English Summary: With the Merry Widow, Franz Lehar created a new form of operetta, the stylistic spectrum of which ranged from the street buzzer to the musical drama. In the present biography, Stefan Frey traces Lehar's life from the heyday of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy to the Third Reich, where, as Hitler's favorite composer, he got between all fronts with his Jewish wife. German Description: Als pragende Figur der Operette...