Franz Lehár

Franz Lehár is one of the founders of the silver operetta era. He was born on April 30, 1870 in Komorn, Austria-Hungary, the son of the imperial and royal military bandmaster Franz Lehár and his wife Christine Neubrandt, and began composing at the age of six.

He studied violin with Anton Bennewitz and music theory with Josef Foerster. After his training, he took up the position of concertmaster at the Vereinigte Bühnen in Barmen-Elberfeld in Germany and became the youngest k.u.k. military bandmaster. In Vienna he played in his father's band and eventually worked his way up to succeed him. This took him to Pola, Trieste and Budapest, among other places, and finally to Vienna, his adopted home.

Some successes led him to give up military service and devote himself completely to composing operettas. He made a name for himself with his first operetta works such as WIENER FRAUEN (premiered in Vienna in 1902) and DER RASTELBINDER (also premiered in 1902), but his breakthrough came in 1905 with DIE LUSTIGE WITWE, which brought him worldwide success. Other operettas followed, such as DER GRAF VON LUXEMBURG, ZIGEUNERLIEBE and EVA.