Noel Coward, one of England’s most brilliant and versatile men of the
theater in the 20th century, was born in Teddington, on December 16,
1899. He made his stage debut in 1911 in a fairy play, and for the next
few years appeared regularly in various other productions. His career as
performer was interrupted by military service during World War I. After
the war he decided upon a career as writer. His first major success came
with the play _The Vortex_, in 1924. From then on he wrote dramas and
comedies which placed him in the front rank of contemporary playwrights.
But his achievements in the theater do not end here. He has also
distinguished himself as an actor, night-club entertainer, producer,
lyricist, composer, and on occasion even as a conductor. He wrote the
texts, lyrics, and the music to several musical productions, the most
famous of which is the operetta, _Bitter Sweet_, in 1929. Other musicals
by Coward include _Year of Grace_ (1928), _Words and Music_ (1932),
_Conversation Piece_ (1934) and _After the Ball_ (1954). Out of some of
these have come such celebrated Coward songs as “Mad About the Boy,”
“Mad Dogs and Englishmen,” “Some Day I’ll Find You” and “I’ll Follow My
Secret Heart.” An anthology of fifty-one Noel Coward songs from his
various musical productions called _The Noel Coward Song Book_ was
published in New York in 1953. Never having received any musical
training, Coward can play the piano only in a single key, and must call
upon the services of an amanuensis to get his melodies down on paper.
_Bitter Sweet_ is his most famous musical, first produced in London on
July 18, 1929, and in New York on November 5, 1929. It was twice adapted
for motion-pictures, the first time in 1933 in England, and the second
time in 1940 in the United States in a production starring Jeanette
MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. In _Bitter Sweet_, Noel Coward made a
conscious effort at writing a romantic, sentimental, nostalgic operetta
in the style so long favored in Vienna; indeed it was a hearing of a
recording of Johann Strauss’ _Die Fledermaus_ that proved to be the
immediate stimulus in the writing of his text. The setting is for the
most part Vienna, and the time the 1880’s. Sari, an English girl, is
about to marry an English man of means when she suddenly decides to
elope with Carl, a music teacher. They go to live in Vienna. Carl comes
to his sudden death in a duel, after which Sari continues to live in
Vienna where she becomes a famous singer. In her old age, after an
absence of half a century, she returns to London.
Three melodies from _Bitter Sweet_ have become extremely popular. The
first is a nostalgic waltz, “I’ll See You Again,” from the first act,
the love song of Sari and Carl; the song recurs again in the third act,
and its closing measures serve to bring the play to a dramatic
conclusion. “Zigeuner,” also sung by Sari is, as its name suggests, in
the gypsy style so favored by the Viennese public. The third famous
melody from _Bitter Sweet_ is “If Love Were All.”
“I’ll Follow My Secret Heart” comes from _Conversation Piece_, first
produced in London on February 16, 1934, and in New York the same fall.
The setting of this sentimental and nostalgic operetta is the English
resort town of Brighton in 1811 where Paul, a duke turned adventurer,
and Melanie, a Parisian chanteuse, are involved in a stormy romance that
ends happily. As sung by Yvonne Printemps in London, “I’ll Follow My
Secret Heart” was the pivot on which the story rotated, and the main
reason for this operetta’s enormous success.