On July 12, 1985, Oscar Hammerstein II was born into a show business family. Residing in New York New York, his father and uncle, Willie and Arthur Hammerstein, were successful theater managers, and his grandfather, Oscar Hammerstein I, was a famous opera impresario. His father was not supportive of his son’s desire to participate in the arts, even though it was the business most of his family was involved in. Because of his father’s decision, Oscar he was a great man Hammerstein studied at Columbia University, focusing on pre-law. It was not until his father’s death during his second year at school that Hammerstein began writing lyrics. From here, he began writing and performing in many of their varsity shows. He enjoyed this so much that he dropped out of Columbia University to pursue a career in theater as an assistant stage manager with his Uncle Arthur.
Following created the modern musical that we all know and love. Before they became Rodgers and Hammerstein, they were simply Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, both of New York City. Hammerstein, born in 1895, was brought up in a theatrical family. His father was an “operatic impresario”, otherwise known as an opera director or manager. Wildflower, Hammerstein had the opportunity to work with famous composers, such as Jerome Kern, Rudolph Friml, and Irving Berlin.
Through collaborations with these composers Hammerstein won fame and popularity for shows like Rose-Marie, Desert Song, and New Moon. Hammerstein and Kern paired up and wrote several successful musicals over the next decade; the most famous was Show Boat. The dramatic content was strong, and the music gave it a deeper meaning. According to PBS, “Show Boat firmly established Oscar’s success and reputation a...
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...rming Arts, “Hammerstein also served as a mentor to Alan Jay Lerner, and to Stephen Sondheim, who met Hammerstein when he was still very young. Sondheim credits his success with the lyrics to West Side Story to Hammerstein’s influence and guidance.” He was very influential and provided wisdom and guidance to these men. Hammerstein said, “You got to have a dream. If you don’t have a dream, how you going to make a dream come true?” He always had a passion for the arts and shared this with all who were interested.
Oscar Hammerstein II died on August 23, 1960, at his home in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, of stomach cancer. Because of his accomplishments and contributions to theater, people mourned worldwide when he passed away. The lights of Times Square in New York City and the West End theatre district in London were dimmed in recognition of his contribution to theater.
At ten years old, Sondheim moved to Pennsylvania and became neighbors with the famous musical theatre composer, Oscar Hammerstein II. The families became great friends, and Sondheim became Hammerstein’s personal assistant, enabling him to learn great musical techniques from a professional composer. As a 15-year-old Stephen Sondheim composed his first musical, and he put the show on at his high
The partnership of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein was made possible by Richard Rodgers’ partner, Hart, becoming increasingly difficult to get back to work. Rodgers wished to adapt the play Green Grow the Lilacs into a musical, but Hart wasn’t interested in the show. So, Rodgers took Oscar Hammerstein up on his offer to collaborate on a project. That project turned out to be the successful musical Oklahoma!
Even before our team met to go over our ideas on what direction we were going with South Pacific I decided to sit down and read the libretto. I was already decently familiar with South Pacific, but I decided to watch the 1949 musical as well. I felt comfortable with the material and I sat down to start some background on the play. I quickly found information that the play had been based off of a book by James Michener called Tales of the South Pacific, so I picked it up and decided to skim through it and see the stories behind the musical. Pursuing the internet a little bit more I found the story behind how Rodgers and Hammerstein came to know Tales of the South Pacific. Based off of this and the background from reading the novel I wrote a background paragraph with this information and included the production history. While I found a decent amount on the history, I could not find any specific
Horowitz, Mark Eden. "The Craft Of Making Art: The Creative Processes Of Eight Musical Theatre Songwriters." Studies In Musical Theatre 7.2 (2013): 261-283.Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
"Agnes De Mille :: Rodgers & Hammerstein :: Bio Details." Agnes De Mille :: Rodgers & Hammerstein :: Bio Details. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Oct. 2013.
Composer-lyricist-librettist of RENT, a rock opera inspired by "La Bohème", Jonathan Larson was born in Mt. Vernon, New York, and raised in suburban White Plains, the second child of Allan and Nanette Larson. Both Jonathan's parents loved music and theatre, and show tunes and folk music were always playing in their home. Jon and his sister Julie took piano lessons during elementary school. He could play by ear, and his teacher encouraged him to experiment with rhythm, harmony, and setting words. By high school, he was called the "Piano Man" after the enormously popular song of that title by Billy Joel; he also played tuba in the school marching band. Active in school and community theatre, Jonathan had major roles in several musicals.
Leonard Bernstein was born on August 25, 1918 in Lawrence, Massachusetts, the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants. Leonard's father, Samuel immigrated to America in 1908 at the age of sixteen from the Russian province of Volhynia where he came from a long line of rabbis. (Gradenwitz 1987: 20)
The Five, The Mighty Handful, and The New Russian School all depict the five Russian composers who came together in 1856-57 in St Petersburg. Their ultimate goal was to portray and produce a Russian style of music , and this is exactly what they would accomplish. Though one of "The Five" goes farther than this with his works, this being Modest Mussorgsky. Mussorgsky was a composer born march 21st 1839, with one of the most controversial names and spellings of a name. He was born to wealthy land owners and was raised for the military life. Studying piano at a young age in St. Petersburg, then later arriving at a cadet school.
George Gershwin, born in Brooklyn, New York on 26 September 1898, was born the second of four children of Morris and Rose Gershovitz, Russians who immigrated to New York in 1891. George and his family lived on Manhattan's lower east side in a poor Jewish community. After settling down in New York, his father changed the family name to Gershvin. It was George who later altered his last name to Gershwin when he entered the professional world of music. Most of his family was not musically talented, but his brother Ira became a wonderful well-known musician.
successful lyricist. Also, it was Ira’s interest in music that made their parents purchase the
On September 26, 1898 George Gershwin was born to the Gershowitz family as Jacob Gershowitz. The Gershowitzs' were an immigrant family that lived in Brooklyn, NY at the time. His parents, Morris and Rose, were Russian immigrants that owned a restaurant. George was the second of four children with older brother Ira, younger sister Francis, and younger brother Arthur. Over time, George accepted being called Gershwin instead of Gershowitz and eventually changed his name to it.
It was a sad and tragic end to a life that had so deeply affected the evolution of the big band music era. His life was considered to be valued amongst the famous vocalists of the 1940’s, ranging from the great Bing Crosby to the first lady of jazz, Ella Fitzgerald. Frank Albert Sinatra, a passion driven and timeless soul, became the voice of a century thanks to his authentic, charismatic voice suited with such clarity and beloved dictation. He was a man who expanded a young nations love for the craft of jazz music, and by using such a craft he was able to show his “true colors” on and off the stage. He was 82 years old when he had passed away on May 14th, 1998 because of a second heart attack that derived from a combination of heart and kidney diseases along with his gravely growing dementia that had come with age.
Richard Wagner was born on May 22nd 1813 in Leipzig, Germany to Friedrich and Johanna Wagner. His father later died that same year in October from typhoid fever and Ludwig Geyer, who was a close friend to the family, became Wagner’s adoptive father after marrying Wagner’s mother on August 28th 1814. ½ Wagner began his formal studies in Dresden in December of 1822, but he was much less interested in school studies than he was in aspects of music and theatre. Eventually he enrolled in Leipzig University to study music in February of 1831. 3 Wagner’s first professional career was being a chorus master at a theatre in Wurzburg from 1833 to 1834. However upon return to Leipzig in 1834 he met Heinrich Laube, and became involved with the literary and political movement Junges Deutschland, and began to follow not only musical philosophies such as the rejection of the classicalism of Mozart but also a favoritism towards hedonism and sensuality, straying away from Catholic Morality. From there Wagner held many positions and traveled to many places, including musical director for a traveling theatre company where he met his future wife Christine Wilhelmine Planer, who was one of the lead singers of the company.
Musical theatre is a type of theatrical performance combining music, dance, acting and spoken dialogue. Written by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, ‘West Side Story’ is a classic American musical based on William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’. The through-composed score and lyrics are used to portray different characters and their cultures, the rivalry between the Jets and Sharks, and the emotions felt as the story progresses. This essay will be exploring the music and how effective the score is in realising the world and characters of the musical. Furthermore, it will discuss how Bernstein and Sondheim relate characters’ diverse ethnicities to particular musical ideas and motifs.
Cole Porter has been know as a musical theater composer and lyricist. He was born in Peru, Indiana on June 6, 1891. Throughout his life, he has been written many and many pieces of music, mainly focusing on musicals theater music type. Cole Porter’s family was not as much as supporting him on his way becoming a musician. “As his grandfather didn't want him to have a career in music, Porter was dispatched to Harvard's law school.” In the later years, he makes his decision to still keeping on studying music without the support and permission of his grandfather. His mother though, Katie Cole Porter, was supporting him and helping him published his first song at his age of eleven. Cole’s Mother and Grandfather had many arguments on his future