GIUSEPPE ADAMI (1878-1946)
Born in Verona, Guseppe Adami graduated from the University of Padua, Italy, with a degree in law but pursued a career in literature, both as a theatre critic and as a playwright. His first collaboration with Puccini was on the Italian text for the composer's opera The Swallow (La rondine) which he translated and adapted from the German original by Willner and Reichert. He also wrote the libretto for Il tabarro and, in collaboration with Renato Simoni, Turandot. He was the first to publish a collection of the composer's letters and one of his earliest biographers. During the Turandot years he produced seven full-length plays and several one-act plays, one with commedia characters. He wrote five other librettos and was a director of early Italian movies.

A(lfred) M(aria) WILLNER (1859-1929)
Willner was a philosopher and musicologist who wrote libretti (many in collaboration with Heinz Reichert), for many operettas by composers such as Johann Strauss II and Franz Lehár. He also developed libretti from poems by others, most notably Franz Schubert. Many of these works were later adapted for Broadway musicals by composers such as Sigmund Romberg.

HEINZ REICHERT (1877-1940)
The Vienna-born Reichert died in Hollywood. He collaborated with A. M. Willner and others on libretti for many Viennese operettas.

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Revised October 2007
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