The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Lehar, Franz

LEHAR, lā'här, Franz, Austrian composer: b. Komron, Hungary, 30 April 1870. He was educated at the Academy of Music at Prague and was successively concert master at the Elberfeld Opera, a regimental bandmaster in the Austrian army 1890-1902 and conductor at the Vienna Theatre. His light opera, ‘Die lustige Witwe’ (‘The Merry qidow’), produced at Vienna, 30 Dec. 1905, brought him worldwide fame and a great fortune. He is also author of ‘Wiener Frauen’ (1902); ‘Die Juxheirat’ (1904); ‘Mitislav der Moderne’ (1906); ‘Der Graf von Luxemburg’ (1909); ‘Le roi des Montagues’ (1914), etc.