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.