Wilhelm Meyer Lutz (19 May 1829 – 31 January 1903) was a German-born British composer and conductor who is best known for light music, musical theatre andburlesques of well-known works.
Emigrating to the UK at the age of 19, Lutz started as an organist and soon became a theatrical conductor in London. After serving from 1850 to 1855 as music director of theSurrey Theatre, Lutz conducted touring opera companies and composed some serious music and music for theChristy Minstrels. In 1869, he was engaged as the music director of theGaiety Theatre, London, arranging and later composing a series of popular burlesques over the next 25 years. Lutz continued to compose songs into the 20th century.
Lutz was born inMünnerstadt, Bavaria, Germany. His parents were Joseph Lutz (1801–1879), a music professor, and Magdalena (1809–1862). His older brother,Baron Johann Lutz, became the prime minister of Bavaria under KingLudwig II of Bavaria. Lutz studied music first with his father, then in Würzburg at the University.[1] He visited Britain, as a pianist, in 1846, and then moved to England in 1848 at the age of 19.[2]
Lutz began as an organist in churches atBirmingham andLeeds.[3] Then, for many years, he played the organ atSt George's Cathedral, Southwark.[4] Lutz was also aFreemason, and served as the Grand Organist of theUnited Grand Lodge of England.[5]
Lutz soon became a theatrical conductor. From 1850 to 1855, he conducted at theSurrey Theatre and later theRoyalty Theatre.[1] For that theatre, he composed two operas, the one-actThe Charmed Harp (1852) and agrand opera,Faust and Marguerite (1855).[6] After this, for many years, Lutz conducted concerts in the British provinces and touring opera troupes forGiulia Grisi, thetenorMario and others.[7] Some of these were led by thetenor Elliot Galer (the founder, in 1877, of the Royal Opera House inLeicester),[8] who produced Lutz's operaZaida, or, The Pearl of Granada (with a libretto by Oliver Summers) in 1859 inLiverpool.[1] In the 1850s and 1860s he shared the concert podium at classical concerts withJulius Benedict both in the provinces and atSt. James's Hall in London.[9] In 1859, inDerby, England, Lutz played the piano for a series of ten "Concerts for the People" at the Temperance Hall.[7] Galer also mounted three other Lutz operas at theRoyalty Theatre in London:Blonde or Brunette (1862),Cousin Kate (1863), andFelix, or The Festival of the Roses (1865).[6] During these years, Lutz also composed thecantatasHerne the Hunter (The Crystal Palace, 1862) andKing Christmas (Oxford Music Hall, 1863), and music for theChristy Minstrels.[1]
In 1869, managerJohn Hollingshead hired Lutz as the resident musical director and conductor at the recently openedGaiety Theatre, composing dances and songs for productions at that theatre, as well as conducting the orchestra for the operas,operettas, plays andburlesques mounted at the theatre.[2] In this capacity, he conductedThespis, the firstGilbert and Sullivancomic opera, in 1871.
Lutz's early compositions for the Gaiety theatre includedincidental music forDreams (1869), a play byThomas W. Robertson.[10]The Miller of Milburg (1872).[6] At the same time,Christine Nilsson performed his scenaXenia the Sclavonian Maiden (1869), and at theCovent GardenPromenade Concerts in 1873, his cantata,Legend of the Lys, was performed.[6] He also composed music for such shows asOn Condition (1882) andPosterity (1884) for Lila Clay's all-ladies troupe. He also composed the popular song, "Eyes of English Blue" forAlice Atherton.[1]
At the Gaiety, Lutz compiled the scores, and later often composed original music, for a series of popular pasticcio entertainments, opera-bouffes and burlesques,[1] includingThe Bohemian G-yurl and the Unapproachable Pole (1877);Robbing Roy (1879 byF. C. Burnand); a version ofThe Forty Thieves (1880, libretto byRobert Reece; Lutz had conductedan 1878 version of the same story);All in the Downs; or, Black-Eyed Susan (1881);Aladdin (1881);Oh! Those Girls (1882);[11]Blue Beard (1882);Galatea, or Pygmalion Reversed (1883, with a libretto byHenry Pottinger Stephens);Ariel (1883, libretto by Burnand); andMazeppa (1884).[1]
George Edwardes took over management of the Gaiety in 1885 and expanded the format of the burlesques, commissioning Lutz to write original scores for the "new burlesques" at the theatre:Little Jack Sheppard (1885, libretto by Stephens);Monte Cristo Jr. (1886);Miss Esmeralda, or The Maid and the Monkey (1887);Frankenstein, or The Vampire's Victim (1887);Faust up to Date (1888, libretto by G. R. Sims and Henry Pettitt);Ruy Blas and the Blasé Roué (1889, libretto byFrederick Hobson Leslie and Herbert F. Clark);Carmen up to Data (1890, libretto by Sims and Pettitt);[12]Cinder Ellen up too Late (1891, libretto by Leslie);[6] andDon Juan (1892, book by Leslie, lyrics byAdrian Ross). The "Pas de quatre", a sprightly barn-dance written forFaust up to Date, remained popular for more than fifty years and has had at least two modern recordings.[1][13] In 1893, withAlbert O'Donnell Bartholeyns, he wroteA la Française.[14]
During these years, Lutz continued in demand as a conductor throughout Britain[15] and continued to compose religious and secular music.[3] On 3 May 1886, the Gaiety Theatre hosted a selection of scenes played for Lutz's benefit, including scenes from Lutz's grand operaFaust and Marguerite, his burlesqueLittle Jack Sheppard and the operettaKarl and several recitations and solo pieces. The performers includedNellie Farren (who had sung under him in nearly all of his Gaiety pieces),Marion Hood,Durward Lely,Richard Temple and many others.[16]
Lutz left the Gaiety in 1894 and was replaced byIvan Caryll. For theOpera Comique in 1895, Lutz composedA Model Trilby, or A Day or Two after du Maurier.[6] He also wrote additional songs forBaron Golosh for theTrafalgar Theatre (1895).[17] Lutz wrote a string quartet and ballads such as "Thy Silv'ry Tones", "Enchant Mine Ear" and "Sail on Silver Cloud." In the last years of the 19th century, Lutz conducted a band playing Summer seasons at the spa inScarborough.[2] He continued to compose songs into the 20th century, including music forHidenseek (1901) and a few numbers forIvan Caryll and Cecil Cook'sThe Girl from Kays (1902). However, Lutz seems to have run low on funds, as another benefit was held for him on 28 November 1901 at the Gaiety Theatre, organised by George Edwardes.[18]
Lutz was married in 1856 to Elizabeth Cook (b. 1835) and later to her sister Emily Cook (b. 1847).[19] Their brothers were thebassThomas Aynsley Cook and thebaritoneJohn Furneaux Cook, and their sister, Alice Aynsley Cook (c. 1850–1938) was an opera singer and musical comedy actress. His niece, Annie, marriedEugene Goossens, Jr.[1] Lutz also had a son, Caspar, who became a clergyman.[20]
In printed works, such as scores and theatre programmes, Lutz was usually credited simply as Meyer Lutz. Some of his music was arranged for military band by J. A. Kappey.[21] Lutz is mentioned in aP. G. Wodehouse novel,A Damsel in Distress (1919).[22] In addition, a character called Herr Toots in the 1912 novelBella by Edward Booth is based on Lutz,[2] as is the character Meyer Klootz in the 1940 novelTown and Haven by Oswald Harland, both novels being set in late Victorian Scarborough (named "Spathorpe" inBella, and "Whitcliff" inTown and Haven).
Lutz died of bronchitis at his home inKensington, London at the age of 73. He was buried in St Mary's, Kensal Green.[1]
