Leopold Fall (2 February 187316 September 1925) was an Austrian

Kapellmeister ( , , ), from German (chapel) and (master), literally "master of the chapel choir", designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term has evolved considerably in i ...

and

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 def ...

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

Life

Born in Olmütz (

Olomouc Olomouc (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants, making it the Statutory city (Czech Republic), sixth largest city in the country. It is the administrative centre of the Olomouc Region. Located on the Morava (rive ...

), Leo (or Leopold) Fall was taught by his father Moritz Fall (1848–1922), a bandmaster and composer, who settled in Berlin. The younger Fall studied at the Vienna Conservatory before rejoining his father in Berlin. His teachers in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

were Robert Fuchs and Johann Nepomuk Fuchs. In 1895 he began a new career as an operetta conductor in

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, and started to compose. From 1904 onwards he devoted himself to composition. While less successful than his contemporary

Franz Lehár Franz Lehár ( ; ; 30 April 1870 – 24 October 1948) was an Austro-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas, of which the most successful and best known is '' The Merry Widow'' (''Die lustige Witwe''). Life and career L ...

, he was nevertheless capable of producing melodious and well orchestrated work. After working in Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne he settled in Vienna in 1906, where he died. He is buried at the

Vienna Central Cemetery The Vienna Central Cemetery () is one of the largest Cemetery, cemeteries in the world by number of interred, and is the most well-known among Vienna's nearly 50 cemeteries. The cemetery's name is descriptive of its significance as Vienna's big ...

. His brothers and

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

were also composers; both were murdered in the

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...

. His best known operettas in the English-speaking world are '' The Dollar Princess'' and ''

Madame Pompadour Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (, ; 29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764), commonly known as Madame de Pompadour, was a member of the French court. She was the official chief mistress of King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, and rema ...

'', which had successful runs in London and New York and remained in the repertory in Germany and Austria throughout the 20th century. ' (1912; '' Princess Caprice'' in London) is reported to have been given an unprecedented 3,360 performances.

Stage works

Fall wrote incidental music to numerous plays, and three unsuccessful operas; he is mainly known as a composer of operettas in the Silver Age of Vienna operetta. Operas: * ''Paroli oder Frau Denise'' (1 act; 1902) * ''Irrlicht'' (1905) * ''Der goldene Vogel'' (1920) Operettas: * ''Der Rebell'' (Vienna, 1905), later reworked as ''Der liebe Augustin'' * '' The Merry Farmer'' (''Der fidele Bauer'', Mannheim, 1907) * '' Die Dollarprinzessin'' (Vienna, 1907; adapted into English as '' The Dollar Princess'' 1909) * ''

Die geschiedene Frau ''Die geschiedene Frau'' (''The Divorcée''), is an operetta in three acts by Leo Fall with a libretto by Victor Léon based on Victorien Sardou's ''Divorçons!''. Conducted by the composer, It opened to considerable success at the Carltheater ...

'' (Vienna, 1908; adapted into English as ''The Girl in the Train'' 1910) * ''Der Schrei nach der Ohrfeige'' (Vienna, 1909) * ' (Vienna, 1909) * ''Das Puppenmädel'' (Vienna, 1910) * ''Die schöne Risette'' (Vienna, 1910) * ''Die Sirene'' (Vienna, 1911; adapted into English as '' The Siren'' 1911) * ''The Eternal Waltz'' (London, 1911) * ' (Berlin, 1912) ('' Princess Caprice'') (performed 3,360 times)Long Runs Broadway, off Broadway, London, Toronto & Other Major Cities
at www.world-theatres.com * ''Die Studentengräfin'' (Berlin, 1913) * ''Der Nachtschnellzug'' (Vienna, 1913) * ''Der Frau Ministerpräsident'' (Berlin, 1914) * ''Der künstliche Mensch'' (Berlin, 1915) * ''Die Kaiserin'' (Fürstenliebe) (Berlin, 1916) * '' The Rose of Stamboul'' (Vienna, 1916) * ''Die spanische Nachtigall'' (Berlin, 1920) * ''Der heilige Ambrosius'' (Berlin, 1921) * ''Die Straßensängerin'' (Vienna, 1922) * ''

'' (Berlin, 1922) * ''Der süße Kavalier'' (Berlin, 1923) * ''Jugend im Mai'' (Dresden, 1926)

References

Notes Sources *"Fall, Leo(pold)" by Andrew Lamb, in ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volumes. The dictionary was first published in 1992 by Macmillan Reference, L ...

'', ed.

Stanley Sadie Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was a British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was published as the first edition ...

(London, 1992)

External links

*
Fall's stage works
with information about librettists and theatres, musicaltheatreguide.com

musicals101.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Fall, Leo 1873 births 1925 deaths 19th-century Austrian classical composers 19th-century Austrian male musicians 20th-century Austrian classical composers 20th-century Austrian male musicians Austrian Jews Austrian opera composers Austrian Romantic composers Burials at the Vienna Central Cemetery Jewish classical composers Austrian male opera composers Musicians from Olomouc University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna alumni