Georg Kreisler

Georg Kreisler (born 18 July 1922, in Vienna, Austria) is an Austrian-American German-language cabarettist, satirist, composer, and author. He was particularly popular in the 1950's and 1960's. Since 2007 he has lived in Salzburg with his fourth wife, Barbara Peters.

Life

Kreisler went to high school in Vienna, where he learned music theory, and learned to play violin and piano. In 1938, he was forced to flee with his parents due to increasing Nazi restrictions on Jews. In 1943, he became an American citizen and enlisted in the Army, and was stationed in Europe. He wrote songs for soldiers in Britain and France with the help of Marcel Prawny. After the war, he went to Hollywood and worked on movies with Charlie Chaplin. He performed at nightclubs and bars to make ends meet. In 1947, he was rejected by three record companies because his songs were "Un-American", especially songs with titles such as "Please Shoot Your Husband". In 1955, he returned to Europe, starting in Vienna, then Munich in 1958, Berlin in 1976, and Salzburg in 1988. Since 2001, he has dedicated himself to writing novels and no longer performs.

Style

Kreisler is considered as a master of language. His songs are characterized by black humor and uncompromizing criticism of society and politics. This brought him many difficulties and also led partly appearance prohibitions in radio and television. Particulars of his songs ("Pigeon Poisoning in the Park" and "The Hand") have a great similarity to songs of Tom Lehrer, which raised the suspicion of plagiarism. However Lehrer is younger by six years, and Kreisler's "Pigeon Poisoning" was performed in 1956, though Lehrer's "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" appeared in 1959.

External links

Georg Kreisler at IMDb