Alfred Grünwald (librettist)

:"See also the Alfred Grünwald disambiguation page."

Alfred Grünwald (16 February 1884, Vienna - 24 February 1951, New York City) was an Austrian author, librettist, and lyricist. Some of his better-known works were written in conjunction with the composers Franz Lehar, Emmerich Kalman, Oscar Straus, Paul Abraham and Robert Stolz.

After the "Anschluss" the family emigrated to the United States in 1940 via France. During World War II he was employed for a time with the Office of War Information translating American songs for transmission by radio to Germany.

Alfred Grünwald worked for a theatrical agency before turning to libretto writing. A number of Grünwald’s librettos were produced on Broadway. These included "Countess Maritza" (1926), "The Yankee Princess" (1922), "The Circus Princess" (1927), and "The Duchess of Chicago" (1929). He also wrote a number of comedies, including "Dancing Partner" (1930), written in collaboration with Alexander Engel and produced on Broadway by David Belasco. Besides writing over 40 operetta librettos, Alfred Grünwald also wrote non-musical plays, short stories, and newspaper articles, and was the theater critic for the "Neue Wiener Journal". He was a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

His son Henry Grunwald was a journalist and diplomat (US ambassador to Austria from 1988 to 1990).

Works

*1912 "Hoheit tanzt Walzer", music by Leo Ascher
*1920 "Der letzte Walzer" ("The Last Waltz"), music by Oscar Straus
*1924 "Gräfin Mariza" ("Countess Maritza"), music by Emmerich Kalman
*1926 "Die Zirkusprinzessin" ("The Circus Princess"), music by Emmerich Kalman
*1928 "Die Herzogin von Chicago" ("The Duchess of Chicago"), music by Emmerich Kalman's
*1930 "Dancing Partner" (play)
*1930 "Viktoria und ihr Husar", with Fritz Löhner-Beda, music by Paul Abraham
*1930 "Das Veilchen vom Montmartre", music by Emmerich Kalman
*1931 "Die Blume von Hawaii", with Fritz Löhner-Beda, music by Paul Abraham
*1932 "Ball im Savoy", music by Paul Abraham
*1932 "Eine Frau, die weiß, was sie will", music by Oscar Straus
*1954 "Arizona Lady", music by Emmerich Kalman

External links

* [http://www.nypl.org/research/lpa/the/pdf/TheGrunw.pdf Alfred Grünwald Papers - The Billy Rose Theatre Division of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts]