Richard Genée

Portrait of Richard Genée

Franz Friedrich Richard Genée (7 February 1823 – 15 June 1895) was a Prussian born Austrian librettist, playwright, and composer.

Life

Genée was born in Danzig. He died at Baden bei Wien.

Works

He is most famous for the libretto of Die Fledermaus, Johann Strauss II's most famous operetta. He co-wrote the libretto without having met top-billed librettist Karl Haffner, who constructed the new story based on a play by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, which was considered too shocking to perform outside Paris. Genée, however, wrote the operetta's actual text and drew nothing from Haffner beyond the names of the characters. One of his best-known works was the libretto of Karl Millöcker's operetta Der Bettelstudent, which he co-wrote with Friedrich Zell (the pseudonym of Camillo Walzel). He also wrote the libretto to Ella Adayevskaya's 1877 opera Zarya. In 1857 he was conductor of the philharmonic orchestra In Mainz.

Librettos and plays

• Polyphen oder Ein Abenteuer auf Martinique 1856
• Der Geiger aus Tirol 1857
• Der Liebesring um 1860
• Ein Trauerspiel 1860
• Ein Narrentraum 1861
• Die Generalprobe 1862
• Die Herren von der Livree 1862
• Die Talismänner 1863
• Rosita 1864
• Der schwarze Prinz 1866
• Die Zopfabschneider 1866
• Am Runenstein 1868
• Schwefeles, der Höllenagent 1869
• Eine Konzertprobe 1870
• Der Hexensabbath 1870
• Der Sänger mit drei Tönen 1871
• Karneval in Rom 1873, zusammen mit Josef Braun, Operette in 3 Akten, (Musik: Johann Strauß)
• Die Fledermaus, 1874, zusammen mit Carl Haffner, Operette in 3 Akten, (Musik: Johann Strauß)
• Cleopatra oder Durch drei Jahrtausende 1875
• Cagliostro in Wien 1875, zusammen mit F. Zell, Operette in 3 Akten, (Musik: Johann Strauß)
• Fatinitza 1876, zusammen mit F. Zell, Operetten in 3 Akten, (Musik: Franz von Suppé)
• Der Seekadett 1876, zusammen mit F. Zell, Operetten in 3 Akten, (Musik: Richard Genée)
• Luftschlösser 1876
• Im Wunderland der Pyramiden 1877
• Die letzten Mohikaner 1878
• Die Fornarina 1879, zusammen mit F. Zell und Moritz West, Operette in 3 Akten, (Musik: Carl Zeller)
• Boccaccio 1879, zusammen mit F. Zell, Operetten in 3 Akten, (Musik: Franz von Suppé)
• Gräfin Dubarry 1879, zusammen mit F. Zell, Operette in 3 Akten, (Musik: Carl Millöcker)
• Das Spitzentuch der Königin 1880, zusammen mit Heinrich Bohrmann-Riegen, Operette in 3 Akten, (Musik: Johann Strauß)
• Apajune, der Wassermann 1880, zusammen mit F. Zell, Operette in 3 Akten, (Musik: Carl Millöcker)
• Donna Juanita 1880, zusammen mit F. Zell, Operette in 3 Akten, (Musik: Franz von Suppé)
• Nisida 1880
• Der Gascogner 1881, zusammen mit F. Zell, Operette in 3 Akten, (Musik: Franz von Suppé)
• Rosina 1881
• Der lustige Krieg 1881, zusammen mit F. Zell, Operette in 3 Akten, (Musik: Johann Strauß)
• Der Bettelstudent 1882, zusammen mit F. Zell, Operette in 3 Akten, (Musik: Carl Millöcker)
• Eine Nacht in Venedig 1883, zusammen mit F. Zell, Operette in 3 Akten, (Musik: Johann Strauß)
• Die Afrikareise, 1883, zusammen mit Moritz West, Operette in 3 Akten, (Musik: Franz von Suppé)
• Gasparone 1884, zusammen mit F. Zell, Operette in 3 Akten, (Musik: Carl Millöcker)
• Eine gemachte Frau 1885
• Zwillinge 1885
• Die Piraten 1886
• Der Vizeadmiral 1886, zusammen mit F. Zell, Operette in 3 Akten, (Musik: Carl Millöcker)
• Die Dreizehn 1887
• Die Jagd nach dem Glück 1888, zusammen mit Bruno Zappert, Operette in 3 Akten, (Musik: Franz von Suppé)
• Signora Vedetta 1892
• Die wachsame Schildwache 1893
• Freund Felix 1894

Musical compositions

• In 1876, Genée composed the operetta Der Seekadet. The operetta featured a game of chess in its second act and later lent its name to the chess opening trap found in the match the Seekadettenmatt (German for naval cadet - in English The Royal Middy mate). The move is usually known in English as the Légal Trap.
• Der Musikfeind
• Rosita (opera)
• Nanon, die Wirthin vom Goldenen Lamm 1877, zusammen mit F. Zell, Operette in 3 Akten, (Musik: Richard Genée)
• Der Musikfeind 1862, Operette, (Musik: Richard Genée)
• Italian Salad, a piece for choir and soloists in which all the words are musical expressions, sung according to the meaning of the words.

Films based on his works

• Das fidele Gefängnis, directed by Ernst Lubitsch (Germany, 1917, loosely based on the operetta Die Fledermaus)
• Die Fledermaus, directed by Max Mack (Germany, 1923, based on the operetta Die Fledermaus)
• Nanon, directed by Hanns Schwarz (Germany, 1924, based on the operetta Nanon)
• The Beggar Student, directed by Luise Fleck and Jacob Fleck (Germany, 1927, based on the operetta Der Bettelstudent)
• The Beggar Student, directed by Victor Janson (Germany, 1931, based on the operetta Der Bettelstudent)
• The Beggar Student, directed by Victor Hanbury and John Harvel (UK, 1931, based on the operetta Der Bettelstudent)
• Die Fledermaus, directed by Karel Lamač (Germany, 1931, based on the operetta Die Fledermaus)
  • La Chauve-Souris, directed by Karel Lamač and Pierre Billon (France, 1932, based on the operetta Die Fledermaus)
• Waltz Time, directed by Wilhelm Thiele (UK, 1933, based on the operetta Die Fledermaus)
• The Loves of Madame Dubarry, directed by Marcel Varnel (UK, 1935, based on the operetta Die Dubarry)
• The Beggar Student, directed by Georg Jacoby (Germany, 1936, based on the operetta Der Bettelstudent)
• Die Fledermaus, directed by Paul Verhoeven (Germany, 1937, based on the operetta Die Fledermaus)
• Gasparone, directed by Georg Jacoby (Germany, 1937, based on the operetta Gasparone)
• Nanon, directed by Herbert Maisch (Germany, 1938, based on the operetta Nanon)
• Boccaccio, directed by Marcello Albani (Italy, 1940, based on the operetta Boccaccio)
• Die Fledermaus, directed by Géza von Bolváry (Germany, 1944–46, based on the operetta Die Fledermaus)
• A Night in Venice, directed by Georg Wildhagen (Austria, 1953, based on the operetta Eine Nacht in Venedig)
• Oh... Rosalinda!!, directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (UK, 1955, based on the operetta Die Fledermaus)
• Swelling Melodies, directed by E. W. Fiedler (East Germany, 1955, based on the operetta Die Fledermaus)
• Gasparone, directed by Karl Paryla (Austria, 1956, based on the operetta Gasparone)
• The Beggar Student, directed by Werner Jacobs (West Germany, 1956, based on the operetta Der Bettelstudent)
• Mazurka der Liebe, directed by Hans Müller (East Germany, 1957, based on the operetta Der Bettelstudent)
• Die Fledermaus, directed by Géza von Cziffra (Austria, 1962, based on the operetta Die Fledermaus)
• Flagermusen, directed by Annelise Meineche (Denmark, 1966, based on the operetta Die Fledermaus)
• Die Fledermaus, directed by Yan Frid (Soviet Union, 1979, based on the operetta Die Fledermaus)

References

• Biography from Planet Vienna (in German)
• »Das musikalisch-schachliche Operetten-Mysterium« by Stephan Maaß (in German)

External links

• Richard Genée at the Internet Broadway Database
• List of works (in German)
• Choir Faculty of Philosophy on YouTube from Pula, Croatia chant Italian salad - finale
• Free scores by Richard Genée in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Free scores by Richard Genée at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)