Richard Rogers (1902-1979)

### Introduction:

Richard Rodgers was born on June 28, 1902 in America. He was known for composing music for more than 900 songs and 43 Broadway musicals, as well as composing music for film and television. He is also well known, for his partnerships with lyricist Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II. He was a composer, songwriter, and playwright and was the first person to win the top awards for show business: an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony.

He was born to a German Jewish family in Queens, New York City. He was the son of Dr. William Abrahams Rodgers, a well known physician of the time. He began playing the piano at the age of six, and spent his summers at Camp Wigwan in Maine, where he first began composing music. He attended Columbia University along with Lorenz Hart, and Oscar Hammerstein, which is where they first met each other. Here, Rodgers joined the fraternity Pi Lambda Phi, but in 1921 he changed schools. He went to the Institute of Musical art (which is now known as Juilliard School). He was always fascinated with the operettas he saw on Broadway as a young boy, which was a major influence for him.

### Career:

#### Rodgers and Hart:

Rodgers met Hart in 1919, and became partners. They struggled writing amateur musical comedies. They finally made their professional debut with the song "Any Old Place With You," which was featured in the Broadway musical, *A Lonely Romeo.* Now that they have made a name for their-selves, they put on their first professional musical *Poor Little Ritz Girl,* in 1920. Their next professional show was three years later, *The Melody Man.*

Out of college, Rodgers became a musical director for Lew Fields. He was considering leaving show business forever, until him and Hart had their major break through in 1925. They wrote the songs for a benefit show that was put on by the Theatre Guild, which was called *The Garrick Gaieties.* The most famous song in the show, that is understood to have made the two famous, was "Manhattan". Over the next ten years, the two wrote many musicals, and songs, keeping their success active. The two moved out west to California, during the Great Depression, to stay relevant. Rodgers, later admitted that he regretted these years of his life, even though some of his most famous pieces written with Hart were written here. In 1935, the two returned to Broadway, and wrote a string of hit musicals including: *Jumbo (1935), Toes (1936), Babes in Arms (1937),* and many others.

#### Rodgers and Hammerstein:

The duo started having troubles because of Hart's declining health. This led to Rodgers reaching out to Oscar Hammerstein II, and teaming up with him. They wrote their first musical together, *Oklahoma!* (1943), which began the most successful partnership in American musical theatre history. They went on to write four more hits that were all considered the most popular musicals. These four musicals were each made into their own movie: *Carousel (1945), South Pacific (1949), The Kind and I (1951), The Sound of Music (1959).* These musicals were what started the Golden Age of Musicals.

The two received many awards, including a total of 35 Tony Awards, 15 Academy Awards, 2 Pulitzer Prizes, 2 Grammy Awards, and two Emmy Awards. After Hammerstein's death in 1960, Rodgers began writing his own music and lyrics for songs. He worked with other well known Musical Theatre composers, such as Stephen Sondheim. Rodgers died on December 30, 1979 at the age of 77. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the ocean. In his honor, the 46th Street Theatre was renamed "The Richard Rodgers Theatre". In 1999 Rodgers and Hart were both honored by being put on the United States postage stamps. In 2002, Rodger's hundredth birthday was celebrated worldwide with the performance of *Oklahoma!.*

### Works we Heard:

The Sound of Music compilation performed by the Japanese Flute Ensemble

(This is not their piece, however; I thought that the Overture from the Musical would be a good filler to get the music across)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7pxbCAHyi4

### Observations:

This piece was very fin to listen to. It was the first piece that I actually knew, and could easily hum along. It was really fun to try and pick out which song from the soundtrack they were playing. The execution of the piece was very solid, and it was extremely well done, in my opinion. Each movement they played, it was clear which song they were playing. The only thing that was off were their transitions, which was not their fault. The music itself was just written with strange sounding interludes that would connect each song together. They had very powerful crescendos at the best moments of the piece, that gave me goosebumps. They really focused on getting the powerful music across, which in turn was great. It was so well done, and I love that they chose to do a musical theatre piece.

### Works Cited:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7pxbCAHyi4

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard\_Rodgers

https://www.biography.com/people/richard-rodgers-37431

http://www.notablebiographies.com/Pu-Ro/Rodgers-Richard.html