Girardi was born in
Graz; his father was the
locksmith Andreas Girardi who had migrated to Graz from
Cortina d'Ampezzo. Following the early death of his father, Alexander Girardi was raised by his stepfather who put him into a locksmith
apprenticeship. Against his stepfather's wishes, he joined the amateur theatre Die Tonhalle, where his acting talent was discovered; this led to an engagement at the Vienna . in Wien; as "Valentin" in
Ferdinand Raimund's
Der Verschwender In 1874 Girardi moved to the
Theater an der Wien, where he continued to work for 22 years. In 1896/97 he worked at the
Carltheater and then two years at the
Volkstheater in Vienna. He also had guest appearances at other important theatres in Vienna and toured Germany (Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden). One of his most renowned roles was Valentin in
Ferdinand Raimund's '''', particularly his rendition of the "", the most famous number of the stage music by
Conradin Kreutzer. At the beginning of
World War I Girardi retired from the stage and returned to Graz. Two months before his death in 1918, he was called to the
Burgtheater in Vienna to play the role of Fortunatus Wurzel in Ferdinand Raimunds's ''''. Girardi was unhappily married to
Helene Odilon. Odilon had many affairs and had Girardi
committed to a mental asylum (based on a
certificate by
Julius Wagner-Jauregg, who had not seen Girardi). However, Girardi escaped and received help so that he would not be locked up. Odilon and Girardi divorced in 1896. The actress
Katharina Schratt persuaded
Emperor Franz Joseph to release Girardi. Aged 67, Girardi died on 20 April 1918 in Vienna. He is buried at the Vienna
Zentralfriedhof, grave 33E-9-16. Girardi's staple stage role was the comic. He worked in the tradition of
Ferdinand Raimund and
Johann Nestroy, and he made a significant contribution to the popular Vienna
operetta. Girardi created the roles of Blasoni in
Johann Strauss's
Cagliostro in Wien (1875), Andredl in
Carl Millöcker's '''' (1878), Jan Janicki in Millöcker's
Der Bettelstudent (1882), Benozzo in Millöcker's
Gasparone (1884), Kálmán Zsupán in Strauss's
The Gypsy Baron (1885), Adam in
Carl Zeller's
Der Vogelhändler (1891), the title role in
Edmund Eysler's
Bruder Straubinger (1903), and Pali Rácz in
Emmerich Kálmán’s
Der Zigeunerprimas (1912). He contributed greatly to the
Golden Age of Vienna operetta. ==Honours==