Julius Hopp (18 May 1819 – 28 August 1885) was an Austrian composer, conductor, arranger and translator.

Life and career

Born in Graz, Empire of Austria, the son of the actor and poet Friedrich Hopp, Lucius became known in the 1860s and 1870s through his adaptations of Jacques Offenbach's operettas, which were mainly performed in the Theater an der Wien, where Hopp was Kapellmeister. He composed parodies, antics and folk plays and appeared as a translator of French operas and operettas. In particular Hopp's sparkling adaptations of the operettas of Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) ensured the success of these works on Viennese soil and brought riches to theatre entrepreneurs whereby Hopp, due to his modesty, but not entirely through his own fault,[1] did not enjoy that shower of gold.[2]

Of Hopp's own works - despite their richness of melody - Das Donauweibchen and Morilla were only moderate successes. "Margaret and Mitten," on the other hand, had countless performances.[2]

As the last of his theatre performances Hopp worked at the Theater in der Josefstadt until 1880. After he had become hard of hearing and unable to work at that time, the days of naked misery came for him.[1] Hopp died at age 66 on 28 August 1885 in the Niederösterreichische Landesirrenanstalt am Brünnlfeld [de] in Vienna Alsergrund; he was buried on 31 August 1885 at Wiener Zentralfriedhof.[3] The costs of the corpse burial were covered by Leopold Friedrich von Hofmann [de] (1822-1885), General Director of the two Viennese court theatres.[1]

Work

Premiere of the opera Morilla in Elbing, 1886

References