Bela Jenbach

Bela Jenbach, real name Béla Jacobowicz (1 April 1871 in Miskolc, Kingdom of Hungary – 21 January 1943 in Vienna) was an Austrian actor and operetta librettist of Hungarian origin.

Jenbach was of Jewish origin and the brother of the screenwriter Ida Jenbach. He was co-author of several well-known operetta libretti. Jenbach died in the Auersperg Sanatorium[1] in Vienna and was buried in the Matzleinsdorf Protestant Cemetery.

Jenbach's grave stone

Life

Jenbach came to Vienna at the age of 18. At first he kept himself busy with casual work. He invested his earnings in speech lessons and proved to be an extremely talented student, as he managed to lose his accent in a very short time. The foundation for his career was laid and he was engaged by the Vienna Burgtheater. He took this opportunity to change his name from Jacobowicz to Jenbach. He hoped for greater recognition and did not want to be immediately associated with his Jewish roots.

Depressed about the low earnings as a Burgtheater actor he came via the "Operettenbörse" in Café Sperl to write libretti. He would rather have become a recognized author of spoken dramas, but the work for operetta composers was simply more lucrative.

During the Nazi period his working conditions became worse and worse. Jenbach had a Catholic wife and a daughter. He did not think of emigrating. From 1940 he hid in a cellar near Vienna's Kaunitzgasse. After three years in this involuntary dungeon, Jenbach felt severe physical pain. He was admitted to hospital with stomach cancer in its final stage and died there on 21 January 1943. His wife survived him by only eight days. She died of breast cancer on 29 January 1943.

Jenbach was married to the actress Anna Brandstätter. They had a daughter, Lydia Jenbach.

Works

Operettas

Comedy

Filmography

Trivia

Jenbach immortalized himself in the third act of the Csardas princess through his birthplace. The prince speaks of the married Bretteldiva from Miskolc.

Bibliography
  • H. Giebisch, L. Pichler, K. Vancsa (editor): Kleines österreichisches Literaturlexikon. Brüder Hollinek, Vienna 1948.
  • Felix Czeike: Historisches Lexikon Wien. volume 3. Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1994.

References
  1. Auersperg Sanatorium
  2. Die Csárdásfürstin Archived 2019-04-20 at the Wayback Machine on volkstheater-rostock.de
  3. Die ganze Welt dreht sich um Liebe


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