Franz Lehar Autograph: Signed Photo. CoA

Franz Lehar portrait photo with autograph and dedication, signed in Wien in 1941.

Size: 17,6 x 23,8 cm (7 x 9.6 inches). Good condition. Authentic, hand written signature.

The Autograph comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.

Franz Lehár (1870 – 1948), known in Hungarian as Lehár Ferenc, was an Austrian composer of Hungarian descent, mainly known for his operettas. Lehár studied violin and composition at the Prague Conservatory 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, symphonic poems, marches, and a number of waltzes. Lehár was also associated with the operatic tenor Richard Tauber, who sang in many of his operettas, beginning with Frasquita (1922), in which Lehár once again found a suitable post-war style.

Between 1925 and 1934 he wrote six operettas specifically for Tauber's voice. By 1935 he decided to form his own publishing house, Glocken-Verlag (“Publishing House of the Bells”), to maximize his personal control over performance rights to his works.

He died in 1948 in Bad Ischl, near Salzburg where he was also buried.

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