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Wilhelm Meyer Lutz (c.1828 – 31 January 1903) was a composer and conductor who is best known for light music, musical theatre and burlesques of well known works.

Sheet music to a dance from Faust up to date

Lutz was born in Männerstadt, Bavaria, Germany and moved to England at the age of 19. From 1851 to 1855, he conducted at the Surrey Theatre and later the Royalty Theatre. For many years he played the organ at St. George's Roman Catholic Cathedral. Lutz was also a Grand Organist in Freemasonry.^[1]

In 1869 he was appointed resident musical director and conductor at the Gaiety Theatre. In this capacity, he conducted Thespis, the first Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera, in 1871. Lutz's popular Gaiety burlesques in this period included Robbing Roy (1879), The Forty Thieves (1880), Aladdin (1881), Cinder Ellen up too Late, Don Yuan, Blue Beard (1882), The Bohemian Cyurl, Galatea, or Pygmalion Reversed (1883), Ariel (1883 by F. C. Burnand), Mazeppa (1884), Little Jack Sheppard (1885, with a libretto by Henry Pottinger Stephens), Miss Esmeralda, or The Maid and the Monkey (1887), Faust up to date (1888), Ruy Blas and the Blasé Roué (1889), Carmen up to Data (1890),^[2] and Cinder Ellen up too Late (1893).

Lutz also wrote a string quartet and ballads such as "Thy Silv'ry Tones", "Enchant Mine Ear" and "Sail on Silver Cloud." Later in the 19th century, Lutz conducted a band playing Summer seasons at the spa in Scarborough. He continued to compose songs into the 20th century, including music for Hidenseek (1901) and a few additional numbers for Ivan Caryll and Cecil Cook's The Girl from Kays (1902).

In printed works, such as scores and theatre programs, Lutz was usually referred to simply as Meyer Lutz. A character called Herr Toots in the 1912 novel Bella, by Edward Booth, is based on Lutz.^[3] Some of Lutz's music was arranged for military band by J. A. Kappey in Reminiscences of The Gaiety. Boosey's military Journal (1891) ASIN: B0000CZ6RL.

On 3 May 1886, the Gaiety Theatre hosted a selection of scenes played for Lutz's benefit, including scenes from Lutz's grand opera Faust and Marguerite, his burlesque Little Jack Sheppard and the operetta Karl and several recitations and solo pieces. The performers included Nellie Farren (who had sung under him in Thespis), Marion Hood, Durward Lely, Richard Temple and many others.^[4]

Lutz was married to Elizabeth Cook and later to her sister Emily Cook.^[5] He died in London.

• The Charmed Harp (1852) (Surrey Theatre)
• Faust and Marguerite (1855) (Surrey Theatre)
• Blonde or Brunette (1862) (Royalty Theatre)
• Felix, or The Festival of the Roses (1865) (Royalty Theatre)
• Zaida (1868)
• The Miller of Milburg (1872) (Gaiety Theatre)
• Legend of the Lys (1873)
• Robbing Roy (1879)
• Galatea, or Pygmalion Reversed (1883) (Gaiety Theatre)
• Little Jack Sheppard (1885) (Gaiety Theatre)
• Miss Esmeralda, or The Maid and the Monkey (1887) (Gaiety Theatre)
• Frankenstein, or The Vampire's Victim (1887) (Gaiety Theatre)
• Faust up to Date (1888) (Gaiety Theatre)
• Ruy Blas and the Blasé Roué (1889) (in Birmingham, then at the Gaiety)
• Carmen up to Data (1890) (in Liverpool, then at the Gaiety)
• Cinder Ellen up too Late (1893) (Gaiety Theatre)
• A Model Trilby, or A Day or Two after du Maurier (1895) (Opera Comique)

• Profile of Lutz
• Obituary: Meyer Lutz, The Musical Times, Vol. 44, No. 721 (Mar. 1, 1903), p. 177
• Gänzl, Kurt, "Lutz, (Wilhelm) Meyer (1829–1903)" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004
• Listing of Lutz shows

• Information about the Gaiety burlesques
• Meyer Lutz at the IBDB database