Glocken Verlag
	Life and times of Franz Lehár
	LÉHAR - HIS WORKS, HIS LIFE AND HIS WORLD: TIMELINE   Franz Lehár was born in Komáron (now In Slovakia) on 30 April 1870, the eldest son of a bandmaster in the Austro-Hungarian army. 1870 1874: First perfomance of Die Fledermaus, by Johann Strauss II, Vienna At the age of fifteen, he was admitted to the Prague Conservatoire of Music, where he studied violin and composition and is said to have been advised by Dvorak to 'Hang up your fiddle, my boy, and write music!' Joins the army and played for a time in his father's orchestra, where he shared a desk with Leo Fall. 1885 Premiere of Brahms' 4th Symphony At the age of twenty he became the youngest bandmaster in the Austro-Hungarian army. His posting in Pola on the Adriatic, gave him a 110-piece orchestra, with which he was able to perfect his orchestration technique. 1890 Bismarck falls from power: Kaiser Wilhelm embarks upon disastrous foreign policy He meets the naval officer Felix Falzari. Their collaboration resulted in Lehár 's first opera Kukuschka, which was performed in Leipzig and Budapest, though without attracting much interest and the composer, who had resigned rather prematurely from the army. He had to re-join when the royalties from Kukuschka dried up. Kukuschka 1896 Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra premiers in Frankfurt. Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. establish first permanent wireless installation on the Isle of Wight. A military posting to Vienna finally unlocked doors for Lehár. Composing the 'name waltz' for Princess Metternich's 'Gold and Silver' ball in January 1902 brought him to general notice. Lehar leaves military service and took the post of Kapellmeister at the Theater an der Wien for which he wrote Wiener Frauen for the Christmas season - he was also writing Der Rastelbinder, to the libretto of Victor Léon, chief producer at the rival Carltheater. Once the news broke, Lehár had to resign from the Theater an der Wien and became a full-time composer. Der Rastelbinder Wiener Frauen 1902 Premiere of Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande Der Göttergatte   Die Juxheirat  1904 Premiere of Mahler's 6th Symphony On 30 December 1905 Die lustige Witwe was premiered at the Theater an der Wien. Its success swept throughout Europe and the United States. Die Lustige Witwe  (The Merry Widow) Tatjana     1905 Albert Einstein reveals his Special Theory of Relativity Lehár was now very rich and successful: by his later admission 'I stumbled blindly into writing operetta, without any idea of what I was doing, but this helped me to find my own style'. He brought to operetta an intensity of feeling and depth of characterisation that it had not previously known. Other major successes, The Count of Luxembourg, Gipsy Love and Eva, added more to his fame and fortune. Lehár meets Sophie Meth, who becomes his lifelong companion Peter und Paul im Schlaraffenland  1906 San Fransisco Earthquake kills 7000. Premiere of Elgar's The Kingdom Mitislaw der Moderne  1907 Lehár 's friend Leo Fall gains recognition with his operetta Die Dollarprinzessin, performed in Vienna. Der Mann mit den drei Frauen  1908 Charles Ives' Unanswered Question premiered Der Graf von Luxemburg  (Count of Luxembourg ) Das Fürstenkind  1909 Blériot flies across the English Channel Zigeunerliebe  (Gipsy Love ) Rosenstock und Edelweiss  1910 Premiere in Paris of Stravinsky's Firebird Eva  1911 Amundsen reaches the South Pole, Scott perishes. Die Ideale Gattin  1913 2nd Balkan War Endlich Allein  1914 Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo leads to the start of the First World War The First World War, and the destruction of his Austro-Hungarian world, seems to inhibit his talent for some years. Der Sterngucker  Libellentanz  1916 Battles of The Somme and Verdun Wo die Lerche singt  (Where the lark sings ) 1918 The abdication of Tsar Nicolas II The Treaty of Versailles is signed Die Blaue Mazur  (The Blue Mazurka ) 1920 The League of Nations set up Lehár marries Sophie Die Tangokönigin  1921 Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist Party in Germany Lehár works on Frasquita, to a libretto earlier rejected by Puccini in favour of Madame Butterfly, the Vienna production of which brought him into contact with the operatic tenor Richard Tauber. Libellentanz  (The Three Graces ) Frasquita  Frühling  1922 Mussolini becomes prime minister of Italy Between 1925 and 1934 he wrote six operettas, created especially for Tauber's voice, each including what became known as the Tauber-Lied, the last of which was premičred at Vienna's Staatsoper with Tauber and Jarmila Novotna In the leading roles. Paganini  1925 Stalin has becomes leader of the Soviet Union Der Zarewitsch  (The Czarevitch ) Gigolette  1926 Die Dreigroschenoper by Kurt Weill and Bertold Brecht is given its premiere in Berlin Lehár 's friend Giacomo Puccini dies, leaving Turandot unfinished Friederike  (Frederica ) 1928 Lehár 's friend Giacomo Puccini dies, leaving Turandot unfinished Das Land des Lächelns  (Land of Smiles ) 1929 The Wall Street Crash Schön ist Die Welt    1931 Presidential Election called in USA at which Franklin Roosevelt is elected in 1932 Despite its public popularity Lehár 's last operetta Giuditta is dismissed by the critics, who mostly agree that the genre is worn-out Giuditta  1934 The Night of the Long Knives Lehár decided to found his own publishing house in order to have the greatest possible control over the performance and availability of his works.   1935 Hitler begins rearmament in Germany 1936 Spanish Civil War begins With the outbreak of the Second World War Lehár and his wife Sophie remain in Austria, even though she is Jewish. 1939 Crystalnight The Munich Crisis Lehár 's work is admired by Hitler, who awards him the Goethe Medal 1940 Dunkerque France surrenders to Germany 1941 Pearl Harbour The writer and lawyer Fritz Lohner dies in the gas-chamber at Auschwitz. A close friend of Lehár , he wrote the libretti for his last four operettas. 1942 The Battle of Stalingrad Lehár writes his last ever music, and suffers from pneumonia and failing vision. Garabonciás  1943 Hitler begins rearmament in Germany The Lehár s move to Switzerland to seek better medical care, for which they are savagely criticised in the press.   1944 D-Day Sophie, Lehár 's wife, dies in Zurich Richard Tauber dies in London 1947 Marshall Plan introduced to aid post-war reconstruction of Europe Lehár , sick and blind, died in Bad Ischl on 24 October aged 78. 1948 Communism in Hungary and Czechoslovakia The Berlin Air Lift

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