Frederic Franklin and Franz Allers, Ghost Town, cropped

Franz Allers (August 6, 1905 - January 26, 1995) was a European-American conductor of ballet, opera, Broadway

musicals Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

, film scores, and

symphony orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, ce ...

Early life

Franz Allers was born in

Carlsbad Carlsbad may refer to: *Carlsbad, California, United States *Carlsbad, New Mexico, United States *Carlsbad, Texas, United States *Karlovy Vary Karlovy Vary (; german: Karlsbad, formerly also spelled ''Carlsbad'' in English) is a spa town, spa ...

, Austria-Hungary (now Czech Republic) in 1905. He started playing the violin at the age of 7. In 1920, he moved to Berlin, where he became a violinist in the Berlin Philharmonic. He had a distinguished career in Europe as an opera and symphonic conductor.

Career

In 1947, Allers conducted the original Broadway production of '' Brigadoon''. He conducted the original 1951 Broadway production of '' Paint Your Wagon''. He was the music director for ''

My Darlin' Aida '' My Darlin’ Aida '' is a 1952 Broadway musical play with music by Giuseppe Verdi, lyrics by Charles Friedman, based on Verdi's opera, Aida. It was produced by Robert L. Joseph. Production ''My Darlin’ Aida'' premiered on Broadway at the Wi ...

'' the following year, and in 1954 he conducted the score for the animated film ''Hansel & Gretel''. Allers conducted the score to the original Broadway production of '' My Fair Lady'' in 1957, and would go on to win the Tony Award for Best Conductor and Musical Director. Allers received a nomination at the

1960 Grammy Awards The 2nd Annual Grammy Awards were held on November 29, 1959, at Los Angeles and New York. Hosted by Meredith Willson, this marked the first televised Grammy Award ceremony, and it was aired in episodes as special ''Sunday Showcase''. It was held i ...

in the category of

Best Recording for Children The Grammy Award for Best Children's Album (from 2020: Grammy Award for Best Children's Music Album) is an honor presented since 2012 at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Hono ...

for the film soundtrack of ''Hansel & Gretel''. However, Allers lost out to

Peter Ustinov Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov (born Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov ; 16 April 192128 March 2004) was a British actor, filmmaker and writer. An internationally known raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits ...

's '' Peter & the Wolf'' (with Herbert von Karajan conducting the

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, W ...

). In 1961, Allers conducted the original Broadway production of '' Camelot'', which won him a second Tony Award for Best Conductor and Musical Director. On October 1, 1961, a German translation of '' My Fair Lady'' opened at the

Theater des Westens The Theater des Westens (Theatre of the West) is one of the most famous theatres for musicals and operettas in Berlin, Germany, located at 10–12 in Charlottenburg. It was founded in 1895 for plays. The present house was opened in 1896 and dedi ...

in Berlin, conducted by Allers.

Personal life

Allers moved to the United States in 1938. He met his first wife, singer Carolyn Shaffer, in Chicago in 1939. While working on Broadway, Allers, his wife and their daughter, Carol, lived in Riverdale, New York. In later life, he moved back to Germany and lived in Munich with his second wife, German actress/playwright

Janne Furch-Allers Janne Furch (1915–1992, nee Ertel) was a German screenwriter.Bergfelder p.254 She also acted in three films early in her career. She was married to the conductor Franz Allers. Selected filmography * ''Dear Miss Doctor'' (1954) * ''Homesick for ...

(née Ertel). She died in 1992 at the age of 76. In 1995, Allers died from complications from pneumonia at the Desert Springs Hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada while traveling to California. He was 89. According to his ''New York Times'' obituary, "Allers, along with the conductor Maurice Abravanel, 'completely revised the standards of Broadway pit work,' demanding the highest quality from both the orchestra players and the singers."

Awards and nominations

* 1957 Tony Award for Best Conductor and Musical Director – '' My Fair Lady'' * 1960 Grammy Award nomination for

– ''Hansel & Gretel'' * 1961 Tony Award for Best Conductor and Musical Director – ''Camelot''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Allers, Franz American male conductors (music) Tony Award winners 1905 births 1995 deaths 20th-century American conductors (music) 20th-century American male musicians Czechoslovak emigrants to the United States