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, &lsquo;Die lustige Witwe&rsquo; (&lsquo;The Merry qidow&rsquo;), produced at Vienna, 30 Dec. 1905, brought him worldwide fame and a great fortune. He is also author of &lsquo;Wiener Frauen&rsquo; (1902); &lsquo;Die Juxheirat&rsquo; (1904); &lsquo;Mitislav der Moderne&rsquo; (1906); &lsquo;Der Graf von Luxemburg&rsquo; (1909); &lsquo;Le roi des Montagues&rsquo; (1914), etc.