Rudolf Friml
Rudolf Friml was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on December 7, 1879. He received his musical training at the Prague Conservatory, after which he toured Europe and America as assisting artist and accompanist for Jan Kubelik, the noted violin virtuoso. In 1906, Friml established permanent residence in the United States, making several appearances as concert pianist, twice in the performance of his own Concerto in B-flat. He now published piano pieces, instrumental numbers, and songs which attracted the interest of two publishers, Gus Schirmer and Max Dreyfus. When, in 1912, Victor Herbert stepped out of an assignment to write the music for the operetta The Firefly, both Schirmer and Dreyfus recommended Friml as his replacement. The Firefly made Friml famous. Until 1934 he continued writing music for the Broadway stage, achieving further triumphs with Rose Marie in 1924, The Vagabond King in 1925, and The Three Musketeers in 1928. After 1934, Friml concentrated his activity on motion pictures in Hollywood.
Friml belongs with those Broadway composers of the early 20th century whose domain was the operetta modelled after German and Austrian patterns. As long as the operetta was popular on the Broadway stage, Friml remained a favorite, for his ingratiating melodies, pleasing sentimentality, winning charm, and strong romantic flair were in the best traditions of the operetta theater. But when the vogue for operettas died down and the call came for American musicals with native settings and characterizations, realistic approaches, and a greater cohesion between text and music, Friml’s day was over. He has produced nothing of significance since the middle 1930’s, and very little of anything else. But the music he wrote for his best operettas has never lost its appeal.
The Firefly, book and lyrics by Otto Harbach, was introduced in New York on December 2, 1912. The plot concerned a little Italian street singer by the name of Nina (enchantingly played by Emma Trentini). She disguises herself as a boy to get a job aboard a yacht bound for Bermuda, and is first accused and then cleared of the charge of being a pickpocket. Many years later she reappears as a famous prima donna when she is finally able to win the wealthy young man with whom she had fallen in love while working on the yacht.
Orchestral potpourris from The Firefly always include three of the songs Emma Trentini helped to make famous: “Giannina Mia,” “The Dawn of Love” and “Love is Like a Firefly.” The melodious duet, “Sympathy,” is also popular.
The Donkey Serenade, now regarded as one of the favorites from The Firefly score, was not in the original operetta when it was produced on Broadway. Friml wrote it in collaboration with Herbert Stothart for the motion picture adaptation of the operetta released in 1937 and starring Jeanette MacDonald and Allan Jones. This appealing Spanish-type melody is set against an intriguing rhythm suggesting the jogging movement of a donkey; this rhythm precedes and closes the number, which has become as celebrated in an instrumental version as it is as a song with lyrics by Chet Forrest and Bob White.
Rose Marie, book and lyrics by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II, came to Broadway on September 2, 1924 where it remained for more than a year. The rest of the country became acquainted with this lovable operetta at that time by means of four road companies. The setting is the Canadian Rockies, and the love interest involves Rose Marie and Jim, the latter falsely accused of murder. The Canadian Mounted Police, headed by Sergeant Malone, help to clear Jim and to bring the love affair of Rose Marie and Jim to a happy resolution. Selections in orchestral adaptations most often heard from this operetta include two of Friml’s most famous songs, the title number and “Indian Love Call”; a third delightful song was found in “Totem Tom Tom.” Rose Marie was adapted for motion pictures three times, once in a silent version.
The Vagabond King had for its central character the French vagabond poet of the 15th century, François Villon, who is made king for a day. This musical was based on the romance of J. H. McCarthy, If I Were King, adapted by Brian Hooker. The Vagabond King, which opened on September 21, 1925, was one of Friml’s greatest successes, mainly because of such rousing numbers as “The Song of the Vagabonds,” the caressing waltz melody “Waltz Huguette,” and the love song “Only a Rose,” all often heard in orchestral adaptations. The Vagabond King was made into motion pictures twice, most recently in 1956 starring Kathryn Grayson and Oreste.