Otto Reutter

Particularly notable about Reutter was his ability to deliver original, amusing lyrics in a singsong manner, his persona full of irony and wit.

After a successful appearance in the "Wintergarten Variety" of the Berlin Central Hotel, Reutter was hailed as a celebrity, and was considered in the following decades as one of the leading artists of the stage in Germany.

Overstressed and having suffered some personal setbacks, Reutter intended to retire as a millionaire in 1919, after a successful thirty-year career.

As World War I came to an end and the German inflation struck, Reutter lost a good portion of this fortune and thus had to continue to support himself by delivering his songs on various small stages.

Hence, starting around 1919, his "mature work" began to appear: songs that were especially characterized by humor and melancholy, the wisdom of life, and a kind of weary sass and bite.