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Biography
Redirect3|Lehar|For composer's brother, see Anton Lehár ; for the philosopher, see Steven Lehar eastern name order|Lehár Ferenc Franz Lehár (30 April 1870 – 24 October 1948) was an Austro-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operetta s of which the most successful and best known is The Merry Widow ( Die lustige Witwe ).
Biography
Lehár was born in the northern part of Komárom , Kingdom of Hungary , Austria-Hungary (now Komárno , Slovakia ), the eldest son of an Austrian conducting|bandmaster in the Infantry Regiment No.& nbsp;50 of the Austro-Hungarian Army and a Hungarian woman from a family of German descent. He grew up speaking only Hungarian until the age of 12. Later he put a diacritic above the "a" of his father's name "Lehar" to indicate the long vowel in Hungarian phonology.
While his younger brother Anton Lehár|Anton entered cadet school in Vienna to become a professional officer, Franz studied violin and Musical composition|composition at the Prague Conservatory , where his violin teacher was Antonín Bennewitz , but was advised by Antonín Dvorák 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 operetta s – the most successful of which is The Merry Widow ( Die lustige Witwe ) – but he also wrote sonata s, symphonic poem s, march (music)|marches , and a number of waltzes (the most popular being Gold und Silber , composed for Princess Pauline von 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 ( Das Land des Lächelns ).
Lehár was also associated with the operatic tenor Richard Tauber , who sang in many of his operettas, beginning with Frasquita (1922), in which Lehár 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, Glocken-Verlag (“Publishing House of the Bells”), to maximize his personal control over performance rights to his works.
Lehár and the Third Reich
Lehár's relationship with the Nazism|Nazi regime was an uneasy one. He had always used Jewish librettists for his operas and had been part of the cultural milieu in Vienna which included a significant Jewish contingent.Informationen des Kulturpolitischen Archivs im Amt für Kulturpflege. Berlin 9. Januar 1935; cited in Stefan Frey; Was sagt ihr zu diesem Erfolg. Franz Lehár und die Unterhaltungsmusik des 20. Jahrhunderts. Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt/M./Leipzig 1999, ISBN 3-458-16960-1. pp.& nbsp;305f.; :de:Fred K. Prieberg|Fred K. Prieberg : Handbuch Deutsche Musiker 1933–1945 . CD-ROM , self published, Kiel 2004, p.& nbsp;4166. Further, although Lehár was Roman Catholic , his wife, Sophie (née Paschkis) had been Jewish before her conversion to Catholicism upon marriage, and this was sufficient to generate hostility towards them personally and towards his work. Hitler enjoyed Lehár's music, and hostility diminished across Germany after Joseph Goebbels|Goebbels 's intervention on Lehár's part.Elke Froehlich (Hrsg.): Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels. Teil I Aufzeichnungen 1923–1945 Band 5. Dez 1937 – Juli 1938 . K.G. Saur, München 2000, S.& nbsp;313. In 1938 Mrs. Lehár was given the status of "Ehrenarierin" ('honorary Aryan by marriage').Stefan Frey, ibid., S.& nbsp;338f. Nonetheless, attempts were made at least once to have her deported. The Nazi regime was aware of the uses of Lehár's music for propaganda purposes: concerts of his music were given in occupied Paris in 1941. Even so, Lehár's influence was limited: it is said that he tried personally to secure Hitler's guarantee of the safety of one of his librettists, Fritz Löhner-Beda , but he was not able to prevent the murder of Beda in Monowitz concentration camp|Auschwitz-III . :de:Peter Herz (Librettist)|Peter Herz : Der Fall Franz Lehár. Eine authentische Darlegung von Peter Herz . In: Die Gemeinde 24 April 1968.
Later years
He died in 1948 in Bad Ischl , near Salzburg , and was buried there.
His younger brother Anton Lehár|Anton became the administrator of his estate, promoting the popularity of Franz Lehár's music.
Honours
He was elected an honorary citizen of Sopron in 1940.
In 1940 Hitler awarded him the :de:Goethe-Medaille für Kunst und Wissenschaft|Goethe-Medaille für Kunst und Wissenschaft .
There is a street in Vienna named after him. Additionally, several towns in the Netherlands have named streets after him (e.g. in Leidsche Rijn , Utrecht and Tilburg ).
Stage works
Main|List of operas and operettas by Lehár
Lehár recording
In 1947, Lehár conducted the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich in a series of 78-rpm recordings for English Decca Records|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. A compilation of his recordings has been released by Naxos Records .
References
reflist
Sources
Bordman, Gerald. American Operetta . New York: Oxford University Press, 1981.
Kurt Gänzl|Gänzl, Kurt . The Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre (3 Volumes). New York: G. Schirmer|Schirmer Books , 2001.
Grun, Bernard. Gold and Silver: The Life and Times of Franz Lehár . New York: David McKay Publications|David McKay Co. , 1970.
Richard Traubner|Traubner, Richard . Operetta: A Theatrical History . Garden City, NY: Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday & Company , 1983
External links
Commons categoryAmericana Poster|Lehar, Franz
http://www.linnrecords.com/recording-franz-lehar-alfie-boe.aspx Recording Alfie Boe's 'Franz Lehár: Love was a Dream'
http://www.voxnovamedia.com/lehmann/llf/sound/109.mp3 Recording by Lotte Lehmann of "So war meine Mutter…Wär es nichts…" from Eva in MP3 format
http://www.archive.org/details/aloneatlastopere00leha Vocal score to Alone at Last (1915)
http://www.archive.org/details/gypsyloveromanti00leha Vocal score to Gypsy Love (1911)
Persondata|NAME= Lehár, Franz |ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Lehár Ferenc |SHORT DESCRIPTION=Austro-Hungarian composer |DATE OF BIRTH=30 April 1870 |PLACE OF BIRTH= Komárom , Austria-Hungary |DATE OF DEATH=24 October 1948 |PLACE OF DEATH= Bad Ischl , Austria DEFAULTSORT:Lehar, Franz Category:1870 births Category:1948 deaths Category:20th-century classical composers Category:Romantic composers Category:Opera composers Category:Viennese composers Category:Hungarian composers Category:Hungarian Roman Catholics Category:Austrian people of Hungarian descent Category:People from Komárno
