Rott was born in
Barmen. After his
Abitur, Rott studied law and began his theatre career as a directing student of
Louise Dumont at the Städtische Bühnen in Düsseldorf. There, he worked as a student director and later as an assistant to Peter Scharoff. This was followed by two itinerant years as director, dramaturge and actor, and then a series of engagements as head stage manager, dramaturge, actor and assistant director at larger theatres. In 1933, Rott was engaged as director at the
Konzerthaus Berlin, and in 1934 at the
Deutsches Schauspielhaus. The next station was the , where he was deputy general director, head play director and
dramaturge; at the same time, he was director of the state drama school. In 1936, Rott was engaged at the
Burgtheater Vienna. From 1 September 1954 to 31 August 1959, he was the first director of the reopened Burgtheater, fiercely hated by critics such as
Friedrich Torberg and
Hans Weigel. Until 1945 he was also a teacher at the
Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna. After 1945, he was appointed head director of the Burgtheater, the
Vienna State Opera and the
Vienna Volksoper, where he created essential productions that were on the repertoire of these stages for years. Rott was a co-founder of the Graz Festival. As permanent director of the
Bregenz Festival, he drew the attention of foreign countries to this event by staging classical operettas on the
Lake Constance stage. In addition to his work in Vienna, Rott was
Heinz Tietjen's first collaborator at the
Deutsche Oper Berlin after 1945. After his resignation as director of the Burgtheater, Rott worked as chief director at the
Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, but returned again and again to Vienna for work as chief director of the Austrian Federal Theatres. His work at
opera houses in the United States falls into this period (San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York City,
Dallas,
Fort Worth), in (
la Scala,
Teatro la Fenice, Große Oper in Rome,
Teatro San Carlo,
Teatro Massimo) and at many other great opera stages such as
Covent Garden Opera in London,
Edinburgh Festival Theatre,
Paris Opera,
Teatro Real,
Opernhaus Zürich and
Grand Théâtre de Genève, numerous opera stages in Germany, the
Finnish National Theatre, the
Royal Swedish Opera, the
Oslo Opera House and the
Copenhagen Opera House. Rott is considered the innovator of the Viennese classical
operetta. He exported this
genre to many European countries. Rott died at the age of 76 on 24 July 1982 in Vienna. == Awards ==