Die Dollarprinzessin (The Dollar Princess)

Leo Fall was born in Olmütz (Moravia) in 1873 and died in Vienna in 1925. As with Lehár, his father was the conductor of an imperial military band. Having inherited the same musical talent, he began playing the violin at the age of five - a further parallel to Lehár - and later studied at the Vienna Academy of Music. In the course of his life he worked in Berlin, where he made his debut as a conductor in 1895, Hamburg and Cologne, before returning to Vienna via Berlin. Throughout his career he worked as a conductor. It was not until his return to Vienna that he began writing operettas. His works are among the best of the Vienna operettas's second generation. The "Dollar Princess", written in 1907, the same year as "The Merry Peasant" (Der fidele Bauer), is one of his most successful works. The music abounds in fascinating ideas and captivates through its charm and liveliness.