Franz Lehár was an Austro-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas.
Lehár was born in the northern part of Komárom, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary (now Komárno, Slovakia), the eldest son of Franz Lehár (senior) (1838–1888), an Austrian bandmaster in the Infantry Regiment No. 50 of the Austro-Hungarian Army and Christine Neubrandt (1849–1906), a Hungarian woman from a family of German descent. He grew up speaking only Hungarian until the age of 12.
While his younger brother Anton entered cadet school in Vienna to become a professional officer, Franz studied violin and composition at the Prague Conservatory, where his violin teacher was Antonín Bennewitz, but was advised by Antonín Dvořák to focus on composing music. After graduation in 1899 he joined his father's band in Vienna, as assistant bandmaster. In 1902 he became conductor at the historic Vienna Theater an der Wien, where his first opera Wiener Frauen was performed in November of that year.
He is most famous for his operettas, among which are Die Lustige Witwe, Der Graf von Luxemburg, Paganini, Das Land des Lächeln and Giuditta; but he also wrote sonatas, symphonic poems, marches, and a number of waltzes, some of which were drawn from his famous operettas. 

In 1947, his wife Sofia died in Zurich. The next year, severely ill and almost blind, he died aged 78 in Bad Ischl, near Salzburg, and was buried there.