Wikipedia:
Walter Wilhelm Goetze (* April 17, 1883 in Berlin; † March 24, 1961 ibid) was a German operetta composer.
Walter Wilhelm Goetze was born in Berlin as the son of a ministerial director. His musical talent had been passed on to him by his father, who was already a passionate music lover. After completing his Abitur, it quickly became clear to Goetze that the only option for him was to study music. He found his teacher in the Wagnerian Oskar Möricke. After finishing his studies, he became an orchestra musician at the Berlin cabaret "Pêle-mêle". The second station of his career led him to the Berlin "Intimate Theater", where he also successfully appeared in public for the first time as a composer of chansons. He later incorporated many of them into his stage works.
Subsequently, Goetze found employment as a Kapellmeister at various city theaters and composed on the side. After only a few years, he could afford to give up his engagements and live off the fees as a freelance composer.
In 1911, his ''Fliegerposse Parkettsitz No. 10'' was premiered in Hamburg. The real success, however, came only with his second stage work, the posse with music in three acts ''Nur nicht drängeln'', which was performed for the first time in 1912 in his native city. From then on, one or two new stage works followed almost every year, most of them operettas.
The most successful of these was ''Her Highness the Dancer'' with the "Lied vom schwachen Stündchen". In Berlin alone, this work was performed almost 700 times in a row, but today it is almost forgotten. On the other hand, his operettas ''Adrienne'' with the snappy "Branntweinlied" and ''Der goldene Pierrot'' are still known and occassionally they manage to be performed at a city theater or on a touring stage.
Goetze's intention was to refine and ennoble the Berlin operetta, which he succeeded in doing to some extent. The most fruitful collaboration was with the librettists Richard Bars and Oskar Felix. The conductor Franz Marszalek at WDR Cologne was particularly committed to Goetze's music with exemplary recordings.
Note: Translated from the German version of Wikipedia into English.
