Otto Reutter

In 1895, he first appeared as a "salon humorist", probably in Bern, Switzerland. The following year he had his breakthrough. Particularly notable about Reutter was his ability to deliver original, amusing lyrics in a singsong manner, his persona full of irony and wit. After a successful appearance in the "Wintergarten Variety" of the Berlin Central Hotel, Reutter was hailed as a celebrity, and was considered in the following decades as one of the leading artists of the stage in Germany. • Illustration — Still image of an Otto Reutter movie from 1912 In the 1920s, Reutter wrote many of the songs for which he is still well known today, songs that have been sung by many well-known German artists. He wrote over a thousand Couplets, a German form of amusing cabaret song. • Illustration — Berlin memorial plaque in Berlin-Wilmersdorf Overstressed and having suffered some personal setbacks, Reutter intended to retire as a millionaire in 1919, after a successful thirty-year career. He had invested his fortune in his house (known as Waldschnibbe) in Gardelegen, as well as in war bonds. Hence, starting around 1919, his "mature work" began to appear: songs that were especially characterized by humor and melancholy, the wisdom of life, and a kind of weary sass and bite. His songs didn't just foresee societal changes, but also presented their listeners with comfort in times that required great sacrifice. His songs tended to follow the taste of the times, as well as current events. Sick and exhausted, Otto Reutter died during a guest appearance in Düsseldorf in 1931, and was buried in Gardelegen.

• Ach wie fein (wird's in 100 Jahren sein) (um 1900) • Alles wegn de Leut (1926) • Berlin is ja so große (1913) • Der gewissenhafte Maurer (1920) • Der Überzieher (1925) • In fünfzig Jahren ist alles vorbei (1920) • Wir fang'n noch mal von vorne an (1925) • Das ist so einfach, und man denkt nicht dran (1925) • Nehm se 'n Alten (1926) • Mir hab'ne se als jeheilt entlassen (1928) • Und dadurch gleicht sich alles wieder aus (1928) • Es geht vorwärts! (1920; 1930) • Ein Sachse ist immer dabei! (1930) • Und so kommen wir aus der Freude gar nicht raus (1930) • Otto Reutter – Der König der Kleinkunst – Folge 1 und 2, 8 CD-ROMs, 2005 Membran Music Ltd., Vertrieb Grosser und Stein, Pforzheim, and.

On origins, the institutional record states the following. Born in 1870 at Gardelegen. It is also recorded that otto Reutter died in 1931 at Düsseldorf. Institutional cataloguing adds that otto Reutter is recorded at birth as Otto Pfützenreuter.