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Franz Lehar (1870-1948), best known as a composer of operettas, studied under his father, who was a military bandmaster. From 1882 to 1888 he was a pupil at the Prague Conservatory, studied violin, music theory but concentrated on composition, following the advice of Dvorak. After graduation, he played violin in the opera orchestra at Elberfeld and later joined his father's band, the Fiftieth Infantry, in Vienna, as assistant bandmaster. In Vienna, he also free-lanced as a conductor and in the spring of 1902 he became a conductor at the Theater an der Wien. |
