Austrian Karl Millöcker was born on April 29, 1842 in Vienna and died in Baden near Vienna on December 31, 1899.
Instead of taking over is father's goldsmith workshop, the discontented Millöcker decided to start a career as flautist.
Already at the age of 16 he became a member of the well known Vienna State Opera Orchestra. One of his patrons has been the great Franz von Suppe (1819-1895 - "Poet and Peasant").
In 1878, Millöcker walked off with "The Enchanted Castle". "Countess Dubarry" (actually from 1879) received worldwide appreciation after a new arrangement by Theo Mackeben in 1931.
Millöcker's masterpiece "The Begging Student" (1882) is known up to these days. Melody abundance and "clean composition master craftsman's intelligence" remained as equal and evenly matched to Johann Strauss.
The following operettas showed a slacken composition readiness and became sadden flops.
