Composer Lehar biography. Biography

Early years and the beginning of creativity

Lehar was born in the Austro-Hungarian town of Komárom (now Komarno, Slovakia), the son of a military bandmaster. Lehar's ancestors included Germans, Hungarians, Slovaks and Italians.

Already at the age of five, Lehar knew the notes, played the violin and improvised brilliantly on the piano. At the age of 12 he entered the Prague Conservatory in the violin class and graduated from it at the age of 18 (1888). Antonin Dvorak noted the rich Creative skills Lehar and recommended that he study composition.

For several months, Legar worked as a violinist-accompanist at the Barmen-Elberfeld Theater, then became a violinist and assistant conductor in his father's military orchestra, then stationed in Vienna. One of the violinists in the orchestra was the young Leo Fall. Lehar was listed in the Austrian army for 14 years (1888-1902).

In 1890, Legar left the orchestra and became a military bandmaster in Losonets. His first compositions belong to this time - marches, songs, waltzes. At the same time, Lehar tries his hand at music for the theater. The first two operas ("Cuirassier" and "Rodrigo") remained unfinished.

In 1894, Lehar was transferred to the Navy and became bandmaster of the naval band in Pola (now Croatia). Here, in 1895, his first opera, The Cuckoo (Kukuschka), based on a story from Russian life, was born. The heroes - the political exile Aleksey and his beloved Tatyana - with the spring call of the cuckoo, flee from Siberian exile to the west, but tragically perish on the way. The opera was staged in one of the Leipzig theaters by Max Stegemann, the premiere took place on November 27, 1896. The audience reacted favorably to the production; the opera did not create a sensation, but the newspapers already noted the author's "strong, peculiar talent". The Cuckoo was later staged, also with moderate success, in Budapest, Vienna and Königsberg. Subsequently, Legar proposed a new edition of this operetta called Tatyana (1905), but this time he did not achieve much success either.

In 1898, his father died in Budapest. Lehar took his place, becoming Kapellmeister of the 3rd Bosnian-Herzegovina Infantry Regiment (Austro-Hungarian army). November 1, 1899 the regiment was transferred to Vienna. During these years, Legar continued to compose waltzes and marches. Some of them, such as Gold und Silber (Gold and Silver, 1899), became very popular and are performed to this day. Soon Vienna appreciated Lehar, he becomes famous composer and a musician.

In 1901, Lehár made two attempts to compose an operetta; both sketches were left unfinished. A year later (1902) he retired from the army and became a conductor at the famous Viennese Theater An der Wien. After the departure of the generation of Strauss, Millöcker and Zeller, the Viennese operetta was in crisis, and musical theaters were looking for new talented authors. Lehar received two orders at once - from the Carltheater for the operetta Der Rastelbinder and from his theater An der Wien for the operetta Viennese Women. The first was the premiere of "Viennese Women" in "An der Wien" (November 21, 1902), the reception was enthusiastic, the operetta was a success later in Berlin and Leipzig. A month later, the success of Lehar secured the triumph of The Tinker at the Carl Theater (December 20, 1902), this operetta withstood 225 performances in a row, almost all the numbers had to be repeated as an encore. The audience appreciated the sincere lyricism of the music, the colorfulness of folklore motifs.

In 1903 Lehar, while vacationing in Bad Ischl, met Sophie Paschkis, who was then married and had the surname Meth. Soon they entered into a civil marriage and never parted again. Sophie's divorce proceedings continued for many more years, since before the collapse of Catholic Austria-Hungary, it was almost impossible to get a divorce there.

Lehar's next two operettas, The Divine Husband (1903) and The Comic Wedding (1904), were a mediocre success.

From The Merry Widow to The Count of Luxembourg (1905-1909)

World fame for Lehar was brought by the operetta The Merry Widow presented on December 30, 1905 in An der Wien. The libretto was written by Victor Leon and Leo Stein, who reworked the plot of Henri Meilhac's comedy The Embassy Attache. Initially, another composer, 55-year-old Richard Heuberger, was commissioned to write the music for The Merry Widow, but the results were considered unsatisfactory, and the contract was awarded to Lehar. However, there were problems with his version. Lehar later recalled:

The directors even offered Lehar 5,000 crowns if he refused the contract. But the theater actors, who enthusiastically rehearsed the performance, supported the young author.

The premiere of the operetta took place at the An der Wien Theater in Vienna on December 30, 1905, Lehár himself conducted. The success was enormous. The audience called many numbers for an encore, and in the final they staged a noisy endless ovation. The performance was sold out throughout 1906, the operetta was hastily staged all over the world: Hamburg, Berlin, Paris, London, Russia, the USA, even Ceylon and Japan. Many critics and connoisseurs compared Lehar's music of the early 1900s with the best works of Puccini, praised the composer for the successful combination of the Viennese style "with Slavic melancholy and French piquancy." Lehar himself later explained:

The implementation of this program did not start immediately. In the summer of 1906, Lehar's mother, Christina Neubrandt, died in her son's house. In this and next year, Legar wrote two ordinary one-act vaudevilles, and in 1908, the operettas The Trinity and The Princely Child, which had little success. During this period, the Viennese operetta experienced a revival, with the works of such masters as Leo Fall, Oscar Strauss and Imre Kalman.

On November 12, 1909, another masterpiece of Lehár appeared: the operetta The Count of Luxembourg. The plot of the libretto was quite traditional (taken from an old operetta by Johann Strauss), but the charm of Lehár's soulful music, sometimes sincerely dramatic, sometimes cheerfully mischievous, allowed this operetta to almost repeat the success of The Merry Widow - both in Vienna and abroad.

"Legariads" (1910-1934)

The first attempt to combine an operetta with a dramatic plot was Gypsy Love (1910), which was being worked on simultaneously with The Count of Luxembourg. She opened a series of works that critics jokingly called "legariads", and Lehar himself - romantic operettas. Everything here was defiantly unconventional - both music, more like opera, and (often) the absence of a traditional happy ending. In these operettas there are no heroes and villains, each is right in his own way.

Then Lehar continued this line with varying success. After "Gypsy Love", the operetta "Eve" (1911) with "luxurious music" won international popularity. The following year, 1912, Lehar visited Russia to participate as a conductor in the St. Petersburg premiere of Eve (January 28-31, in the Passage). The next operetta Alone at Last (1914), later remade and now known as How Wonderful the World (1930), was also well received. She is known for her waltz, and her music has been compared to the Wagner symphonism and called the "Alpine symphony".

In the summer of 1914, Puccini came to Vienna (for the premiere of his opera The Girl from the West) and demanded to introduce him to Lehar, with whom he was often compared. Their nascent friendship was interrupted by the outbreak of war. Lehar, captured by the general militaristic upsurge, wrote several patriotic songs and marches, arranged concerts for wounded soldiers. Operetta theaters, despite the war, resumed their work in 1915; Kalman's operetta "Princess Chardasha" ("Silva"), which was staged even on the other side of the front, in Russia, had a stunning success. In those years, Lehar had only the unsuccessful operetta The Stargazer, which he later remade twice (Dance of the Dragonflies in 1922, Gigolette in 1926), but to no avail. Only in 1918 did Lehar achieve new success by creating his “most Hungarian” operetta “Where the Lark Sings”. The premiere, contrary to custom, took place at first not in Vienna, but in Budapest. Despite all that, at the end of the war, when Hungary gained independence, Lehár decided to stay in Vienna.

An enthusiastic review of the gentle and sad music "Where the Lark Sings" was given by Puccini, who visited Lehar in 1920. He wrote to Lehar from Italy:

Several of Lehar's next operettas - The Blue Mazurka, The Tango Queen (a remake of The Divine Spouse) - did not resonate with the audience. Frasquita (1922) was also coolly received, although Armand's famous romance from this operetta entered the repertoire of the world's leading tenors. The exotic The Yellow Jacket (1923) (the future Land of Smiles) was slightly better received, for which Legar specially studied and embodied Chinese melody.

Since 1921, Lehar collaborated with the leading tenor of Vienna, the "Austrian Caruso", Richard Tauber, especially for whom he wrote lyric arias, the so-called Tauberlied. Among these arias is the famous melody "Dein ist mein ganzes Herz" ("Sounds of your speeches") from the operetta "Land of Smiles", which the best tenors of the world willingly perform even today.

In 1923, the divorce formalities were completed and Lehár was finally able to formalize his marriage to Sophie. In the same year, he began work on one of his best romantic operettas, Paganini. Paganini's part was specially designed for Tauber. The premiere in Vienna took place in 1925 with mediocre success, but the Berlin production of 1926 with Tauber was a triumph (one hundred sold-out).

In 1927, Lehar returned to the Russian theme and wrote the operetta "Tsarevich" with a touching story of unhappy love. The premiere in Berlin was once again a triumphant success. Well received in 1928 and the next operetta, "Friederika", main character which is the young Goethe. The audience encored almost all the numbers, the operetta went around the stages of many countries. In 1929, the "Land of Smiles" appeared and also had a huge success, supplemented by a new edition of the "Yellow Jacket". Based on Lehar's operettas, films began to be staged, initially silent, and after 1929 with music.

On April 30, 1930, all of Europe celebrated Lehar's 60th birthday. It was the pinnacle of his worldwide fame. Everywhere throughout Austria, in theaters and on the radio, from 8 to 9 pm, only his music was performed.

Lehar's last operetta was the quite successful Giuditta (1934), staged at the opera house and indeed close to the operatic musical style. Then Lehar moved away from the composition and took up publishing, founding the music publishing house Glocken-Verlag.

Last years (1934-1948)

After the Anschluss of Austria (1938), the 68-year-old Lehar remained in Vienna, although his operettas did not at all meet Nazi standards - they were attended by Jews ("Tinker"), gypsies ("Gypsy Love", "Frasquita"), Russians ("Cuckoo" , “Tsarevich”), Chinese (“Yellow Jacket”, “Land of Smiles”), French (“Merry Widow”, “Spring in Paris”, “Clo-Clo”), Poles (“Blue Mazurka”). It cost him incredible labors to save his Jewish wife Sophie from repression. Thanks to the huge popularity of his music, Lehar managed to protect his wife (she was granted the status of Ehrenarierin - "honorary Aryan"), but his friends and librettists Fritz Grünbaum and Fritz Löhner died in concentration camps, and many of his close friends, including Tauber, were forced to emigrate. Lehár himself was unharmed, some Nazi leaders held his music in high regard, and Goering's brother Albert personally patronized him; Lehar even received a number of new awards and honors for his 70th birthday (1940). Lehár's operettas were played in Nazi-occupied Europe in a heavily altered form; for example, "Gypsy Love" was stripped of gypsy characters and staged in 1943 in Budapest under the title "Student Tramp" (Garabonci?s di?k).

On his 75th birthday (April 30, 1945), Lehar met American soldiers in the company who asked him for autographs.

At the end of the war, Lehar went to Tauber in Switzerland, where he lived for 2 years. However, the seven years of the Nazi nightmare did not go unnoticed for Sophie; she died in 1947. Lehár returned to his home in Bad Ischl, where he soon died, outliving his wife by only a year. His grave is located there. On the day of Lehár's funeral, mourning flags were flown throughout Austria. The "Volga Song" (Wolgalied) from the operetta "Tsarevich" sounded over the grave.

Lehar bequeathed his house in Bad Ischl to the city; there is now a museum of Franz Lehár.

perpetuation of memory

Named after Lehar:

• theater in Bad Ischl;
• streets in Komarno and other cities in Austria, Germany and Holland;
• annual international festival operettas in Komarno (eng. Lehar Days);
• asteroid 85317 Lehr?r (1995).

He is an honorary citizen of the cities of Vienna, Sopron and Bad Ischl. A monument to Lehar was erected in the park near the Vienna City Hall. There is also his museum-apartment in Vienna (Vienna 19, Hackhofergasse 18).

Lehar's operettas have become world classics and have been repeatedly filmed in different countries. Arias from his operettas occupy a worthy place in the repertoire best singers and singers of the world: Nikolai Gedda, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Montserrat Caballe, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and many others.

• Monuments to Lehar
• Monument to Lehar in Vienna (detail)
• Komarno
• bad Ischl

List of operettas

In total, Legar wrote more than 20 operettas, full of bright, unconventional music. A distinctive feature of Leharov's music is sincere, romantic lyricism, virtuoso melodic richness of orchestration. Not all librettos of Legar's operettas are worthy of his music, although Legar experimented a lot in this regard, trying to move away from farce to the side. real drama and sincere feelings.

• Cuckoo (Kukuschka) November 27, 1896, Stadtheater, Leipzig
• Viennese Women (Wiener Frauen), November 21, 1902, Theater an der Wien, Vienna
• Tinker (Der Rastelbinder, the name was also translated as "Basket Weaver" or "Basket Weaver"), December 20, 1902, Carltheater, Vienna
• The Divine Consort (Der Göttergatte), January 20, 1904, Carltheater. Vein
• A joke wedding (Die Juxheirat), December 21, 1904, Theater an der Wien
• The Merry Widow (Die lustige Witwe), December 30, 1905, Theater an der Wien
• The Trojan (Der Mann mit den drei Frauen), January 1908, Theater an der Wien
• The Prince's Child (Das F?rstenkind), 7 October 1909, Johann Strauss Theatre, Vienna
• Count of Luxembourg (Der Graf von Luxemburg), November 12, 1909, Theater an der Wien, Vienna
• Gypsy Love (Zigeunerliebe), January 8, 1910, Carltheater, Vienna
• Eva (Eva), November 24, 1911, Theater an der Wien, Vienna
• Alone at last (Endlich allein), January 30, 1914, Theater an der Wien, Vienna
• Stargazer (Der sterngucker), 1916
• Where the Lark Sings (Wo die Lerche singt), February 1, 1918, Royal Opera House, Budapest
• The Blue Mazurka (Die blaue Mazur), 28 May 1920, Theater An der Wien, Vienna
• Frasquita, 12 May 1922, Theater an der Wien, Vienna
• Dragonfly Dance (Der Libellentanz), September 1922, Milan (remake of The Stargazer)
• The Yellow Jacket (Die gelbe Jacke), 9 February 1923, Theater an der Wien, Vienna
• Clo-clo (Clo-clo), March 8, 1924, B?rgertheater, Vienna
• Paganini, 30 October 1925, Johann Strauss Theatre, Vienna
• Tsarevich (Der Zarewitsch), February 26, 1926, Deutsches Künstlertheater, Berlin
• Gigolette, 1926 (another adaptation of the Astrologer)
• Friederike, October 4, 1928, Metropol Theater, Berlin
• Land of Smiles (Das Land des L?chelns), October 10, 1929, Metropol Theatre, Berlin (new edition of The Yellow Jacket)
• How wonderful the world is (Sch?n ist die Welt), December 3, 1930, the Metropol Theater, Berlin (new edition of the operetta Alone at Last)
• Giuditta, January 20, 1934, Vienna, State Opera

Hungarian composer and conductor. The son of a composer and conductor of a military band. Lehar as a schoolboy attended (since 1880) the National School of Music in Budapest. In 1882-88 he studied violin with A. Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory, theoretical subjects - with J. B. Förster. He started writing music in his student years. Lehar's early compositions earned the approval of A. Dvorak and I. Brahms. From 1888 he worked as a violinist-accompanist of the orchestra of the united theaters in Barmen-Elberfeld, then in Vienna. Returning to his homeland, from 1890 he worked as a bandmaster in various military orchestras. He wrote many songs, dances and marches (including the popular march dedicated to boxing and the waltz "Gold and Silver"). Gained fame after staging in Leipzig in 1896 the opera "Cuckoo" (named after the hero; from Russian life during the time of Nicholas I; in the 2nd edition - "Tatiana"). Since 1899 he was the regimental conductor in Vienna, since 1902 - the second conductor of the Theater an der Wien. The production of the operetta "Viennese Women" in this theater began the "Viennese" - the main period of Lehar's work.

He wrote over 30 operettas, among which The Merry Widow, The Count of Luxembourg, and Gypsy Love are the most successful. The best works Lehar are characterized by a skillful fusion of the intonations of Austrian, Serbian, Slovak and other songs and dances (“The Basket Weaver” - “Der Rastelbinder”, 1902) with the rhythms of Hungarian Csardas, Hungarian and Tyrolean songs. Some of Lehar's operettas combine the latest modern American dances, cancans and Viennese waltzes; in a number of operettas, melodies are built on the intonations of Romanian, Italian, French, Spanish folk songs, as well as in Polish dance rhythms("Blue Mazurka"); other "Slavicisms" are also encountered (in the opera "The Cuckoo", in "Dances of the Blue Marquise", the operettas "The Merry Widow" and "The Tsarevich").

However, Lehar's work is based on Hungarian intonations and rhythms. Lehár's melodies are easy to remember, they are penetrating, they are characterized by "sensibility", but they do not go beyond good taste. The central place in Lehar's operettas is occupied by the waltz, however, in contrast to the light lyrics of the waltzes of the classical Viennese operetta, Lehar's waltzes are characterized by nervous pulsation. Lehar found new means of expression for his operettas, he quickly mastered new dances (by the dates of operettas, you can establish the appearance of various dances in Europe). Many operettas Legar repeatedly altered, updated the libretto and musical language and they went to different years in different theaters under different names.

Lehár attached great importance orchestration, often introduced folk instruments, incl. balalaika, mandolin, cymbals, tarogato to emphasize the national flavor of music. His instrumentation is spectacular, rich and colorful; the influence of G. Puccini, with whom Lehar had a great friendship, often affects; features related to verismo, etc., also appear in the plots and characters of some heroines (for example, Eve from the operetta "Eve" is a simple factory worker with whom the owner of a glass factory falls in love).

Lehar's work largely determined the style of the new Viennese operetta, in which the place of grotesque satirical buffoonery was taken by everyday musical comedy and lyrical drama, with elements of sentimentality. In an effort to bring the operetta closer to the opera, Lehar deepens dramatic collisions, develops musical numbers almost to operatic forms, widely uses leitmotifs (“Finally, alone!”, etc.). These features, which were already outlined in Gypsy Love, were especially evident in the operettas Paganini (1925, Vienna; Lehar himself considered her romantic), The Tsarevich (1925), Frederick (1928), Giuditta (1934) Contemporary critics called Lehar's lyric operettas "legariads". Lehar himself called his "Friederike" (from the life of Goethe, with musical numbers to his poems) a singspiel.

Sh. Kallosh

Ferenc (Franz) Lehar was born on April 30, 1870 in the Hungarian town of Kommorne in the family of a military bandmaster. After graduating from the conservatory in Prague and several years of work as a theatrical violinist and military musician, he became the conductor of the Vienna Theater An der Wien (1902). From his student years, Legar does not leave the thought of the composer's field. He composes waltzes, marches, songs, sonatas, violin concertos, but most of all he is attracted to musical theater. His first musical and dramatic work was the opera Cuckoo (1896) based on a story from the life of Russian exiles, developed in the spirit of veristic drama. The music of "Cuckoo" with its melodic originality and melancholy Slavic tone attracted the attention of V. Leon, a well-known screenwriter and director of the Vienna "Karl-Theater". The first joint work of Lehar and Leon - the operetta "Reshetnik" (1902) in the nature of the Slovak folk comedy and the operetta "Viennese Women" staged almost simultaneously with it brought the composer fame as the heir to Johann Strauss.

According to Legar, he came to a new genre for himself, completely unfamiliar with it. But ignorance turned into an advantage: “I was able to create my own style of operetta,” the composer said. This style was found in The Merry Widow (1905) to the libretto by V. Leon and L. Stein based on the play by A. Melyak "Attache of the Embassy". The novelty of The Merry Widow is associated with the lyrical and dramatic interpretation of the genre, the deepening of the characters, and the psychological motivation of the action. Lehár declares: "I think that the playful operetta is of no interest to today's public ...<...>My goal is to ennoble the operetta.” new role in musical drama it acquires a dance that can replace a solo statement or a duet scene. Finally, new stylistic means attract attention - the sensual charm of melos, catchy orchestral effects (like the glissando of a harp, doubling the line of flutes into a third), which, according to critics, are characteristic of modern opera and symphony, but by no means operetta musical language.

The principles that took shape in The Merry Widow are developed in subsequent works by Lehar. From 1909 to 1914, he created works that made up the classics of the genre. The most significant are The Princely Child (1909), The Count of Luxembourg (1909), Gypsy Love (1910), Eva (1911), Alone at Last! (1914). In the first three of them, the type of neo-Viennese operetta created by Lehar is finally fixed. Starting with The Count of Luxembourg, the roles of the characters are established, the characteristic techniques of the contrast ratio of the plans of the musical plot dramaturgy are formed - lyrical-dramatic, cascading and farcical. The theme is expanding, and with it the intonational palette is enriched: “Princely Child”, where, in accordance with the plot, the Balkan flavor is outlined, it also includes elements American music; the Viennese-Parisian atmosphere of The Count of Luxembourg absorbs Slavic paint (among the characters are Russian aristocrats); Gypsy Love is Lehar's first "Hungarian" operetta.

In two works of these years, tendencies are outlined that were most fully expressed later, in the last period of Lehar's work. "Gypsy Love", for all the typicality of its musical dramaturgy, gives such an ambiguous interpretation of the characters' characters and plot points that the degree of conventionality inherent in the operetta changes to a certain extent. Lehar emphasizes this by giving his score a special genre designation - "romantic operetta". Rapprochement with aesthetics romantic opera even more noticeable in the operetta "Finally Alone!". Deviations from genre canons lead here to an unprecedented change in the formal structure: the entire second act of the work is a large duet scene, devoid of events, slowed down in pace of development, filled with a lyrical-contemplative feeling. The action unfolds against the background of an alpine landscape, snow-capped mountain peaks, and in the composition of the act, vocal episodes alternate with picturesque and descriptive symphonic fragments. Contemporary Lehar critics called this work "Tristan" of the operetta.

Beginning in the mid-1920s last period the composer's work, culminating in "Giuditta", which was staged in 1934. (Actually, Lehar's last musical stage work was the opera The Wandering Singer, a remake of the operetta Gypsy Love, carried out in 1943 by order of the Budapest Opera House.)

Lehar's late operettas lead far away from the model that he himself once created. There is no longer a happy ending, the comedic beginning is almost eliminated. By their genre essence, these are not comedies, but romanticized lyrical dramas. And musically, they gravitate towards the melody of the operatic plan. The originality of these works is so great that they received a special genre designation in the literature - "legariads". These include "Paganini" (1925), "Tsarevich" (1927) - an operetta that tells about the unfortunate fate of the son of Peter I, Tsarevich Alexei, "Friederik" (1928) - at the heart of its plot is the love of the young Goethe for the daughter of the Sesenheim pastor Friederike Brion , the "Chinese" operetta "The Land of Smiles" (1929) based on the earlier Leharov's "Yellow Jacket", the "Spanish" "Giuditta", a distant prototype of which could serve as "Carmen". But if the dramatic formula of The Merry Widow and Lehar's subsequent works of the 1910s became, in the words of the genre historian B. Grun, "a recipe for the success of an entire stage culture", then Lehar's later experiments did not find continuation. They turned out to be a kind of experiment; they lack that aesthetic balance in the combination of heterogeneous elements that his classical creations are endowed with.

Ferenc Lehár was born in 1870 in Komárno, Hungary. His father served in a military band as a horn player, and then as a bandmaster. When Ferenc was 10 years old, the family moved to Budapest, where the boy entered the gymnasium, and in 1882 - to the Prague Conservatory, where he studied with A. Bennewitz (violin), J.B. Forster (harmony) and A. Dvorak (composition ).

At the end educational institution in 1888, Lehar got a job as a violinist in a theater orchestra, then for 10 years Lehar served in the Austro-Hungarian army, becoming one of the most popular conductors of military orchestras.

Since 1890, he has been a regimental conductor, and in his free time he composes marches, dances, and romances.

In 1896, Lehar focuses his attention on a major theatrical genre, which resulted in the appearance of the opera The Cuckoo.

Five years later, Lehar says goodbye to the career of a military musician and becomes a conductor in one of the theaters in Vienna. At the same time, the composer made his debut with the operetta The Women of Vienna, which, however, like his next three performances, did not enjoy great success.

World recognition and fame come to Lehar only with his fifth operetta, The Merry Widow (1905). The plot, which is based on subtle political satire, nevertheless proclaims the values ​​of true and sincere love.

At the Embassy small state Pontevedro is fighting for the hand, and hence the state of the beautiful widow Ganna Glavari. Her twenty millions are badly needed by a country burdened with debts. But in order for this capital to replenish the budget of Pontevedro, the young woman must again marry only a compatriot. To win the heart of the "merry widow" is entrusted to the counselor of the embassy - the charming playboy Count Danilo. But he is the only one who does not want to join the crowd of admirers of the beauty. Why? Because he is still not indifferent to his Hanna, whom he loved in his youth and still has not forgotten this feeling.

With The Merry Widow, I found my own style, which I aspired to in previous works ... The direction that the modern operetta has taken depends on the direction of time, the public, on all the changes public relations. I think that a playful operetta is of no interest to today's public ... I could never be the author of musical comedies. My goal is to ennoble the operetta. The viewer should experience, and not watch and listen to outright nonsense ...

Following this, he creates works that cemented his reputation as a classic of neo-Viennese operetta.

This is how the operettas “The Count of Luxembourg” (1909), “Gypsy Love” (1910), which later also gained great popularity, appeared.

The operetta was first staged on January 8, 1910 at the Vienna Theater Carltheater. Of the music for this operetta, Ionel's romance has gained particular popularity and is often performed today. Then came "Eve" (1911), " Perfect wife"(1913), "Where the Lark Sings" (1918), "Blue Mazurka" (1920), "Queen of Tango" (1921), "Frasquita", "Dance of Dragonflies" (1924).

Lehar was already over fifty when he began his collaboration with R. Tauber, the best tenor in Germany. As a result, such successful operettas as Paganini (1925),

Tsarevich (1927), Friederike (1928), Land of Smiles (Das Land des Lochelns, 1929),

What a beautiful world! (Schon ist die Welt, 1931) and, finally, Lehar's last opus - Giuditta, staged in 1934 in Vienna Opera.

Of the four masters of the late Viennese operetta (along with O. Strauss, L. Fall and I. Kalman), Lehar was the brightest: his melodic talent is truly inexhaustible, rhythmic and harmonic language differs in variety, and orchestral writing - showiness.

Lehár spent the years of World War II in Austria. The wartime brought its own difficulties. It cost him incredible efforts to save his Jewish wife Sophia from repression. Thanks to the huge popularity of his music, Lehar managed to protect his wife (she was granted the status of Ehrenarierin - "honorary Aryan"), but his friends and librettists Fritz Grünbaum and Fritz Löhner died in concentration camps, and many of his close friends, including Tauber, were forced to emigrate.
Lehár himself was unharmed, some Nazi leaders held his music in high regard, and Goering's brother Albert personally patronized him; Lehar even received a number of new awards and honors for his 70th birthday (1940). Lehár's operettas were played in Nazi-occupied Europe in a heavily altered form; for example, "Gypsy Love" was stripped of gypsy characters and staged in 1943 in Budapest under the title "Vagabond Student" (Garabonciás diák).

On his 75th birthday (April 30, 1945), Lehar met American soldiers in the company who asked him for autographs.

At the end of the war, Lehar went to Tauber in Switzerland, where he lived for 2 years. However, the seven years of the Nazi nightmare did not pass without a trace for Sophia; she died in 1947. Lehár returned to his home in Bad Ischl, where he soon died, outliving his wife by only a year. His grave is located there. On the day of Lehar's funeral, mourning flags were hung all over Austria. The "Volga Song" (Wolgalied) from the operetta "Tsarevich" sounded over the grave.

Lehar bequeathed his house in Bad Ischl to the city; there is now a museum of Franz Lehár.

Museum "Villa Lehar" in Bad Ischl

last decade before his death, which overtook the composer in 1948 in Austria, he no longer wrote anything.

His legacy, in addition to 30 operettas and the opera The Cuckoo, includes a poem for voice and orchestra, two concertos for violin and orchestra, sonatas for violin and piano, marches and dances for brass band, film music.

If we talk about the "neo-Viennese" period in the history of the operetta, then the name of Franz Lehar, of course
occupies a leading position. And perhaps even Imre Kalman. Here are the two gods of operetta. But let's talk
about the Merry Widow!
I listened to it all to the last note in Russian. Was amazed! Very high quality
execution. Very lively adequate translation. I liked it .. in general! Anyway..
I listened to it .. (I confess) twice. Always with great pleasure!
The operetta was written in 1905 and brought Lehar enduring fame. Sergey
Rachmaninov said the following about The Merry Widow: “This is brilliant music, and brilliant
semantic text load!
Lehar is dancing. Even more! Actors given leading vocal parts. IN
Duets reveal the main conflict of the plot. The conflict is usually built on a love
tragedy, unrequited love, against the backdrop of the sparkle of diamonds, raspberry luxury; feathers and
healed shoes. And of course the insane states of barons and baronesses; princesses and princes. Behind
Lehar takes the basis not of a living character, but of masks, brings them to a grotesque caricature, and conveys
it is with such vivacity that there is no exaggeration in the processing of the image. "Mask"
there is, it is obvious, but you believe that it is life. This is Lehar's genius. write an operetta
difficult. It is very difficult, because it is easy to descend to vulgarity. Simple writing is hard.
Young people enter the stage, simpletons, losers, who form the core
love triangle operettas of the neo-Viennese school. And of course humor! Comic humor!
Great duets.
I'll tell you about the plot.
Everything takes place in the fictional country "Monteverdo! Grav Danila is a reveler and a merry fellow,
spends all his time in the bar "Maxim". Aria come to us in "Maxim" - a masterpiece. Ganna
Leaders are millionairess. Magnet for grooms. If she marries a foreigner, then everything
the capital of this small country will flow away and the republic of "Monteverdo" will face poverty. This can't be
allow, so the government mobilizes all the young forces so that the tribesmen
the baronesses turned her head and married her millions. Count Danila was summoned for this
goals. But he wants to sleep. Bar "Maxim", constant sprees make themselves felt. He's sleeping
right in the embassy and he is generally deeply “parallel” to some kind of Hannah. But Hanna
constantly bumps into Daniel. And the count doesn't care about Hannah at all! But that's only
inflames Hannah. She rejects suitors and becomes more and more seduced by coldness.
Danila. In the end, Ghana breaks down and confesses her love to him. It turns out that Daniel
in love with Hanna. As the saying goes: “if you want to get something, give up this thought and it
“That” thing that you wanted will fall into your palms by itself. So it happened! Hanna fell in love with Daniel.
Everyone is happy capital will not flow away. So love saved the country: =)))) But how much is this
life truth. Inimitable humor. What a bright filigree orchestral
form. Great melodic drawing.
In our country, the Merry Widow is still going on and with great success. Her melodies are constantly on
hearing. The operetta was especially successful in the Soviet Union.
Briefly speaking! "The Merry Widow" is sung by the whole world. In 1907, this operetta appears on
Broadway.
Americans fell asleep from boredom when they listened to it. Where is the operetta Lehar against
jazz .... then!: =)))
(If you are a bore, a whiner, and a snob, an imbecile, then the Merry Widow is clearly not for you! :=))))