Franz Lehár
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Franz Lehár (30 April 1870 – 24 October 1948) was an Austrian composer of Hungarian descent, mainly known for his operettas.
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[edit] Biography
Lehár was born in Komárno (then in Austria-Hungary, now Slovakia) as the eldest son of a bandmaster in the Austro-Hungarian army. He studied violin and composition at the Prague Conservatory but was advised by Antonín Dvořák to focus on composing music. After graduation in 1899 he joined his father's band in Vienna, as assistant bandmaster. In 1902 he became conductor at the historic Vienna Theater an der Wien, where his first opera Wiener Frauen was performed in November of that year.
He is most famous for his operettas - the most successful of which is The Merry Widow (die lustige Witwe), but he also wrote sonatas, symphonic poems, marches, and a number of waltzes, (the most popular being Gold und Silber, composed for Princess Metternich's "Gold and Silver' Ball, January 1902) some of which were drawn from his famous operettas. Individual songs from some of the operettas have become standards, notably "Vilja" from The Merry Widow and "You Are My Heart's Delight" ("Dein ist mein ganzes Herz") from The Land of Smiles.
Lehár was also associated with the operatic tenor Richard Tauber, who sang in many of his operettas, beginning with Frasquita (1922), in which Lehar once again found a suitable post-war style. Between 1925 and 1934 he wrote six operettas specifically for Tauber's voice.
By 1935 he decided to form his own publishing house to maximize his personal control over performance rights to his works.
He was elected an honorary citizen of Sopron in 1940.
In 1947, Lehar conducted the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra in a series of 78-rpm recordings for English Decca (released in the U.S. by London Records) of overtures and waltzes from his operettas. The recordings had remarkable sound for their time because they were made using Decca's "full frequency range recording" process, one of the first commercial high fidelity techniques. These recordings were later issued on LP and CD.
He died in 1948 in Bad Ischl, near Salzburg.
[edit] Operettas
A complete list of his musical works may be found here
- Wiener Frauen, 21 November 1902, Theater an der Wien, Vienna
- Der Rastelbinder, 20 December 1902, Carl Theater Vienna
- Der Göttergatte, 20 January 1904, Carl Theater Vienna
- Die Juxheirat, 21 December 1904, Theater an der Wien, Vienna
- The Merry Widow, 30 December 1905, Theater an der Wien, Vienna
- Das Fürstenkind, 7 October 1909, Johann Strauß Theater, Vienna
- Der Graf von Luxemburg, 12 November 1909, Theater an der Wien, Vienna
- Zigeunerliebe, 8 January 1910, Carl Theater Vienna
- Eva, 24 November 1911, Theater an der Wien, Vienna
- Endlich allein, 30 January 1914, Theater an der Wien, Vienna
- Wo die Lerche singt, 1 February 1918, Royal Opera Budapest
- Die blaue Mazur, 28 May 1920, Theater an der Wien, Vienna
- Frasquita, 12 May 1922, Theater an der Wien, Vienna
- Paganini, 30 October 1925, Johann Strauß Theater Vienna
- Der Zarewitsch, 26 February 1926, Metropol Theater Berlin
- Friederike, 4 October 1928, Metropol Theater Berlin
- The Land of Smiles, 10 October 1929, Metropol Theater Berlin
- Schön ist die Welt, 3 December 1930, Metropol Theater Berlin
- Giuditta, 20 January 1934, Vienna State Opera
[edit] Ballet
Music from Die lustige Witwe ("The Merry Widow") was also used in The Merry Widow ballet, which was created and staged by Sir Robert Helpmann after he received permission from the Franz Lehár Estate to stage the ballet. The orchestration, from operetta score to ballet score, was arranged by John Lanchbery and Alan Abbot.
[edit] Films
The Merry Widow has also been made into a movie, most notably in 1925 by Erich von Stroheim with John Gilbert playing Danilo; and in 1934 a completely new version, with new music, appeared starring Maurice Chevalier.
[edit] Honours
- He was elected an honorary citizen of Sopron in 1940.
- Despite his work being in contrast with the erudition of Wagner, associated with the Nazis, Lehár's work was enjoyed by Hitler, who awarded him the Goethe Medal. Lehár himself had a Jewish wife and his friend and sometime-librettist Fritz Lohner was killed in the gas chambers at Auschwitz.
- A street in Leidsche Rijn, Utrecht, The Netherlands was named after him.
[edit] References
- Ganzl, Kurt. The Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre (3 Volumes). New York: Schirmer Books, 2001.
- Grun, Bernard. Gold and Silver: The Life and Times of Franz Lehar. New York: David McKay Co., 1970.
- Traubner, Richard. Operetta: A Theatrical History. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1983
- Bordman, Gerald. American Operetta. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981.
- Franz Lehar
