Walter Wilhelm Goetze

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Walter Wilhelm Goetze (born April 17, 1883 in Berlin ; † March 24, 1961 there ) was a German operetta composer .

biography

Walter Wilhelm Goetze was born in Berlin as the son of a ministerial conductor. His father inherited his musical talent with him; because he was already a passionate music lover. After graduating from high school , Goetze quickly realized that studying music was the only option for him. He found his teacher in the Wagnerian Oskar Möricke. After he had finished his studies, he became an orchestral musician at the Berlin cabaret "Pêle-mêle". The second stage of his career took him to the Berlin “Intimate Theater”, where he successfully appeared in public for the first time as a composer of chansons . He later adopted many of them in his stage works.

Then Goetze found employment as Kapellmeister at various city theaters and composed on the side. After just a few years he was able to afford to give up his engagements and live on the fees as a freelance composer.

In 1911 his Fliegerposse Parquet Seat No. 10 was premiered in Hamburg . But the real success came with his second stage work, the Posse with music in three acts Just don't jostle , which was staged for the first time in his native town in 1912. From now on, one or two new stage works followed almost every year, mostly operettas.

The most successful of these was Her Highness - the dancer , with the "song of the weak hour". In Berlin alone this work was played almost 700 times in a row, but is now almost forgotten. But one still knows his operettas Adrienne with the snappy “Brandy Song” and Der goldene Pierrot , which always manage to be performed in a city ​​theater or on a touring stage .

Goetzes intention was to refine and ennoble the Berlin operetta, which he succeeded in part well. The most fruitful here was the collaboration with the librettists Richard Bars and Oskar Felix . For Goetze's music, the conductor Franz Marszalek at the WDR in Cologne made exemplary recordings.

Works (selection)

  • 1911: Parquet seat No. 10 , farce with music in a prelude and three acts (Libretto: Herman Haller and Willi Wolff )
  • 1912: Just don't push , farce with music in three acts (Libretto: Richard Keßler and Willy Prager)
  • 1913: When men cheat ...! , Musical Schwank in three acts based on a comedy motif by Fritz Friedmann-Frederich (Libretto: Bruno Decker and Robert Pohl )
  • 1914: Dear Pepi , operetta in three acts (Libretto: Bruno Decker and Otto Sprinzel)
  • 1918: At the fountain in front of the gate , Singspiel in three acts (Libretto: Oskar Felix )
  • 1919: Her Highness - the Dancer , operetta in three acts (Libretto: Richard Bars and Oskar Felix)
  • 1920: Die Spitzenkönigin , operetta in three acts (Libretto: Richard Bars and Oskar Felix)
  • 1926: Adrienne , operetta in three acts (Libretto: originally by Günther Bibo and Alexander Pordes-Milo ; Oskar Felix completely redesigned the text in 1936, and from then on the work was only performed in this version.)
  • 1934: The golden Pierrot , operetta in eight pictures (Libretto: Oskar Felix and Otto Kleinert)
  • 1935: Chess to the King . operetta
  • 1950: Liebe im Dreiklang , operetta in three acts (Libretto: Emil F. Malkowsky, Walter W. Goetze)

literature

  • Steger / Howe: Operettenführer Fischer Taschenbuch-Verlag

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Goetze, Walter Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German operetta composer
DATE OF BIRTH April 17, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH March 24, 1961
Place of death Berlin