Biography
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Born
25 August 1880
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Born In
Graz, Steiermark, Austria
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Died
27 June 1975 (aged 94)
Robert Elisabeth Stolz (August 25, 1880 – June 27, 1975) was an Austrian songwriter and conductor as well as a composer of operettas and film music.
The great-nephew of the soprano Teresa Stolz, he was born of musical parents in Graz. His father was a conductor and his mother a concert pianist. He studied at the Vienna Conservatory with Robert Fuchs and Englebert Humperdinck.
Around 1930, he started to compose music for films, such as the first German sound film Zwei Herzen im Dreivierteltakt (Two Hearts in 3/4 Time), of which the title-waltz rapidly became a popular favourite. Some earlier Stolz compositions, such as "Adieu, mein kleiner Gardeoffizier" from his operetta Die lustigen Weiber von Wien, became known to wider audiences through the medium of film.
In America, Stolz achieved fame with his concerts of Viennese music, starting with "A Night in Vienna" at Carnegie Hall. As a result, he received many invitations to compose music for shows and films, and he received two Academy Awards nominations: "Waltzing in the Clouds" was nominated for Best Original Song in 1941, and his score for It Happened Tomorrow was nominated for Best Dramatic or Comedy Picture Score in 1945.
In 1970, to mark his 90th birthday, he was made an Honorary Citizen of Vienna. He was also awarded Vienna's Grand Medal of Honour, being only the second musician ever to be so honoured (after Richard Strauss). He also appeared on a series of commemorative Austrian postage stamps.
After his death in Berlin, Robert Stolz received the honour of a lying-in-state in the foyer of the Vienna State Opera House. He was buried near Johannes Brahms and Johann Strauss II in Vienna's Zentralfriedhof and a statue to him was erected in the Wiener Stadtpark.
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