(b Mainz, Jan 13, 1883; d Wiesbaden, Sept 15, 1978). German librettist and publisher. In 1909 he joined his father Ludwig Strecker (1853–1943) as a partner in the music publishing house of Schott in Mainz, becoming a director with his brother Willy Strecker (1884–1958) in 1920. From an early age he had shown a deep interest in literature and poetry, and during the 1930s began to develop his skills as a librettist, adopting the professional pseudonym of Ludwig Andersen. His first efforts were in oratorio, but he soon moved on to opera, adapting Franz Graf von Pocci’s tale Die Zaubergeige (1935) for Werner Egk, Karl Simrock’s version of the medieval puppet play Doktor Johannes Faust (1936) for Hermann Reutter, and Hermann Heinz Ortner’s drama Tobias Wunderlich (1937) for Joseph Haas. The first two of these works ranked among the most frequently performed contemporary operas in Nazi Germany and were largely responsible for securing Schott’s reputation as the pre-eminent German publisher of music-theatre works of the period. During World War II Andersen completed librettos for two comic operas, Wolf-Ferrari’s ...
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Paul Corneilson
(b Prenzlau, 1733; d Heidelberg, June 29, 1815). German librettist and publisher. In 1765 Schwan opened a bookshop in Mannheim. His German translations of French comic operas were frequently used for performances by local troupes. Der Kaufmann von Smyrna (1770), a translation of Chamfort’s comedy, was especially popular and was set by G. J. Vogler (1771), C. D. Stegmann (1773), O. F. Holý (1773) and F. Seydelmann (1778). Together with the poet Anton Klein, Schwan helped establish the Deutsche Gesellschaft at Mannheim in 1775. His Rheinische Beiträge zur Gelehrsamkeit, begun in 1777, served as its polemical voice and contributed to the establishment of the Mannheim Nationaltheater. Schwan’s original Singspiel Azakia, intended for C. Cannabich, was set by J. André (1778) and, with minor revisions, by F. Danzi (1780). In 1790 he reissued Der Kaufmann von Smyrna...
