Willner, Alfred Maria

COMPOSER, LIBRETTIST, JOURNALIST (AUSTRIA)
BORN 11 Jul 1859, Wien - DIED 27 Oct 1929, Wien
GRAVE LOCATION Wien: Feuerhalle Simmering, 11., Simmeringer Hauptstraße 337 (Abteilung MR, Gruppe 164, Nummer 3)

Alfred Willner studied law at the University of Vienna, where he was promoted. He worked as a feuilleton writer for the Wiener Salonblatt and for other newspapers. Apart from that he was active as a ballet composer for the Court Opera in Vienna and later as an author of librettos.

An early libretto was for "Die Göttin der Vernunft", for which Johan Strauss the Younger was contractually bound to write the music. Strauss regretted this commitment but was legally forced to complete the task. In 1909 it was revised for "Der Graf von Luxemburg" with music by Franz Lehár.

His first succes was the libretto for "Die Dollarprinzessin" (1907, music by Leo Fall). Other works were "Das Dreimäderlhaus" (1916, with Heinz Reichert, music by Heinrich Berté) and librettos for many more operettas.

Events
12/11/1909Premiere of Lehár's "Der Graf von Luxemburg" at the Theater an der Wien. The libretto was written by Robert Bodanzky und Alfred Maria Willner. Robert Stolz was the conductor. It was an immediate success and the operetta was performed 300 times at the Theater an der Wien. [Lehár, Franz][Stolz, Robert]

Images

The grave of Alfred von Willner at the Feuerhalle Simmering, Vienna.
Picture by Androom (15 Aug 2019)

 

Sources
Alfred Maria Willner – Wikipedia
Der Graf von Luxemburg (Operette) – Wikipedia


Wills, Henry Overton

Published: 05 Jan 2020
Last update: 07 Mar 2024