Robert Stolz
Musical memories
| Robert Stolz is one of Austria’s greatest composers. He wrote countless film soundtracks and operettas. People all over the world still sing and dance to his melodies today.
1880 Robert Stolz is born in Graz.
1896 The young musical prodigy graduates from the Vienna Conservatory at the young age of 16.
1898-1899 The musician takes a job as assistant musical coach in the Schauspielhaus in Graz.
1899-1907 The young artist goes to Marburg, then part of Lower Styria, as a conductor. Finally he is offered an opportunity of conducting in Salzburg. Robert Stolz accepts the engagement but soon moves to a different theatre, namely the Deutsches Theater in Brno.
1907-1910 Stolz is delighted to hear that the Theater an der Wien in Vienna wants to hire him as a conductor. He gladly returns to his home country and uses his time in Vienna to stage some of his own compositions. Although these operettas are performed in small theatres, they are very successful. In 1910, the operetta „Das Glücksmädel“ is even performed in the famous Raimundtheater. Stolz himself conducts the orchestra.
1910-1914 Encouraged by his successes, Stolz decides to become a full-time composer. During this period he begins to write music for silent movies.
1914-1918 Stolz is drafted into the army at the outbreak of World War I, but does not serve as a soldier. Instead, he becomes the second conductor of the „Deutschmeister“ military band.
1918-1933 Robert Stolz continues with tireless energy to write operettas and film music, with varying degrees of success. in 1929 he lands a hit with the music for the sound film „Zwei Herzen im Dreivierteltakt“ („Two Hearts in Three-Quarter Time“). He also contributes two songs to the operetta „Im weißen Rössel“ („At the White Horse Inn“).
1933-1945 When Hitler comes to power, Robert Stolz leaves his home country and emigrates to the USA. Although completely unknown there, the talented composer soon wins the hearts of the Americans with his music.
1946-1975 After the end of the war, the composer – who has by now become extremely successful in the USA – returns to Austria, where he continues to write songs and operettas.
1975 Robert Stolz dies in Berlin at the age of 95.
Robert Stolz (*25.08.1880 +27.06.1975)
| Graz has many famous children. But the city is especially proud of Robert Stolz, whose music was a resounding success all over the world even in his own lifetime.
This success did not come out of the blue – the composer absorbed music with his mother’s milk. When he was born in Graz on 25 August 1880 as the twelfth child of his parents, his father Jakob was the head of the local music school and his mother Ida taught piano at the same school. Robert learned to play the piano at an early age. By the time he was eight, his playing was so skilful that he frequently performed in public in Graz.
His intensive musical studies at an early age caused his academic performance at school to suffer, and so he failed his final examination. However, a different school attested to his excellent abilities.
"Overture"
| Robert Stolz took his final examination at the Vienna Conservatory at the age of 16. His teachers there included Robert Fuchs and Engelbert Humperdinck.
In 1898, Robert Stolz became assistant musical coach at the Schauspielhaus in Graz, where he was able to gather some preliminary stage experience. A year later, he took a job as a conductor in Marburg, which at the time was part of Lower Styria. He used his time in what is today Slovenia to produce his first operetta, „Studentenulke“ („Student Hoax“). After spending some time as second conductor at the Salzburg theatre, he went to Russia via Berlin and finally came to the Deutsches Theater in Brno, where he was hired as first conductor. His time in Brno proved exceedingly successful. Not only did he write his operetta „Manöverliebe“, he also met his first wife, the singer Grete Holm.
1. Act
In 1907, the versatile musician returned to Vienna and the Theater an der Wien, where he conducted Franz Lehár’s „Die lustige Witwe“ („The Merry Widow“). His own works, such as „Die lustigen Weiber von Wien“ („The Merry Wives of Vienna“) were performed in smaller theatres in Vienna, but were very successful nonetheless. Soon he wrote his first three-act operetta, „Das Glücksmädel“, which was premiered in October of 1910 in the Raimundtheater in Vienna. The composer himself conducted the premiere performance. The success of this operetta encouraged Robert Stolz to give up his secure job and work as a freelance composer.
Problems soon followed, and they were not confined to his private life (with his marriage ending in divorce). His operetta „Die eiserne Jungfrau“ („The Iron Virgin“) was a flop. In contrast, the song „Servus Du“ („Time began“), which he wrote in 1912, became very popular. In private life, too, things began to look up when he married his sweetheart Franzi Ressel, whom he also used to accompany at the piano in cabaret performances.
2. Act
The nascent film industry opened up additional perspectives for the composer. For example, he wrote the music for the silent movie „Der Millionenonkel“ („The Millionaire Uncle“). However, Stolz was forced to interrupt his career in the film industry when he was drafted at the beginning of World War I. During the war, he served as the conductor of a military band and also composed many songs such as „Wien wird erst schön bei Nacht“ („Lovely Vienna at Night“), „Im Prater blühn wieder die Bäume“ („The Woods of Vienna are Calling“) and „Du, du, du sollst der Kaiser meiner Seele sein“ („A Melody that haunts my Heart“). After the war he devoted himself to cabaret again and also composed many songs and operettas. He was also the director of the „Max und Moritz“ theatre, which, however, soon went bankrupt. His marriage to Franzi too ended in 1923. Not long afterwards, Stolz took Josephine Zernitz as his third wife. But their wedded bliss was short-lived, and in 1924 the composer was divorced again. To evade his creditors, whom he owed money after the folding of his theatre, Stolz soon decided to move to Berlin. There he had a series of successes that were comparable to his great triumphs in Vienna. „Märchen im Schnee“ was a hit with German audiences, and a contract with a publishing house enabled him to pay his debts in Austria. The operettas „Der Mitternachtswalzer“ („Midnight Waltz“) and „Eine einzige Nacht“ („A Single Night“) were a great success both in Berlin and in Vienna.
3. Act
The artist also tackled a new musical challenge. Silent movies were giving way to sound films, and these needed soundtracks. So Stolz was able to prove himself as a composer of film music. His first attempt was a great success, and the music to „Zwei Herzen im Dreivierteltakt“ („Two Hearts in Three-Quarter Time“, 1929) is still one of his most popular melodies today. Within few years, Stolz had written countless pieces for musical films and two songs for the world-famous operetta „Im weissen Rössl“ („The White Horse Inn“), namely „Die ganze Welt ist himmelblau“ („Your Eyes“) and „Mein Liebeslied muss ein Walzer sein“ („My Song of Love“).
Although Robert Stolz had no sympathy whatsoever for the rising National Socialist movement, he remained in Germany for the time being and continued to write film music. However, when he heard about the annexation of Austria in 1938, he turned his back on his home country.
Finale
| For the following two years, he lived in France. After his fourth marriage, to Lilli, had failed like the previous three, he went to the USA with his new love „Einzi“ (Yvonne Luise Ulrich). After an initial time difficulty, the composer – who was a star in Europe but a nobody in the US – succeeded in convincing the Americans of his musical gifts. Despite his newfound fame in the United States, though, Robert Stolz and his wife „Einzi“ decided to return home after the war, and he soon found himself as successful there as he had been before the war, producing new operettas, singspiels and comedies such as „Der Tanz ins Glück“ („Whirled into Happiness“), „Der liebe Augustin“, „Signorina“, „Die Deutschmeister“ – a TV adaptation of „Frühjahrsparade“ („Spring Parade“) – and „Kitty und die Weltkonferenz“. The world-famous composer died on 27 June 1975 at the age of 95. He wrote a total of about 100 pieces of film music and 60 operettas.