Born Ludwig Emanuel Strecker in Mainz, he was interested in poetry and literature early in life.

[2] Under the pseudonym Ludwig Andersen, he also worked as a librettist and translator of libretti.

[2][3] Among the libretti he wrote for notable composers of the period, and then published, were Werner Egk's Die Zaubergeige, premiered in 1935 by the Oper Frankfurt, and Hermann Reutter's Doktor Johannes Faust, premiered also in Frankfurt in 1936; the two works were among the most successful German contemporary operas during the Nazi regime,[1] Die Zaubergeige being performed 198 times and Doktor Johannes Faust 116 times in Germany until 1945.

[3] This success established Schott as a leading publisher of stage works.

[1] Strecker translated Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's opera Gli dei a Tebe for its world premiere at the Staatsoper Hannover in 1943.