Leo Ascher (17 August 1880 – 25 February 1942) was an Austrian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

s, popular songs and

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

Biography

Ascher was born in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. His father, Moritz Ascher, was a local umbrella manufacturer. Leo wrote his first composition, a

waltz The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the wa ...

at the age of 13 in 1893. He studied law at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

where he received his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

in 1904. He also attended the Vienna Conservatory from 1898 and studied composition under

Robert Fuchs Robert Fuchs (15 February 1847 – 19 February 1927) was an Austrian composer and music teacher. As Professor of music theory at the Vienna Conservatory, Fuchs taught many notable composers, while he was himself a highly regarded composer in hi ...

and Franz Schmidt. He married Luise Frankl and they had one daughter, the writer Franzi Ascher-Nash, who was born in Vienna on 28 November 1910 and died in Millersville, Pennsylvania, on 1 September 1991. Ascher was briefly arrested during the

Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from ...

pogrom A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russia ...

in 1938; once released, he left Austria forever. Via France and England he emigrated to the US, where he lived from December 1939 until his death in New York City in 1942. His artistic estate is kept at the Leo Ascher Centre of Operetta Music at

Millersville University of Pennsylvania Millersville University of Pennsylvania (commonly known as Millersville University, The Ville, or MU) is a public university in Millersville, Pennsylvania. It is one of the fourteen schools that comprise the Pennsylvania State System of Higher E ...

, which also provides the Leo Ascher Music Award of up to $1000 to undergraduates.

Career

Ascher began his career as a composer with the

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

''Mamzell Courage''. His first operetta, ''Vergeltsgott'' to a

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

by Viktor Léon, premiered on 14 October 1905 at the

Theater an der Wien The is a historic theatre in Vienna located on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district. Completed in 1801, the theatre has hosted the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music. Since 2006, it has served prima ...

. He wrote another 30 stage works, among them ''

Vindobona Vindobona (from Gaulish ''windo-'' "white" and ''bona'' "base/bottom") was a Roman military camp on the site of the modern city of Vienna in Austria. The settlement area took on a new name in the 13th century, being changed to Berghof, or now si ...

, du herrliche Stadt'' (Vienna, 22 July 1910) and ''Bruder Leichtsinn'' (

Bürgertheater The Bürgertheater was a theatre in Vienna. The Wiener Bürgertheater was erected in 1905 in the Third District (3 Bezirk), at Vordere Zollamtsstraße 13. It was designed by the architects Franz von Krauss and Josef Tölk. The official opening ...

, 28 December 1917). His most famous work was '' Hoheit tanzt Walzer''; its premiere on 24 February 1912 at the

Raimund Theater The Raimund Theater is a theatre in the Mariahilf district of Vienna, Austria. Named after the Austrian dramatist Ferdinand Raimund, the theatre was built by an association of Viennese citizens and opened on 28 November 1893 with Raimund's play ...

was followed by a run of 500 performances. His operetta ''Der Soldat der Marie'' (1916) enjoyed even 800 performances in Berlin. Besides operettas, he composed songs in the Vienna popular style,

chanson A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic s ...

s, and music for films. After his arrival in New York, he continued to write musicals, patriotic songs and children's pieces until his death on 25 February 1942.

Works

* ''Mamzell Courage'', opera * ''Vergeltsgott'', operetta (14 October 1905, Theater an der Wien, Vienna) * ''Die Grüne Redoute'', operetta (26 March 1908, , Vienna) * ''Vindobona, du herrliche Stadt'', operetta (22 July 1910, , Vienna) * ''Der fromme Silvanus'', operetta (3 November 1910, , Vienna) * ''Das Goldene Strumpfband'', operetta (1 May 1911, Etablissement, Vienna) * '' Hoheit tanzt Walzer'', operetta (24 February 1912, Raimund Theater, Vienna) * ''Die goldene Hanna'', operetta (4 January 1913, , Vienna) * ''Was tut man nicht alles aus Liebe'', operetta (17 December 1914, Ronacher Etablissement, Vienna) * ''Botschafterin Leni'', operetta (19 February 1915,

Theater in der Josefstadt The Theater in der Josefstadt is a theater in Vienna in the eighth district of Josefstadt. It was founded in 1788 and is the oldest still performing theater in Vienna. It is often referred to colloquially as simply ''Die Josefstadt''. Following ...

, Vienna) * ''Der Soldat der Marie'', operetta (1916, Berlin) * ''Bruder Leichtsinn'', operetta (28 December 1917,

, Vienna) * ''Purpur und Waschblau'', film music (1931)

Selected filmography

* ''

Marie's Soldier ''Marie's Soldier'' (german: Der Soldat der Marie, link=no) is a 1927 German silent drama film directed by Erich Schönfelder and starring Xenia Desni, Harry Liedtke and Grit Haid. It was shot at the Johannisthal Studios and the backlot of the B ...

'' (1927) * '' My Leopold'' (1931)

Bibliography

References

* *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ascher, Leo 1880 births 1942 deaths Austrian classical composers Jewish emigrants from Austria to the United States after the Anschluss Austrian opera composers Male opera composers Jewish classical composers Musicians from Vienna Austrian male classical composers 20th-century male musicians