Walter Kollo

Walter Kollo (28 January 1878 – 30 September 1940) was a German composer, conductor, and music publisher whose work spanned operettas, Possen mit Gesang, Singspiele, and popular songs. Born in Neidenburg, East Prussia, he also contributed to Broadway as both a composer and book writer.

The son of a merchant, Kollo was expected to follow his father into trade, but with his mother's support he pursued musical studies at the Königsberg Sondershausen music conservatory. He worked briefly as a theater conductor in Königsberg before relocating to Berlin in 1899, where he redirected his focus toward popular and light music. In 1910, collaborating with Willy Bredschneider, he composed Große Rosinen, which premiered on New Year's Eve 1911 and marked his first major success. He continued producing musical comedies, farces, and operettas at a prolific pace, among them Wie einst im Mai (1913), Der Juxbaron (1916), Drei alte Schachteln (1917), and Die Frau ohne Kuß (1924). Wie einst im Mai, which featured the songs Es war in Schöneberg im Monat Mai and Die Männer sind alle Verbrecher, became his best-known work; Sigmund Romberg used it as the basis for the 1917 American operetta Maytime.

Alongside Jean Gilbert and Paul Lincke, Kollo was a founder of the Berliner Operette. Beginning in 1915 he also composed for revues and sound films, and he was among the founding members of GEMA, the German performers' rights organization. He operated his own music publishing company and later undertook concert tours conducting performances of his own compositions.

His Broadway credits include the musicals The Girl on the Film, Springtime of Youth, and Three Little Girls, as well as the play Phoebe of Quality Street, for which he served as composer and book writer. His operetta Drei arme kleine Mädels, which premiered in Berlin in April 1927, served as the source material for Three Little Girls on Broadway.

Kollo's son Willi Kollo was likewise a composer of light music, and his grandson is the Wagnerian tenor René Kollo, who recorded a 2009 EMI album of Walter Kollo's songs and arias titled Auf den Spuren meiner Väter. Walter Kollo died in Berlin on 30 September 1940.