Ralph Benatzky

Ralph Benatzky was born as Rudolf Franz Josef Benatzky on 5 June 1884 in Mährisch Budwitz (at that time Austria-Hungary, now called Moravske Budejovice, Czech Republic). In 1899, he entered the Imperial and Royal Cadet School (k.u.k. Kadettenanstalt) in Vienna. After graduating, he was commissioned as a lieutenant in an infantry regiment in 1904 and was stationed in Prague and Kolomea. Owing to ill health, he was granted leave in 1907 and was permanently retired from military service in 1909.
Following his military career, Benatzky devoted himself to academic and musical studies. He studied German studies, philosophy, and music in Prague and Vienna and was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by the University of Vienna in 1910. After completing his studies in Prague and Vienna, he moved to Munich, where he completed his musical education under Felix Mottl.
After completing his studies, Benatzky devoted himself entirely to a musical career. He first gained recognition as a composer of cabaret songs and chansons before establishing himself as one of the leading figures of the German-language operetta. During the 1910s and 1920s he worked extensively in Vienna, Munich, Berlin, and Zurich as a composer, librettist, and theatre producer. His international breakthrough came in 1930 with the operetta "Im weißen Rössl", which became one of the greatest successes in the history of the genre and secured his worldwide reputation. Throughout the following years he composed for the musical stage, revues, films, and radio, collaborating with many of the leading lyricists, librettists, and performers of his time. Following the rise of National Socialism, Benatzky left Germany because of his Jewish wife and eventually emigrated to the United States in 1938. After the Second World War, he returned to Europe, settling primarily in Switzerland while continuing to compose and write memoirs and literary works.
Benatzky's compositional output includes numerous operettas, musical comedies, revues, stage works, film scores, incidental music, cabaret songs, chansons, popular songs, vocal works, and piano pieces. In addition to his theatre music, he composed orchestral works, chamber music, dance music, and arrangements, producing several hundred compositions over the course of his career, the majority of which were written for the musical stage and the popular theatre.
Ralph Benatzky died on 16 October 1957 in Zurich (Switzerland).

Der König mit dem Regenschirm

In my possession is the autograph full score of the operetta "Der König mit dem Regenschirm" by Ralph Benatzky. The manuscript is evidently the working manuscript, as in several places musical passages are missing with the note “transferred from the piano reduction,” and it contains exclusively the orchestral accompaniment, with the sung text completely omitted. The score is signed at the end and dated “4/11,” presumably referring to 4 November 1934.
The operetta "Der König mit dem Regenschirm" was composed during a period in which Ralph Benatzky had largely withdrawn from Germany and was living in Switzerland following the rise of the National Socialist regime. Unlike many of his earlier operettas, Benatzky wrote both the libretto and the music himself. The operetta received its world premiere on 18 April 1935 at the Theater in der Josefstadt in Vienna.