Oscar Straus
Oscar Straus was no relation to any of the famous Viennese Strausses; nevertheless in the writing of light, gay music in waltz tempo and spirited melodies for the operetta stage he was certainly their spiritual brother. He was born in Vienna on March 6, 1870, and studied music with private teachers in Vienna and Berlin, including Max Bruch. In 1901 he settled in Berlin where he became conductor at a famous cabaret, Ueberbrettl, for whose productions of farces he wrote a number of scores. Soon after that he turned to writing operettas, becoming world famous with The Waltz Dream in 1907 and The Chocolate Soldier in 1908, both introduced in Vienna. He wrote about thirty operettas after that, many heard with outstanding success in the music centers of the world. The best of these were Der letzte Walzer (1920), Die Teresina (1921), Drei Walzer (1935), and Bozena (1952). He was at his best writing waltz melodies but he was also skilful in interpolating satirical elements into his musical writing through the exploitation of ragtime, jazz, and the shimmy. Straus lived in Berlin until 1927, and for a decade after that he made his home in Vienna and Paris. In 1939 he became a French citizen, and from 1940 to 1948 he lived in the United States, filling some assignments in Hollywood. He returned to his native land in 1948, and died at Bad Ischl, Austria, on January 11, 1954.
The Chocolate Soldier (Der tapfere Soldat) was the operetta adaptation of Bernard Shaw’s comedy, Arms and the Man, by R. Bernauer and L. Jacobsen. Its première took place in Vienna on November 14, 1908, with the first American performance taking place a year later at the Casino Theater in New York. The setting is Serbia in 1885 where the hero, Lieutenant Bumerli, gains the nickname of “chocolate soldier” because of a sweet tooth. While escaping from the enemy, he finds refuge in the bedroom of Nadina, daughter of Colonel Popoff. Nadina becomes the instrument by means of which the lieutenant is now able to effect his escape, disguised in the coat of Colonel Popolf. But before the final curtain Bumerli and Nadina also become lovers.
The waltz, “My Hero,” (“Komm, Komm, Held meiner Traeume”) Nadina’s waltz of love to the chocolate soldier, is the most celebrated excerpt from this operetta. Other familiar pages include the lovely first act duet of Nadina and Bumerli, “Sympathy”; the little orchestral march in the second act, a satirical take off on military pomp and circumstance; and Nadina’s “Letter Song” in the third act.
A Waltz Dream (Ein Walzertraum), book by Felix Doermann and Leopold Jacobsen, was introduced in Vienna on March 2, 1907, and in New York in April 1908. Lieutenant Niki of the Austrian army is ordered by the Austrian Emperor to marry Princess Helen, but he falls in love with Frantzi, a violinist in a girl’s orchestra. This love affair becomes frustrated when Niki must return to Vienna to become Prince Consort.
The main musical selection from this operetta is the title number, a waltz which first appears as a duet between Niki and a fellow officer in the first act, then recurs throughout the operetta, and finally brings it to a close. Two sprightly march excerpts, from the second and third acts respectively, and the duet, “Piccolo, piccolo, tsin, tsin, tsin” are also popular.