Franz Lehár

Franz Lehár (30 April 1870  – 24 October 1948), known in Hungarian as Lehár Ferenc, was a Hungarian composer, mainly known for his operettas. Lehár was born in the northern part of Komárom, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria–Hungary (now Komárno in Slovakia) as the eldest son of a bandmaster in the Infantry Regiment No. 50 of the Austro-Hungarian Army. While his elder brother Anton entered cadet school in Vienna to become a professional officer, Franz s... more

Franz Lehár (30 April 1870  – 24 October 1948), known in Hungarian as Lehár Ferenc, was a Hungarian composer, mainly known for his operettas. Lehár was born in the northern part of Komárom, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria–Hungary (now Komárno in Slovakia) as the eldest son of a bandmaster in the Infantry Regiment No. 50 of the Austro-Hungarian Army. While his elder brother Anton entered cadet school in Vienna to become a professional officer, Franz studied violin and composition at the Prague Conservatory, where his violin teacher was Antonín Bennewitz, but was advised by Antonín Dvořák 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 operettas – the most successful of which is The Merry Widow (Die lustige Witwe) – but he also wrote sonatas,... less