Benatzky, Ralph [Rudolph Josef Frantisek]

(b Mahrisch-Budweis [now Moravske--Budejovice, Czech Republic], 5 June 1884; d Zurich, 16 Oct 1957). Austrian-Moravian composer. In 1890 his family moved to Vienna, where he took up a military career which injury forced him to abandon in 1907. He then studied in Vienna, Prague and Munich, gaining a doctorate in German philology in 1911 and studying music with Mottl. Benatzky began a musical career as a writer of song lyrics and as conductor in Munich, before becoming director of a cabaret in Vienna and writing words and music for songs, particularly for the singer Josma Selim whom he married in 1914. These songs included the Viennese Ich muss wieder einmal in Grinzing sein (1915), and Benatzky also composed several operettas before moving to Berlin. There he concentrated on music for spectacular revue-style operettas, including Casanova (a Johann Strauss pastiche, 1928) and Im weissen Rossl ('White Horse Inn', 1930). For the latter work Benatzky wrote the bulk of the score including the title song, but others of the best-known numbers were by Robert Stolz, Robert Gilbert and Bruno Granichstaedten. Benatzky's first wife died in 1930, and in 1933 he left Germany, moving to Paris, Vienna, Hollywood (1940) and Zurich (1948). He was buried in St Wolfgang, the setting of Im weissen Rossl. Apart from his stage music Benatzky composed some film scores, and is estimated to have produced over 5000 songs. His style was unambitious but catered admirably for the tastes of the time.

OPERETTAS
(selective list)
Casanova (3, R. Schanzer and E. Welisch), Berlin, Grosses Schauspielhaus, 1 Sept 1928 [arr. of music by J. Strauss, II]; Die drei Musketiere (2, Schanzer and Welisch, after A. Dumas pere), Berlin, Grosses Schauspielhaus, 28 Sept 1929; Meine Schwester und ich (2, R. Blum and Benatzky, after G. Berr and L. Verneuil: Ma soeur et moi), Berlin, Komodienhaus, 29 March 1930; Im weissen Rossl (3, H. Muller and R. Gilbert, after O. Blumenthal and G. Kadelburg), Berlin, Grosses Schauspielhaus, 8 Nov 1930; incl. songs by Gilbert, R. Stolz and B. Granichstaedten
Bezauberndes Fraulein! (4, Benatzky, after P. Gavault: La petite chocolatiere), Vienna, Deutsches Volkstheater, 24 May 1933; Axel an der Himmelstur (3, P. Morgan, A. Schutz and H. Wiegel), Vienna, An der Wien, 1 Sept 1936; Der Silberhof (Benatzky, after C. Birch-Pfeiffer: Grille), Mainz, Stadttheater, 4 Nov 1941

BIBLIOGRAPHY
GanzlEMT [incl. complete list of operettas]
O. Schneidereit: Operette von Abraham bis Ziehrer (Berlin, 1966)
R. Traubner: Operetta: a Theatrical History (New York, 1983)
V. Klotz: 'Nach-Kakanische Operette um '33 und '38 Beispiel von Emmerich Kalman und Ralf Benatzky', Osterreichische Musiker im Exil, ed. M. Wildauer (Kassel, 1990)
H. Hennenberg: 'Es Muss was Wunderbares sein...' (Vienna, 1997) [biography]
 

ANDREW LAMB