Born in Würzburg, but settled in Leipzig with her husband, the law professor Richard Schmidt, Tilla Ziegler began her career as a pianist and opera singer, which saw her perform on stages in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Freiburg. It was during her annual vacation in Malcesine, on Lake Garda, that she was introduced to glove puppetry by the puppeteer Italo Ferrari (1877-1961). She was soon performing her own texts, written in Italian. From 1933 on, Tilla Schmidt-Ziegler was active as a puppeteer in Leipzig. Her thoughts on the puppet theater were published posthumously in the book Vom künstlerischen Handpuppenspiel [On the art theater for glove puppets] (1948).