Ludwig Schmidseder

He furthered his musical education at the Munich Conservatorium, then left for South America in 1926, ending up in Rio de Janeiro. Starting out as a dishwasher, he went on to become an entertainer and play in a trio on ocean cruises. Schmidseder composed music for the trio, and developed into a virtuoso piano player. From 1930 he worked in Berlin, composing film music, creating operettas and writing more than 500 songs, some of which became much-loved hits. He moved from being a bar pianist (until 1936) to being the house composer at the old Berlin Metropol-Theatre. His operetta Die Oder Keine (That One or No One) was performed more than 600 times. Schmidseder joined the NSDAP on 1 May 1933. After World War II, Schmidseder continued to compose film music and appear in films. The corpulent cook would later become famous as a TV cook and produced a book of recipes.

• 1938 - Melodie der Nacht (Melody of the Night) • 1939 - Die oder keine (That One or No One) (premiered on 20 March 1939, in the Berlin Metropol Theatre) • 1940 - Frauen im Metropol (Women in the Metropol) (premiered on 27 September 1940, in the Berlin Metropol Theatre) • 1944 – Linzer Torte (premiered on 26 May 1944 in the Landestheater Linz) • 1949 - Abschiedswalzer (Farewell Waltzes) (premiered on 8 September 1949, in Vienna; libretto by Hubert Marischka and Rudolf Österreicher)

• Gitarren spielt auf (1934, text by Ralph Maria Siegel) (Strike Up Guitars) • Ich trink den Wein nicht gern allein (I Prefer Not To Drink Wine Alone) • I hab die schönen Maderln net erfunden (1938, text by Theo Prosel) (I Did Not Invent Pretty Girls) • Komm doch in meine Arme (Come To My Arms) • Ein kleines weißes Haus (A Small White House) • Tango Marina