Composers on Stamps

issued March 3rd,1952
Schrammel and his brother Johann were and are very popular and possibly
the most "Viennnese composers" of all of them.His and his brother´s music,
called "Schrammerln",is the typical folk- and dance-music at the "Heurigen".
That are bars,where new vine is served. (heuer = this year)
The brothers died 1893 (Johann) and 1895 (Josef),both aged 43 years.

 

issued Feb.21st,1953
Hugo Wolf composed all kinds of classical music,an opera and chorus songs.
However he is most famous for the composition of his Deutsche Kunstlieder.
All his life he lived in poverty and was supported by friends for his needs.
He died young from syphilis,spending his last years in a lunatics asylum.

 

the genius,issued Jan.21st,1956


First performance Oct.29th,1787 in the 1783 opened Nationaltheater in Prague.
Stamp issued May 23rd,1969 from a sheetlet of 8 stamps.

 

Issued May 30th,1959;
Haydn composed an enormous wealth of all kinds of music.
I like his symphonies very much.Their number is not 100% sure,but
107 are agreed widely.They seem to be so light-hearted and fresh.
Beethoven was his pupil for two years.Although he claimed,nothing to have learnt from Haydn,his symphonic works,namely the 1st,2nd and 8th symphonies show clearly Haydn´s influence.
The melody of the German National Anthem is from Haydn´s "Kaiserquartet" opus 76 No.3.
The original text started: "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser..."
(God save Franz the Emperor...)

 

issued July 7th,1960
Maler was and is considered the most eminent conductor of his times.
He conducted the best ochestras in many countries and invented new ways
in performing operas,especially those of Richard Wagner.
In his last years he worked in New York,but was not happy with the mentality
of the music establishment there.
His compositions were less valued,than his conducting.Only after WW II he
became acknowledged fully.
Best known are his ten symphonies,the last of them unfinished.His "Lieder",
best known are the "Kinder-Toten-Lieder",are performed extensively.
Personally I do not like his symphonies to much.To me they are a little bit
dull.But that´s probably my fault.

 

issued Oct.20th,1961
Liszt was born in Hungary.However in a part of Hungary,what in 1918 became
a part of Austria,the Burgenland.Although his natural language was German,
he was proud of his Hungarian descent.
He was a brilliant,almost artistic pianist and an international music-performer.
He wrote an enormous amount of compositions.A complete index does not
exist to this day.
His piano works are not that often played nowadays,be it for the reason,
that they are technical extremely difficult to play.In his time his brilliant
techninique was his "trademark".He was a close friend to Richard Wagner
and the Wagner family.

 

issued Aug.7th,1970
Koschat was chorus-master of the Vienna Hof-Oper(a).
He composed Lieder (songs) based on folk-songs from his home-country
Carinthia.He was a successful musician,who toured through Europe and
the US.
He was popular throughout Germany and was honoured with the
Red-Eagle-Order by Emperor Wilhelm II (William II)

 

the giant of music; stamp issued Dec.16th,1970;
After a painting by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller (1793-1865) from 1823.


stamp issued May 23rd,1969,from a sheetlet of 8 stamps;
Fidelio,Beethoven´s only opera.First performance No.v.20th,1805.
A second version came one year later and the final version in 1814.

 

Ziehrer again,now commemorating his 50th death-anniversary;
issued Nov.14th,1972;

 

Ference (Franz) Lehár (1870-1948) gives a nice example of the complicated history of Austria/Hungary and Germany.
Lehár was born in what is today Slovakia.His father,a military orchestra-conductor,was Hungarian,but spoke German only.His mother was a German,
born in Hungary,spoke Hungarian only.So the language of childhood was Hungarian.At the age of ten he attended a german-language gymnasium (grammar school).
His name originates Czechia,where it is spelled Léhar.He was a musical child prodigy,composing his first Lied (song) at eleven.
As a composer he was famous for his operettas.I have no portrait stamp of
Lehár,but in the first austrian operetta-series,issued July 3rd,1970 his
"Die lustige Witwe" (The merry widdow) was featured:

Lehar was very popular and became very wealthy.He lived in Vienna in a
small palais,what was owned earliar by Schikaneder (texter).For the summer
months he had a villa in Ischl,the favourite summer residence of emperor
Franz Joseph.
However,after the end of WW I,he opted for the citizenship of Hungary.
In 1933 he had problems in Germany,as he had many jewish acquaintances
and he was married to a jewish wife.However as Hitler liked his music a lot,
he was allowed to be played in Germany.The Rosenberg Office tried to
sanction him,the SS even wanted to deport his wife,but Goebbels intervened.
His wife was declared a "Honorary Arian".Lehar was bestowed with a high
civil order by Hitler in person in 1940.He conducted many official party- and
Wehrmacht-concerts throughout the war.
He would not like to emigrate,because he did not like to live in England or the US,because his English was too bad,as he claimed.
From 1943 on he became ill and spent much time in Switzerland clinics.
After the war he refused to make any statements about his connections to
the Nazi-regime.
He died in 1948 in his villa in Ischl.

 

issued July 14th,1978
No Lehár stamp from Austria ? I was wrong again !
Above his portrait his villa in Ischl (where he died) is depicted.

 

Bruckner again,issued March 22nd,1974.
In commemoration of the official opening of the Bruckner-Haus in Linz on March 23rd,1974.The Bruckner-Haus is a top-class concert-house.The opening-
concert started with Bruckner´s 7th Symphonie,performed by the Vienna
Philharmonic Orchestra,conducted by Herbert von Karajan.