Wintzer born in Bad Suderode, Germany.
She studied music with Carl Reinecke and Salomon Jadassohn in Leipzig, and married the artist Otto Gerlach.
[1] Wintzer led a girls' Pathfinder group (an outdoor group similar to American Girl Scouts) in Munich.
After her death, Richard Wintzer (1866–1952; presumably a relative) copyrighted several songs composed by Elisabeth, which were musical settings of poems by Manfred Kyber.
N. Simrock published Wintzer's music.