Ernst Welisch


Ernst Welisch was an Austrian playwright and theatre director. He is primarily known for the numerous operetta librettos that he wrote for composers such as Leo Fall, Jean Gilbert, Emmerich Kálmán, and Ralph Benatzky. Welisch was born in Vienna, but spent most of his career in Berlin. In the 1930s he returned to Vienna where he died shortly before the premiere of his last work, Venedig in Wien.

Life and career

Welisch was born in Vienna. He studied history and literature at the University of Vienna followed by studies in art history and archeology at the University of Munich where he received his doctorate in 1898. In 1901 he published a book on the painters of Augsburg during the Baroque and Roccoco eras, but then turned his activity to the theatre. He had settled in Berlin in 1900 and from 1904 worked as a director and dramaturge in various Berlin theatres, beginning with the Lessing Theater. He went on to work at the in 1905, the Neues Schauspielhaus where he was the head director from 1905 to 1911, and finally the Komödienhaus where he was the deputy head director from 1913 to 1922.
Welisch's parallel career as a librettist began in 1905 when he and Rudolf Bernauer co-wrote the libretto for Leo Fall's first operetta Der Rebell. During his career he wrote or co-wrote over 20 librettos for operettas and musical theatre works as well as two stage comedies. In the 1930s he returned to Vienna where he died at the age of 66. His final work was the libretto for the operetta Venedig in Wien composed by Rudi Gfaller. It premiered in Chemnitz on 29 March 1941, three days after Welisch's death. His son, Ernst Adolf Welisch, likewise became a playwright and director and also wrote several screenplays for German-language films in the 1940s and 50s.

Librettos

Librettos written or co-written by Welisch include:

Filmography