- Paul Abraham
Paul Abraham (Pál Ábrahám) (born November 2, 1892 in
Apatin ,Austria-Hungary (todaySerbia ); died May 6, 1960 inHamburg ) was acomposer ofoperettas .Abraham studied at the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music, in
Budapest from 1910 to 1916. He studiedcello withAdolf Schiffer andcomposition withViktor Herzfeld .Like many other composers of operettas, Paul Abraham started with works of a serious nature. During the decade following his studies he wrote i.a. sacred music, string quartets and a concerto for violoncello. When he was appointed conductor at the Budapest Operetta Theatre in 1927 he found his way to this more popular artform which was more suited to his talent.
His first operetta "Der Gatte des Fräuleins" was written in 1928. With his third, "
Viktoria und ihr Husar (1930)", he already achieved a resounding success. Through this work, and the next two operettas from 1931 and 1933 "Die Blume von Hawaii " and "Ball im Savoy " he became world renowned. He also wrote numerous film scores.The events of 1933 forced the artist to abandon his domicile in
Berlin and leaveGermany . ViaVienna andParis he moved toCuba where he earned a modest living as a pianist and later emigrated to New York. After a mental breakdown he was committed to a hospital in February 1946. In May 1956 he returned to live in Hamburg, Germany, where he died four years later.Works
* "Zenebona" (1928) in collaboration with others
* "Der Gatte des Fräuleins" (1928)
* "Es Geschehen noch Wunder" (1929)
* "Viktoria und ihr Husar " (1930)
* "Die Blume von Hawaii " (1931)
* "Ball im Savoy " (1932)
* "Märchen im Grand-Hotel" (1934)
* "Viki" (1935)
* "Dschainach, das Mädchen aus dem Tanzhaus" (1935)
* "Roxy und ihr Wunderteam" (1936) [ [http://www.kakanien.ac.at/beitr/fallstudie/AEder1.pdf Angela Eder, essay on this Football Operetta (German)] ]
* "Julia" (1937)
* "Der weisse Schwan" (1938)References
*Daniel Hirschel "Paul Abraham" in "Operette unterm Hakenkreuz", Wolfgang Schaller (ed), Metropol Verlag, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3938690352
*Lamb, Andrew. [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/00056 "Abraham, Paul." (subscription access)] In "Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online" (accessed Date|2008-08-21).External links
* [http://www.answers.com/topic/paul-abraham?cat=entertainment Biography (answers.com)]
* [http://cmslib.rrz.uni-hamburg.de:6292/receive/lexm_lexmperson_00002808;jsessionid=r55ih5d68deo?wcmsID=0003&XSL.lexmlayout.SESSION=lexmperson_all Biography] (in German)
* [http://www.operone.de/komponist/abraham.html Chronology] (in German)
*imdb name|0008964|Paul Abraham
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