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_.”