Lortzing was born in Berlin to Johann Gottlieb and Charlotte Sophie Lortzing. They had abandoned their leather shop and travelled through Germany as itinerant actors, founding the Berlin theatre company
Urania, and turning their amateur passion into a profession. The young Lortzing's first stage appearance was at the age of 12, entertaining the audience with comic poems during the interval in the
Kornhaus at the
Freiburg Münster. From 1817, the Lortzing family were part of
Josef Derossi ensemble in the
Rhineland, treading the boards at
Bonn,
Düsseldorf,
Barmen and
Aachen. Albert Lortzing became an audience favourite, playing the roles of a youthful lover, a country boy and bon vivant, sometimes also singing small
tenor or
baritone roles. On 30 January 1824 he married the actress
Rosina Regine Ahles, with whom he subsequently had 11 children. The couple belonged to the
Hoftheater (court theatre) in
Detmold from late 1826, which toured to Münster and Osnabrück. Lortzing joined the
Freemasons, a popular refuge for artists in
Metternich's police state. Lortzing composed an oratorio in Detmold,
Die Himmelfahrt Christi (''Christ's Ascension''), which premiered in Münster, and predictably earned a rebuke for the young composer from the Münster regional governor, who claimed that Lortzing was "a composer of no renown". Lortzing composed the music for
Christian Dietrich Grabbe's
Don Juan und Faust, playing the role of Don Juan himself, with his wife as Donna Anna. Lortzing received a glowing report from an anonymous reviewer in a
Frankfurt paper, who also mistakenly praised Lortzing for the text "by this brilliant poet". Grabbe, the real poet, was outraged, although the review did bring good publicity for the piece. On 3 November 1833 the young Lortzings gave their debut at the Leipziger Stadttheater. Lortzing's parents had been members of this ensemble since 1832, under Friedrich Sebald Ringelhardt. Here, Lortzing became a member of the artists' club "
Tunnel unter der Pleisse" ("Tunnel under the
Pleiße"), and in 1834 he became a member of the Leipzig Freemasons lodge "
Balduin zur Linde" ("Balduin to the
Linden Tree"). Lortzing was much loved in the Leipzig ensemble, particularly when acting in
Johann Nestroy's comedies. However, his tendency to improvise and to deviate from the script attracted the attention of the theatrical police. His first comic opera,
Zar und Zimmermann, had a tough time with the Leipzig censors. It premiered in Leipzig on 22 December 1837. Lortzing himself sang the role of Peter Iwanow, but it did not make a major breakthrough until its Berlin performances in 1839, where it was much praised. In 1844, Lortzing became
Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Stadttheater. After a quarrel with management, he was dismissed in April 1845 due to his "rheumatic troubles". The repeated protests of the public got him reinstated, but he was soon dismissed again after another argument. On 20 January 1851, the night his musical comedy
Die Opernprobe premiered in Frankfurt, Lortzing suffered a
stroke at his home in Berlin and died without medical treatment on the morning of the following day, under huge stress and deeply in debt. A number of luminaries from the musical world were present at his funeral, including
Giacomo Meyerbeer, Heinrich Dorn, Wilhelm Taubert and
Carl Friedrich Rungenhagen. Lortzing's theatrical colleagues decorated his coffin with black, red and gold, a combination forbidden after 1848. A public benefit was then later held for his already impoverished family. ==Music==