Richard Fall
Richard Fall was born on 3 April 1882 in Jevicko (at that time Moravia, today Czech Republic). His father was the composer and kapellmeister Moritz Fall, his two older brothers the composers Leo Fall (1873-1925) and Siegfried Fall (1877-1943). And also Richard Fall took the same path and studied music mainly under his father and oldest brother Leo.
Richard Fall started his musical career as a kapellmeister in Berlin in 1908. A year later he moved to Vienna and worked in the same position first at the Johann-Strauß-Theater (until 1916), then at the Apollotheater. In addition Richard Fall also composed music and made his mark as an operetta and revue composer. Among his operettas are "Der Weltenbummler", "Die Dame von Welt", "Großstadtmärchen", "Die Glocken von Paris" and revues like "Hallo! Hier Grünbaum!". Richard Fall became especially popular with his hit songs "Was machst du mit dem Knie, lieber Hans?" (1925) and "Wo sind deine Haare, August?" (1926). Since 1930 Richard Fall also worked in Hollywood (USA) and composed film music for the Fox Film Corporation. During this time he wrote the music for the movies “Liliom”, “East Lynne” and “Merely Mary Ann”. He returned to Vienna in 1932 and composed music for the films "Sehnsucht 202" and "Une jeune fille et un million". In the 1930s the music of Richard Fall was performed less and less and after the annexation of Austria through Nazi Germany in 1938 he had to flee to Paris. There is some uncertainty where Richard Fall spent the following years, but it is fact that he was arrested by the Nazis on 17 November 1943 in Nizza. A few days later he was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Richard Fall was murdered there very likely in early 1945.
In my possession are two autograph manuscripts by Richard Fall. Both works are operettas and both works seem to be unknown so far in the work catalogue of Richard Fall. The works are:
1) Der Mann mit den hundert Gesichtern
The operetta "Der Mann mit den hundert Gesichtern" (The man with the hundred faces) consists of 3 acts. The libretto was written by Rudolph Schanzer and Ernst Welisch. My manuscript is the piano reduction of the complete operetta. The manuscript is not dated, but contains stamps of the "Wiener Boheme-Verlag" and so must have been in the possession of the publishing house. The stamp gives the address "Rechte Wienzeile 33", a location that was used since 1922. The Wiener Boheme-Verlag was closed down in 1941. Another indication for a dating might be the fact that Leo Fall, the brother of Richard, worked together with the librettists Schanzer/Welisch in 1922 for his operetta "Madame Pompadour". Having all this in mind it seems a reasonable guess that Richard Fall composed his operetta "Der Mann mit den hundert Gesichtern" around 1925.
2) Terzett
The composition "Terzett" is subtilted "Eine kleine musikalische Komödie" (A small musical comedy) and uses a libretto by Gustav Beer and Fritz Lunzer. Again the manuscript is the piano reduction and again undated. But the libretto duo Beer/Lunzer was mainly active in the late 1920s (with libretti for Robert Stolz and Eduard Künneke). In the early 1930s Richard Fall was in America and both Gustav Beer and Richard Fall emigrated in 1938. This in mind it seems likely that "Terzett" was composed around 1925.
