Fritz Löhner-Beda
Encyclopedia
Fritz Löhner-Beda born Friedrich Löwy, was an Austrian
librettist
, lyricist
and writer
.
, Bohemia
(now in the Czech Republic
).
In the 1920s he became one of the most sought-after librettists and lyricists of Vienna
. Together with Franz Lehár
as composer, Ludwig Herzer as co-author and Richard Tauber
as singer he produced the operettas Friederike (Frederica) (1928), Das Land des Lächelns (The Land of Smiles
) (1929) and, with Paul Knepler as co-author, Giuditta
(1934). Together with his friend Alfred Grünwald
as co-author and Paul Abraham
as composer, he produced Viktoria und ihr Husar
(Victoria and Her Hussar) (1930), Die Blume von Hawaii (The Flower of Hawaii) (1931) and Ball im Savoy
(Ball at the Savoy) (1932).
In mid-March 1938 Fritz Löhner-Beda was arrested and deported to the Dachau concentration camp on April 1, 1938. On September 23, 1938 he was displaced to the Buchenwald concentration camp
. There he composed, together with his fellow prisoner Hermann Leopoldi, in the end of 1938 the famous anthem of the concentration camp, Das Buchenwaldlied ("The Buchenwald Song"):
His initial hope for an intercession by Franz Lehár was deceptive. On October 17, 1942 he was deported to the Monowitz concentration camp near Auschwitz. The circumstances of his death have been described by Raul Hilberg
in The Destruction of the European Jews
: After an inspection by directors of the syndicate IG Farben
at which the already diseased Löhner-Beda was denounced as working not hard enough he was beaten to death on December 4, 1942.
Austrians
Austrians are a nation and ethnic group, consisting of the population of the Republic of Austria and its historical predecessor states who share a common Austrian culture and Austrian descent....
librettist
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
, lyricist
Lyricist
A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...
and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
.
Life
He was born in WildenschwertÚstí nad Orlicí
Ústí nad Orlicí is a city in the Ústí nad Orlicí District, Pardubice Region in Eastern Bohemia in the Czech Republic. The town is in the Orlické Mountains where the Tichá Orlice and the Třebovka rivers meet....
, Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
(now in the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
).
In the 1920s he became one of the most sought-after librettists and lyricists of Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. Together with Franz Lehár
Franz Lehár
Franz Lehár was an Austrian-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas of which the most successful and best known is The Merry Widow .-Biography:...
as composer, Ludwig Herzer as co-author and Richard Tauber
Richard Tauber
Richard Tauber was an Austrian tenor acclaimed as one of the greatest singers of the 20th century. Some critics commented that "his heart felt every word he sang".-Early life:...
as singer he produced the operettas Friederike (Frederica) (1928), Das Land des Lächelns (The Land of Smiles
The Land of Smiles
The Land of Smiles is a romantic operetta in three acts by Franz Lehár. The German language libretto was by Ludwig Herzer and Fritz Löhner. The performance time is about 100 minutes....
) (1929) and, with Paul Knepler as co-author, Giuditta
Giuditta
Giuditta is an operatic musikalische Komödie in five scenes, with music by Franz Lehár and a German libretto, by Paul Knepler and Fritz Löhner. Scored for a large orchestra, it was Lehár's last and most ambitious work, written on a larger scale than his previous operettas...
(1934). Together with his friend Alfred Grünwald
Alfred Grünwald (librettist)
Alfred Grünwald was an Austrian author, librettist, and lyricist. Some of his better-known works were written in conjunction with the composers Franz Lehár, Emmerich Kálmán, Oscar Straus, Paul Abraham, and Robert Stolz.After the Anschluss the family emigrated to the United States in 1940 via France...
as co-author and Paul Abraham
Paul Abraham
Paul Abraham was a composer of operettas.Abraham studied at the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music in Budapest from 1910 to 1916...
as composer, he produced Viktoria und ihr Husar
Viktoria und ihr Husar
Viktoria und ihr Husar is an operetta in three acts and a prelude by Paul Abraham with a libretto by Alfred Grünwald and Fritz Löhner-Beda, based on a work by the Hungarian Emmerich Földes ....
(Victoria and Her Hussar) (1930), Die Blume von Hawaii (The Flower of Hawaii) (1931) and Ball im Savoy
Ball im Savoy
Ball im Savoy is an operetta in three acts and a prelude by Paul Abraham to a libretto by Alfred Grünwald and Fritz Löhner-Beda....
(Ball at the Savoy) (1932).
In mid-March 1938 Fritz Löhner-Beda was arrested and deported to the Dachau concentration camp on April 1, 1938. On September 23, 1938 he was displaced to the Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp was a German Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937, one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps on German soil.Camp prisoners from all over Europe and Russia—Jews, non-Jewish Poles and Slovenes,...
. There he composed, together with his fellow prisoner Hermann Leopoldi, in the end of 1938 the famous anthem of the concentration camp, Das Buchenwaldlied ("The Buchenwald Song"):
poem style="font-style:italic">
|
His initial hope for an intercession by Franz Lehár was deceptive. On October 17, 1942 he was deported to the Monowitz concentration camp near Auschwitz. The circumstances of his death have been described by Raul Hilberg
Raul Hilberg
Raul Hilberg was an Austrian-born American political scientist and historian. He was widely considered to be the world's preeminent scholar of the Holocaust, and his three-volume, 1,273-page magnum opus, The Destruction of the European Jews, is regarded as a seminal study of the Nazi Final...
in The Destruction of the European Jews
The Destruction of the European Jews
The Destruction of the European Jews is a book published in 1961 by historian Raul Hilberg. Hilberg revised his work in 1985, and it appeared in a new three-volume edition. It is largely held to be the first comprehensive historical study of the Holocaust. According to Holocaust historian, Michael R...
: After an inspection by directors of the syndicate IG Farben
IG Farben
I.G. Farbenindustrie AG was a German chemical industry conglomerate. Its name is taken from Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG . The company was formed in 1925 from a number of major companies that had been working together closely since World War I...
at which the already diseased Löhner-Beda was denounced as working not hard enough he was beaten to death on December 4, 1942.
Famous songs
Among the most famous songs for which he wrote the lyrics are:- In der Bar zum Krokodil ("In the crocodile bar"), music by Willy Engel-Berger
- Du schwarzer Zigeuner ("You black gypsy"), tangoTango (dance)Tango dance originated in the area of the Rio de la Plata , and spread to the rest of the world soon after....
, an adaptation of Cikánka by Karel Vacek - Drunt' in der LobauLobauThe Lobau is a Vienna floodplain on the northern side of the Danube and partly in Großenzersdorf, Lower Austria. It has been part of the Danube-Auen National Park since 1996 and has been a protected area since 1978. It is used as a recreational area and is known as a site of nudism. There is...
("Down there in the Lobau"), music by Heinrich StreckerHeinrich StreckerHeinrich Strecker was an Austrian composer of operettas and popular Viennese music.-Biography:... - Ausgerechnet Bananen ("Of all things bananas"), an adaptation of "Yes! We Have No Bananas"
- Ich hab’ mein Herz in HeidelbergHeidelberg-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
verloren ("I’ve lost my heart in Heidelberg"), music by Fred RaymondFred RaymondFred Raymond, actually Raimund Friedrich Vesely was an Austrian composer.Raymond, born in Vienna, was the third child of Vinzenz Vesely, an employee of the Austrian state railway system, and his wife Henriette, née Dluhos. Both parents were of Czech descent... - Oh, Donna Clara, TangoTango (dance)Tango dance originated in the area of the Rio de la Plata , and spread to the rest of the world soon after....
by Jerzy PetersburskiJerzy PetersburskiJerzy Petersburski was a Polish pianist and composer of popular music, renowned mostly for his Tangos, some of which were milestones in popularization of the musical genre in Poland and are still widely known today, more than half a century after their creation.Jerzy Petersburski was born April... - Wo sind deine Haare, August? ("Where is your hair, August?"), foxtrot by Richard Fall
- Was machst du mit dem Knie, lieber Hans? ("What are you doing with the knee, dear Hans?"), pasodoblePasodoblePasodoble is a typical dance from Spain march-like musical style as well as the corresponding dance style danced by a couple. It is the type of music typically played in bullfights during the bullfighters' entrance to the ring or during the passes just before the kill...
by Richard Fall - Dein ist mein ganzes HerzDein ist mein ganzes Herz"Dein ist mein ganzes Herz" is a song from the operetta Das Land des Lächelns with music by the Hungarian composer Franz Lehar and words by Fritz Löhner-Beda and Ludwig Herzer...
("Yours is my heart alone") from The Land of SmilesThe Land of SmilesThe Land of Smiles is a romantic operetta in three acts by Franz Lehár. The German language libretto was by Ludwig Herzer and Fritz Löhner. The performance time is about 100 minutes.... - Freunde, das Leben ist lebenswert ("Friends, life is worth living") from GiudittaGiudittaGiuditta is an operatic musikalische Komödie in five scenes, with music by Franz Lehár and a German libretto, by Paul Knepler and Fritz Löhner. Scored for a large orchestra, it was Lehár's last and most ambitious work, written on a larger scale than his previous operettas...
- Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiß ("My lips, they kiss so hotly") from Giuditta
Literature references
- Günther SchwarbergGünther SchwarbergGünther Schwarberg was a German journalist and author whose 1979 series of articles in German news magazine Der Stern and subsequent book "The SS Doctor and the Children" brought the World War II era war crimes committed in Neuengamme concentration camp and Bullenhuser Damm School in Hamburg to...
: Dein ist mein ganzes Herz. Die Geschichte von Fritz Löhner-Beda, der die schönsten Lieder der Welt schrieb, und warum Hitler ihn ermorden ließ, Steidl, Göttingen, 2000 (German), ISBN 978-3882437157 (hardback) ISBN 978-3882438925 (paperback) - Barbara Denscher, Helmut Peschina: Kein Land des Lächelns. Fritz Löhner-Beda 1883–1942, Residenz, Salzburg, 2002 (German), ISBN 978-3701713028