Josef Szulc

Josef Zygmunt Szulc (4 April 1875, Warsaw, Warsaw Governorate, Russian Empire – 10 April 1956, Paris, France) was a composer and conductor. He also used the pseudonym Jan Sulima. Life Szulc was born in Poland to a musical family. His first cousins were the conductor and composer Ignatz Waghalter and the renowned cellist Henryk Waghalter. Szulc began his formal training as a pianist at the Warszawa Conservatory under Moszkowski. He also lived in Berlin briefly (using the name Joseph Schultz) and later moved to Paris to complete his studies in conducting and composition in 1899, converting the spelling of his first name to Joseph. At the conservatoire he trained under Jules Massenet. In 1903 he moved to Brussels, where he was made chief conductor at the Théâtre de la Monnaie and saw instant success with his ballet Ispahan and several tunes. His wife, Suzy Delsart, was an operetta star (operette divette) and sang the title role of The Merry Widow by Franz Lehár and also influenced her husband into writing lighter and more popular tunes. In 1907 he completed the music for Marcel Gerbidon’s operetta, Flossie or Je m’appelle Flossie. In 1908 he adapted Pierre Veber’s comedy Loute, then i