Robert Winterberg

Robert Anton Winterberg (27 February 1884 – 22 June 1930) was an Austrian composer, conductor, pianist, and theatre director. He is best known as a composer of German-language operettas, most of which he created during the 1910s and 1920s. Two of his operettas were adapted into English for Broadway: Die Dame in Rot (1911, Vienna) as The Lady in Red (1919, Lyric Theatre) and Die schöne Schwedin (1915, Vienna) as The Girl from Brazil (1916, 44th Street Theatre).

Winterberg studied music privately with Gustav Mahler, Robert Fuchs, and Hermann Graedener. At the age of 15, he produced his first music compositions which included a piano sonata, a string quartet, and several art songs. A few years later, the first public concert of his music was given at Ehrbar Saal (English: Ehrbar Hall) inside the Palais Ehrbar by baritone Joseph Schwartz and soprano Olga von Türk-Rohn with Winterberg as pianist. In 1906, Türk-Rohn and Winterberg were invited to Peleș Castle in Sinaia by Elisabeth of Romania where they gave a concert of Winterberg's music for the queen. Well received, the work enjoyed popularity both in Germany and abroad. American playwright Anne Caldwell adapted it into an English language version for Broadway entitled The Lady in Red which starred Adele Rowland. It was performed at the Lyric Theatre in 1919 prior to going on a national tour.

Die Dame in Rot was the second of Winterberg's operettas to reach the Broadway stage. Ihr Adjutant (1911), Madame Serafin (1911), librettists Georg Okonkowski and Bruno Granichstaedten Die Dame in Rot (1911), librettists Julius Brammer and Alfred Grünwald Die Frauen von Monte Carlo (1912), librettist Alfred Deutsch-German Hoheit – der Franz! (1913), librettists Artur Landsberger and Willi Wolff Unsere Feldgrauen (1914), librettists Alfred Müller-Förster and Josef Bendiner Die schöne Schwedin (1915), librettists Julius Brammer and Alfred Grünwald Die Blumen der Maintenon (1916), librettist Reinhard Bruck Der sanfte Hannibal (1917), librettists Alfred Müller-Förster and Arthur Lokesh Graf Habenichts (1918), librettists Jean Kren and Bernhard Buchbinder Die Dame vom Zirkus (1919), librettists Jean Kren and Bernhard Buchbinder Der dumme Franzl (1919), librettist Reinhard Bruck Circe und die Schweine (1919), librettist Max Brod Der Günstling der Zarin (1921), librettists Hermann Feiner and Richard Keßler Der blonde Engel (1921), librettists Richard Keßler and Arthur Rebner Die Herrn von und zu (1922), librettists Jean Kren and Richard Bars Der Trompeter vom Rhein (1926), singspiel, librettists August Neidhart and Cornelis Bronsgeest Der junge Dessauer (also known as Anneliese von Dessau) (1926) librettists Richard Keßler and Max Jungk