OCR Text |
Show HI Franz Lehar, the composer of "The Merry HB Widow," composed his first song at the age of six, Hi and dedicated it to his mother. His father was i I a farmer at Komorn, Austrian and leader of a If regimental band of the Austrian army when mob- Ij llized. The young man entered a German gym-I gym-I M nasium at eleven at Sternberg and matriculated Ww a year later, according to a writer In the St. Paul I Dispatch, at the Conservatory of Music at Prague, IE graduating at the age of eighteen in 1883. He II obtained an appointment as kapellmeister at two 32 municipal theatres in Barmen-Elberfeld, and (earned ?35 a month. In a short time he broke his contract, ran away and Joined his father's band. MS' |