Talk:Franz Lehár

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[edit] Austrian, not Hungarian?

In Austria, Lehar is considered to be Austrian, not Hungarian. I believe it is fair to say he was an Austrian composer, as his father was from Moravia and his mother was German-speaking as well. Just being born in the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian empire doesn't make him a Hungarian. Like Sigmund Freud, who is also an Austrian neurologist, despite of being born in what is nowadays the Czech Republic. - 84.114.147.101 22:45, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

What exactly is Viennese about Lehár? <KF> 20:36, 20 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I believe he spent much of his life working in Vienna, and he wrote in what might be called the "Viennese style" (in the manner of the Strauss family). --Camembert

I moved here the following text that carries little information without some context, if "Golden Age"/"Silver Age" designations carry any heft: "The era in which his music thrived came to be known as the Silver Age".

Having been born in Komorn, epicentre of Slovakia's Hungarian minority to the present, Franz Lehár is Hungarian by birth and Ancestry (Lehár being a Hungarian Surname). Furthermore, I once read, [and I'm sure I could find and cite, if needed for this chat page] that he considered himself Hungarian, and attempted unsuccessfully to get Hungarian citizenship in 1947, as he was considered an undesireable by the ruling communist regime. Therefore, he was much more Hungarian than Austrian, even if it is wholly and absolutely unrepresented in his musical style, which is classic Vienna.

The Gold/Silver Age comment, in regards to the viennese waltz, is technically correct - however, since dates regarding the rise and fall of the viennese operetta can fluctuate greatly depending on the source you ask, I think it either needs to remain left out, or be redone with an explanation as to the terms, and their usage. - Giamberardino

Why not call him a Viennese composer of Hungarian descent? --Wetman 07:51, 12 August 2006 (UTC)Austrian.
Grove (Andrew Lamb) calls him Austro-Hungarian. His mother was Hungarian. His father may have been a German-speaker - Grove is not clear about this, but it seems Lehár spoke Hungarian rather than German when he was growing up. Almost all of his operettas were in German and for most of his life he lived and worked in Vienna. Austro-Hungarian seems like the best possible description. - Kleinzach 12:25, 12 August 2006 (UTC)
It was not uncommon for ethnic Hungarians of the 19th century Austrian Empire to speak German primarily at home, particularly in the middle and upper classes. Therefore, the fact that he was a German speaker neither proves (nor disproves) his Hungarianess. - Giamberardino 9:57, 12 August 2006
No. What I wrote was that he apparently wasn't a native German speaker. - Kleinzach 15:41, 12 August 2006 (UTC)
My Apologies. All the same, I feel that calling him "Austro-Hungarian" is analagous to calling Shostakovich or Prokofiev "Soviet" composers. It carries litte actual meaning, given that A.H. comprised over 11 different nationalities. Granted, this is not made any easier by the fact that unlike say, Liszt, Bartok or Kodály, Lehár's music contains very few and far apart references to any Hungarian national style ("Zigeunerliebe" being perhaps treated as derived from a hungarian gypsy tradition, Merry Widow considered by some to have a "slavic feel" in the Pontevedrian motifs, etc.) - Giamberardino August 12, 2006
I think we have to distinguish between Austro-Hungarian (nationality) and the Austro-Hungarian Empire (which I believe had 15 kingdoms and lands). In this case, I still think Austro-Hungarian is the easiest way to resolve this problem - a problem that repeatedly comes up in composers' biographies. - Kleinzach 22:07, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Recordings

Some of Lehar's historic 1947 recordings for Decca Records with the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra are currently available on a Naxos Records CD. The disc is available through www.amazon.com.Sallyrob 16:34, 9 August 2007 (UTC)