriter and actor.

Life and work

Hirsch was born in

Sankt Magdalena am Lemberg Sankt Magdalena am Lemberg is a former municipality in the district of Hartberg in Styria, Austria. It was united with Buch-Geiseldorf on January 1, 2013 to form the new municipality Buch-St. Magdalena in Hartberg-Fürstenfeld District Hartberg ...

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...

, grew up in the

Leopoldstadt Leopoldstadt (; bar, Leopoidstod, "Leopold-Town") is the 2nd municipal district of Vienna (german: 2. Bezirk) in Austria. there are 103,233 inhabitants over . It is situated in the heart of the city and, together with Brigittenau (20th distr ...

district of

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

and first studied graphic arts at the

University of Applied Arts Vienna The University of Applied Arts Vienna (german: Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, or informally just ''Die Angewandte'') is an arts university and institution of higher education in Vienna, the capital of Austria. It has had university sta ...

, but switched to the Krauss drama school. He made his stage debut in 1973 at the municipal theater in

Regensburg Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...

. From 1975 to 1979 he was a member of the ensemble of the

Theater in der Josefstadt The Theater in der Josefstadt is a theater in Vienna in the eighth district of Josefstadt. It was founded in 1788 and is the oldest still performing theater in Vienna. It is often referred to colloquially as simply ''Die Josefstadt''. Following ...

. In 1978 Hirsch launched his career as a singer-songwriter and became known for his critical, macabre, and morbid lyrics. He is known as an outstanding representative of Austropop. In some of his works he lends modern interpretations to traditional Viennese songs (for example, the 1834 ''Hobellied''). In 1991 and 1992 Hirsch appeared before sold-out crowds of 200,000 spectators with his Gottlieb-Tournee, playing his most famous songs worked together into an interesting story. He often toured with guitarist Johann M. Bertl. Hirsch's studio album ''Perlen'' (Pearls) achieved gold status in Austria and for it he was awarded the Amadeus Austrian Music Award, the highest Austrian popular music prize. His newest album, ''In Ewigkeit Damen'', appeared in 2006. He has also hosted the radio program ''Siesta'' for the Austrian broadcaster

Hitradio Ö3 Hitradio Ö3 is one of the nationwide radio stations of Austria's public broadcaster ORF. The format focuses on contemporary hit radio, specialising pop music and chart hits from the 1980s to the present. Ö3 has the biggest audience share by far ...

. In 1977 Hirsch married actress Cornelia Köndgen and had one son with her. In September 1993, the Austrian Post honored Hirsch with a 5½ schilling stamp. In 2001 he was awarded a silver medal for service to the City of Vienna, and was made a "Golden citizen" of the city of Vienna. On 24 November 2011 Hirsch committed suicide by jumping from a window from the second floor of the Wilhelminenspital in

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

where he was being treated for lung cancer. He was 65.

References

External links

*
ludwighirsch.at – official website Fanpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hirsch, Ludwig 1946 births 20th-century Austrian male singers Austrian songwriters Male songwriters People from Leopoldstadt Suicides by jumping in Austria People from Hartberg District 2011 suicides