Carl Zeller
Carl Zeller was born in St. Peter-in-der-Au, Austria on July 19, 1842. Music, the study of which he had pursued since boyhood with private teachers, was an avocation. He earned his living as an official in the Ministry of Education in Austria. Nevertheless, he managed to write many operettas, two of which were among the most successful written in Austria during his time. Among his first works for the stage were Joconde (1876), Die Carbonari (1880), and Der Vagabund (1886). His first major success came with Der Vogelhaendler in 1886, still a great favorite on the Continent. The second of his operetta classics, Der Obersteiger, was introduced in 1894. A later successful, though less well known, operetta, Der Kellermeister, was produced posthumously in 1901. Zeller died in Baden near Vienna on August 17, 1898.
Der Obersteiger (The Master Miner)—book by M. West and L. Held—received its première in Vienna on January 5, 1894. The setting is a salt-mining district of Austria in or about 1840. Martin instigates a strike among the miners, for which he is deprived of his job. To support himself he organizes a band of musicians from among the miners and tours the country. Eventually Martin returns to his mining town where he finally manages to regain his job and to win Nelly, with whom he has always been in love. The most popular song in the operetta is Martin’s air with chorus, “Wo sie war, die Muellerin,” and its most delightful waltz is “Trauet nie dem blossen schein.”
Der Vogelhaendler (The Bird-Seller), once again with a book by M. West and L. Held, was first heard in Vienna on January 10, 1891; but in 1933 it was presented in a new version in Munich adapted by Quedenfelt, Brugmann and Bauckner. In the Rhine Palatinate in the 18th century, Adam, a wandering bird-seller, is in love with Christel, but she refuses to consider marriage unless he gets a permanent job. He gets that job on the estate of the Elector Palatine at which point Christel is all too willing to give up a projected marriage with Count Stanislaus for the sake of her beloved Adam. The lovable melodies from this operetta—in the best traditions of Suppé and Johann Strauss II—have made it a favorite not only in Germany and Austria, but also throughout the rest of Europe, in North and South America, and in South Africa. Among the musical highlights of this operetta are the waltz “Schau mir nur recht ins Gesicht”; the “Nightingale Song” (“Wie mein Ahn’l zwanzig Jahr”); the pert march tune “Kaempfe nie mit Frau’n”; and Christel’s sprightly air, “Ich bin die Christel von der Post.”