Wikipedia:
Ferdinand Leopoldi, originally: Ferdinand Israel Kohn (* August 20, 1886 in Vienna; † December 20, 1944 ibid) was an Austrian pianist, hit composer and cabaret manager.
Ferdinand was the eldest son of the musician Leopold Kohn (the official change of the family name to Leopoldi took place in 1911). The latter taught him and his brother Hermann to play the piano. He also tried to get engagements for the two of them. At the age of six Ferdinand performed as a pianist. Like his brother, he spent the First World War with the ''Deutschmeister''. Even after that, the two often performed together at the ''Ronacher'' establishment and other entertainment venues and bars. Leopoldi's first hit songs were written during this time. In 1918, he was one of the cofounders of the International Artists Organization.
As a solo pianist in Viennese cafés/bars, Ferdinand was advertised as Ferdinand Leopoldi, and his brother Hermann as Leopoldi.
Hermann and Ferdinand Leopoldi, together with the emcee Fritz Wiesenthal († December 31, 1936 in a sanatorium in Mauer near Vienna; age: 53/56), opened the cabaret "Leopoldi-Wiesenthal," or "L.W." for short, at Rotgasse 5 in Vienna's first district in 1922. The venue soon became known far beyond the city's borders. In addition to Leopoldi-Wiesenthal, Charlotte Waldow, Franzi Ressel, Armin Berg, Hans Moser, Szöke Szakall, Max Han-sen, Fritz Grünbaum, Karl Valentin or Raoul Aslan and Otto Tressler performed here more or less regularly. In 1925, however, they had to close the restaurant for financial reasons; none of the operators had ever learned business management. Subsequently, they made guest appearances in Berlin, in Switzerland and undertook tours.
Towards the end of the 1920s, the Leopoldi brothers gradually went their separate ways. Hermann had more and more solo appearances, Ferdinand Leopoldi took part in the 1926 film ''Die Pratermizzi'' and worked mainly as a bar pianist, before making numerous appearances on the radio with Robert Rakowianu (1886-1938) and Grete von Király in the 1930s.
After the "Anschluss" of Austria, his brother Hermann was deported to the Dachau concentration camp in 1938 and was still able to emigrate to the USA in 1939. Ferdinand Leopoldi, who was married to an "Aryan", remained in Vienna and lived in hiding in an apartment in Bellariastrasse in Vienna during the Nazi era. There, however, he was discovered in 1943 and taken by the Gestapo for interrogation, as a result of which he died in the Rothschild Hospital.
Note: Translated from the German version of Wikipedia into English.
