Alfred Grünwald (librettist)
Alfred Grünwald (16 February 1884 in Vienna – 24 February 1951 in New York City) was an Austrian author, librettist, and lyricist. Some of his better-known works were written in conjunction with the composers Franz Lehár, Emmerich Kálmán, Oscar Straus, Paul Abraham, and Robert Stolz.
After the Anschluss the family emigrated to the United States in 1940 via France. During World War II he was employed for a time with the Office of War Information translating American songs for transmission by radio to Germany.
Alfred Grünwald worked for a theatrical agency before turning to libretto writing. A number of Grünwald's librettos were produced on Broadway. These included Countess Maritza (1926), The Yankee Princess (1922), The Circus Princess (1927), and The Duchess of Chicago (1929). He also wrote a number of comedies, including Dancing Partner (1930), written in collaboration with Alexander Engel and produced on Broadway by David Belasco. Besides writing over 40 operetta librettos, Alfred Grünwald also wrote non-musical plays, short stories, and newspaper articles, and was the theater critic for the Neue Wiener Journal. He was a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
His son Henry Grunwald was a journalist and diplomat (US ambassador to Austria from 1988 to 1990).
Works
"The writer Alfred Grünwald lived from 1927 until his emigration in 1938 in this house" (
- 1912 Hoheit tanzt Walzer, music by Leo Ascher
- 1920 Der letzte Walzer (The Last Waltz), music by Oscar Straus
- 1924 Gräfin Mariza (Countess Maritza), music by Emmerich Kálmán
- 1926 Die Zirkusprinzessin (The Circus Princess), music by Emmerich Kálmán
- 1928 Die Herzogin von Chicago (The Duchess of Chicago), music by Emmerich Kálmán
- 1930 Dancing Partner (play)
- 1930 Viktoria und ihr Husar, with Fritz Löhner-Beda, music by Paul Abraham
- 1930 Das Veilchen vom Montmartre, music by Emmerich Kálmán
- 1931 Die Blume von Hawaii (The Flower of Hawaii), with Fritz Löhner-Beda, music by Paul Abraham
- 1932 Ball im Savoy, music by Paul Abraham
- 1932 Eine Frau, die weiß, was sie will, music by Oscar Straus
- 1937 Die polnische Hochzeit, music by Joseph Beer
- 1954 Arizona Lady, music by Emmerich Kálmán
External links
- Alfred Grunwald papers, 1907-2004, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
- 1884 births
- 1951 deaths
- Writers from Vienna
- Austrian operetta librettists
- Austrian male writers
- Austrian lyricists
- Austrian Jews
- Jewish writers
- American people of Austrian-Jewish descent
- Austrian emigrants to the United States
- Exilliteratur writers
- German male dramatists and playwrights
- 20th-century dramatists and playwrights