Leopold Wenzel Explained

Léopold de Wenzel (23 January 1847 – 21 August 1923), also known as Leopold Wenzel, was an Italian conductor and composer.

Born in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Wenzel spent most of his career working in London, with the exception of some years spent in Paris.^[1] Wenzel was appointed as musical director, music arranger and ballet composer at the Empire Theatre of Varieties in London in 1889, where he wrote and arranged numerous ballets. Later, he conducted at the Gaiety Theatre, London until 1913.^[2] In addition to ballets, his many works include art songs, orchestral works, and operas in the late Victorian era and early Edwardian period. He also composed songs that were incorporated into some works of musical theatre.^[3] He died in Asnières, near Paris.^[4]

Selected works

Ballets with choreographer Katti Lanner at the Empire^[5]

• A Dream of Wealth (1889)
• Cécile (1890)
• Dolly (1890)
• Orfeo (1891)^[6]
• By the Sea (1891)
• Nisita (1891)
• Versailles (1892)^[6]
• Round the Town (1892)
• Katrina (1893)
• The Girl I Left Behind Me (1893)
• Brighton (Paris Olympia music hall)^[7]
• Monte Cristo (1896)^[6]
• Under One Flag (1897)
• The Press (1898)
• Alaska (1898)
• Round the Town Again6 (1899)
• Sea-Side (1900)
• Les Papillons (1901)
• Old China (1901)
• Our Crown (1902)
• The Milliner Duchess (1903)
• Vineland (1903)
• High Jinks (1904)

Operas

• Le Chevalier Mignon (1884, Paris)
• L'Élève du Conservatoire (1894, Paris)

Other works

• Cinder Ellen up too late (1891), a burlesque on the fairy tale Cinderella (additional numbers)^[8]
• An Artist's Model, an Edwardian musical comedy (1895) (additional numbers)^[9]

References

• Guest, Ivor. The Empire Ballet (1962) London:Society for Theatre Research

Notes and References

1. http://opera.stanford.edu/composers/W.html Opera Glass
2. "Retirement of Gaiety Conductor", The Observer, 23 February 1913, p. 10
3. https://books.google.com/books?id=zSJ7zXkBc3MC&dq=%22Leopold+Wenzel%22+Empire&pg=PA258 Richards, Jeffrey. Imperialism and Music: Britain 1876-1953, pp. 258–60 (2002) Manchester University Press
4. http://www.italianopera.org/compositori/W/c221203E.htm Profile of Wenzel
5. https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=23305717 Guest, "Appendix A: Ballets Produced at the Empire Theatre, 1884-1915"
6. https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=23305717 Guest, "Appendix C: Some Empire Ballets: Selected Scenarios"
7. http://irononstation.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=IOS&Product_Code=art13 Poster from "Grand Ballet: Brighton" at the Olympia
8. http://www.lib.rochester.edu/CAMELOT/cinder/cin8.htm List of cast and crew for Cinder Ellen and other Cinderella adaptations
9. Johnson, Colin, M. Links to Midi files for songs in An Artist's Model, including the songs composed by Wenzel, The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, accessed 31 March 2018