Marcel Prawy

Marcel Prawy, actually: Marcell Horace Frydmann Knights of Prawy ( born December 29, 1911 in Vienna, † February 23, 2003 ) was an Austrian dramaturg, opera connoisseur and opera critic.

After the fall of the Austro- Hungarian Empire of the family was lost with the nobility repeal Act 1919, the ennoblement. In October 1938 Prawy emigrated as Marcell Frydmann in the United States, where he called himself Horace Marcell Frydmann Prawy and 1941 was registered under the name Marcell Frydman - Prawy. On his return to Austria, he became known in 1955 under the name Marcel Prawy.

Life

Marcel Prawy came from a Jewish Hofbeamtenfamilie Polish origin, who had acquired in 1899 with his grandfather Marcell Frydmann the Austrian equestrian. Marcell Horace was the son of Richard Frydmann Knights of Prawy, Ministerial Counsellor at the Administrative Court. His mother, Marie, was born Mankiewicz took after the First World War, the life after rumors not silent, that Richard of Frydmann not the father of Prawy sister Edith. As a result, the young Prawy was brought to Czechoslovakia to his aunt Hedwig. [Note 1] When his father married again, Prawy came back to Vienna. After graduating at the high school Wasagasse in Vienna Alsergrund he studied law and received a doctorate in law.

Prawy passion was early opera. He attended musicological lectures at Egon Wellesz and was for many years a regular at the legendary standing in the pit of the Vienna State Opera. Prawy learned the tenor Jan Kiepura know and became his private secretary. In October 1938 Prawy could emigrate with Kiepura and his family over Rome in the United States and so escaped persecution by the Nazi regime. Even his father, he made ​​up for in the United States, while his sister Edith, who died in Denver in 2007, remained voluntarily in Vienna, where she temporarily lived underground. In exile, he took on the advice Kiepuras ( " Do you keep ugly and beautiful names thrown away? Take vice versa! " ) The name Prawy (Polish for " the righteous " ) was added, and called himself now Marcell Horace Frydmann Prawy.

After the Second World War Prawy 1946, as a cultural officer back to Vienna. In 1950 he quit the service in the U.S. armed forces and was record producer and organizer of musical evenings in the Cosmos cinema. From 1955 he was the artistic director at the Vienna Volksoper and brought in 1956, starting with Kiss Me, Kate, for the first time musicals from the U.S. to the European continent. At first encountered these productions in Vienna a lot of resistance, because they feared the end of the domestic operetta with the introduction of the American musical. Prawy yet had success and is therefore regarded as one who has made the musical presentable in German language. As a result, he brought more translations to the Volksoper, among others with Wonderful Town (1956 ) and West Side Story (1968 ) works of his friend Leonard Bernstein.

1972 should be an opera director of the Vienna State Opera, the then Minister Leopold Gratz but withdrew before Rudolf Gamsjager Prawy. He was "only" chief dramaturge of the Opera House. 1976 to 1982 he was full university professor of opera dramaturgy at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and lecturer in Theatre Studies at the University of Vienna and visiting professor at numerous American and Japanese universities. He became known through television and radio broadcasts, in which he introduced with business knowledge and humor his audience into the world of musical theater. Prawy was friends with many prominent singers and musicians such as Plácido Domingo, Leonard Bernstein or Robert Stolz. His special love was for the works of Richard Wagner. In his book, " thanks to you ... " My Richard -Wagner- book was his admiration for Wagner an exceptionally emotional expression.

The last decade of his life he lived very close to the State Opera in the Hotel Sacher. His extensive collection of music documents in the legendary plastic bags - preferably, the bright yellow of Billa, Spar and Loewa - which later were in his home and also in the hotel rooms, the city of Vienna was bequeathed. Few people succeeded so impressively to describe the opera as him. So Prawy was as an opera leader of the nation to an institution of the Vienna Opera.

Marcel Prawy buried at Vienna's Central Cemetery (Group 33 G, number 32) in a grave of honor of the city of Vienna. In April 2008 ( 22nd District ), the Marcel- Prawy promenade named after him in Vienna Danube city.

Awards

Anecdotal

The collaboration with the Polish tenor Jan Kiepura allegedly came into existence as: Kiepura had had legal problems with various contracts. When he heard of the young, opera enthusiastic lawyers Prawy, he said this in the Vienna State Opera: "Do you speak French? ". " Yes. " "Do you speak Italian? " " Yes. " "Do you speak Polish? " "No, but in two weeks I can learn it." " Learn. Do you want to be my secretary? "

Prawy mastered six languages ​​: German, English, French, Italian, Spanish and Polish.

Writings

• The Vienna Opera. History and stories. Molden, Vienna, 1969; 3, erg and revised. A. ibid. 1978, ISBN 3-217-00726-3.
• Johann Strauss. World history in waltz time. Molden, Vienna, 1975; Goldmann, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-442-26710-2.
• " Thanks to you ... " My Richard -Wagner- book. Goldmann, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-442-10191-3.
• Marcel Prawy talks about his life. Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1996; 6, revised. and ext. A. ibid. 2002, ISBN 3-218-00690-2.