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Late Romantic Austrian Hungarian

LEHÁR, Franz

Born in Komáron, Hungary, April 30, 1870
Died in Bad Ischl, Oct 24, 1948

  • Born in Hungary, Lehár (accent on first syllable) entered the Prague Conservatory at 12, and served as an army bandmaster for more than a decade until his career as a conductor and composer of operetta got off the ground.
  • Later in his career Lehár founded a music publishing house and composed original film scores.
  • Not-Fun Fact: Lehár’s situation during WWII was complicated: Hitler loved Die lustige Wittwe, but Lehár’s wife was Jewish and a number of his friends perished in concentration camps. Lehár was criticized outside Germany and Austria for not taking an early and vocal stand against Hitler.1

Sources

  1. Andrew Lamb, “Lehár, Franz,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed November 6, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000016318.

Pieces