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Franz Lehár

 
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Franz Lehár
 
 
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Franz Lehár (30 April 1870 – 24 October 1948), known in Hungarian as Lehár Ferenc, was an Austria
Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west....
n composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
 of Hungarian
Hungarian people

Hungarians are an ethnic group primarily associated with Hungary. There are around 10 million Magyars in Hungary . Hungarians were the main inhabitants of the Kingdom of Hungary that existed through most of the second millennium....
 descent, mainly known for his operetta
Operetta

Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre....
s.

r was born in the northern part of Komárom
Komárom

Kom?rom is a city in Hungary on the right bank of the Danube in Kom?rom-Esztergom county.The city of Kom?rom was formerly a separate suburban village called ?jszony....
, Austria–Hungary (now Komárno
Komárno

Kom?rno is a town in Slovakia at the Danube and the V?h rivers. Kom?rno is the larger part of the former town of the Kingdom of Hungary situated on both banks of the Danube....
 in Slovakia
Slovakia

Slovakia . It was amended in September 1998 to allow direct election of the president and again in February 2001 due to EU admission requirements....
) as the eldest son of a bandmaster
Conducting

Conducting is the act of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. Orchestras, choirs, concert bands and other musical ensembles often have conductors....
 in the Infantry Regiment No.






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Franz Lehar
Franz Lehár (30 April 1870 – 24 October 1948), known in Hungarian as Lehár Ferenc, was an Austria
Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west....
n composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
 of Hungarian
Hungarian people

Hungarians are an ethnic group primarily associated with Hungary. There are around 10 million Magyars in Hungary . Hungarians were the main inhabitants of the Kingdom of Hungary that existed through most of the second millennium....
 descent, mainly known for his operetta
Operetta

Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre....
s.

Biography

Lehár was born in the northern part of Komárom
Komárom

Kom?rom is a city in Hungary on the right bank of the Danube in Kom?rom-Esztergom county.The city of Kom?rom was formerly a separate suburban village called ?jszony....
, Austria–Hungary (now Komárno
Komárno

Kom?rno is a town in Slovakia at the Danube and the V?h rivers. Kom?rno is the larger part of the former town of the Kingdom of Hungary situated on both banks of the Danube....
 in Slovakia
Slovakia

Slovakia . It was amended in September 1998 to allow direct election of the president and again in February 2001 due to EU admission requirements....
) as the eldest son of a bandmaster
Conducting

Conducting is the act of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. Orchestras, choirs, concert bands and other musical ensembles often have conductors....
 in the Infantry Regiment No. 50 of the Austro-Hungarian Army
Austro-Hungarian Army

The Austro-Hungarian Army was the ground force of the Austria Hungary Dual Monarchy . It was composed of the joint army , the Austrian Landwehr , and the Hungarian Honv?ds?g ....
. While his younger brother Anton
Anton Lehár

Anton Freiherr von Leh?r , known in Hungarian as Leh?r Antal , was an Austrian Officer of Hungarian people descent, who reached the pinnacle of his service after World War I when he supported the former Emperor Charles I of Austria's attempts to retake the throne of Hungary....
 entered cadet school in Vienna to become a professional officer, Franz studied violin
Violin

The violin is a Bow string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
 and composition
Musical composition

Musical composition is:* an original piece of music* the musical form of a musical piece* the process of creating a new piece of music...
 at the Prague Conservatory
Prague Conservatory

Prague Conservatory, sometimes also Prague Conservatoire, in Czech language Pra?sk? konzervator, is a Czech Republic secondary school in Prague dedicated to teaching the arts of music and theater acting....
, where his violin teacher was Antonín Bennewitz
Antonín Bennewitz

File:Bennewitz1322.jpgAnton?n Bennewitz was a Czech violinist, conductor and teacher. He was in a line of violinists that extended back to Giovanni Battista Viotti, and forward to Jan Kubel?k and Wolfgang Schneiderhan....
, but was advised by Antonín Dvorák
Antonín Dvorák

Anton?n Leopold Dvor?k was a Czechs composer of Romantic music, who employed the idioms and melodies of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia....
 to focus on composing music. After graduation in 1899 he joined his father's band in Vienna
Vienna

Vienna is the Capital of Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million...
, as assistant bandmaster. In 1902 he became conductor at the historic Vienna Theater an der Wien
Theater an der Wien

The 'Theater an der Wien' is a theatre in Vienna....
, where his first opera Wiener Frauen was performed in November of that year.

He is most famous for his operetta
Operetta

Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre....
s – the most successful of which is The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow

The Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austria-Hungary composer Franz Leh?r. The Librettos, Viktor L?on and Leo Stein , based the story — concerning a rich widow, Hanna Glawari, and her attempt to find a husband ? on an 1861 comedy play, L'attach? d'ambassade by Henri Meilhac....
 (Die lustige Witwe) – but he also wrote sonatas, symphonic poem
Symphonic poem

A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music in one movement in which some extramusical program provides a narrative or illustrative element....
s, 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
The Land of Smiles

The Land of Smiles is a 'romantic' operetta in three acts by Franz Leh?r. The German language libretto was by Ludwig Herzer and Fritz L?hner....
.

Lehár was also associated with the operatic tenor Richard Tauber
Richard Tauber

Richard Tauber was an Austrian tenor acclaimed as one of the greatest singers of the 20th century. Some critics commented that "his heart felt every word he sang"....
, 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.

He died in 1948 in Bad Ischl
Bad Ischl

Bad Ischl is a spa town in Austria. It lies in the southern part of Upper Austria, at the Traun River in the centre of the Salzkammergut region....
, near Salzburg
Salzburg

is the List of cities and towns in Austria#List of cities and towns by population size in Austria and the capital city of the states of Austria of Salzburg ....
 where he was also buried. His younger brother Anton
Anton Lehár

Anton Freiherr von Leh?r , known in Hungarian as Leh?r Antal , was an Austrian Officer of Hungarian people descent, who reached the pinnacle of his service after World War I when he supported the former Emperor Charles I of Austria's attempts to retake the throne of Hungary....
 became the administrator of his estate, promoting the popularity of Franz Lehár's music.

Honours

  • He was elected an honorary citizen of Sopron
    Sopron

    Sopron ; , , Latin language: Scarbantia) is a city in Hungary near the Austrian border.HistoryAncient times-13th century...
     in 1940.
  • Despite his work being very dissimilar to Hitler's favourite composer, Richard Wagner
    Richard Wagner

    Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, Conducting, theatre director and essayist, primarily known for his operas . Unlike most other great opera composers, Wagner wrote both the scenario and libretto for his works....
    , Hitler enjoyed Lehár's work and awarded him in 1940 the Goethe-Medaille für Kunst und Wissenschaft. Lehár himself had a Jewish wife and his friend and sometime-librettist Fritz Löhner was killed at Auschwitz-III.
  • Several towns in The Netherlands have named streets after him (e.g. in Leidsche Rijn
    Leidsche Rijn

    Leidsche Rijn is a neighbourhood under construction west of Utrecht in the central Netherlands. The neighbourhood is expected to be completed in 2025 and will have approximately 80,000 inhabitants....
    , Utrecht
    Utrecht (province)

    Utrecht is the smallest Provinces of the Netherlands of the Netherlands, and is located in the center of the country. It is bordered by the Eemmeer in the north, Gelderland in the east, the river Rhine in the south, South Holland in the west, and North Holland in the northwest....
    ).


Stage works


Recordings

In 1947, Lehár conducted the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra in a series of 78-rpm recordings for English Decca
Decca Records

Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 in music by Edward Lewis . Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; later the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
 (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.

External links

  • by Lotte Lehmann
    Lotte Lehmann

    Lotte Lehmann was a Germany soprano opera and Lieder singer who was especially associated with German repertory. She gave memorable performances in the operas of Richard Strauss; the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier was considered her greatest role....
     of "So war meine Mutter…Wär es nichts…" from Eva