Richard Rodgers was born in Hammels Station, near Arverne, Long Island,
on June 28, 1902. As a child he began studying the piano and attending
the popular musical theater. He wrote his first songs in 1916, a score
for an amateur musical in 1917, and in 1919 created the music for the
Columbia Varsity Show, the first freshman ever to do so. Meanwhile he
had initiated a collaborative arrangement with the lyricist, Lorenz
Hart, that lasted almost a quarter of a century. Their first song to
reach the Broadway theater was “Any Old Place With You” in _A Lonely
Romeo_ in 1919. Their first Broadway musical was _The Poor Little Ritz
Girl_ in 1920, and their first success came with _The Garrick Gaieties_
in 1925 where the song, “Manhattan,” was introduced. For the next twenty
years, Rodgers and Hart—frequently with Herbert Fields as
librettist—dominated the musical stage with some of the most original
and freshly conceived musical productions of that period: _Dearest
Enemy_ (1925), _The Girl Friend_ (1926), _Peggy-Ann_ (1926), _A
Connecticut Yankee_ (1927), _On Your Toes_ (1936), _Babes in Arms_
(1937), _I’d Rather Be Right_ (1937), _I Married an Angel_ (1938), _The
Boys from Syracuse_ (1938), and _Pal Joey_ (1940). From these and other
productions came hundreds of songs some of which have since become
classics in American popular music. The best of these were “Here In My
Arms,” “Blue Room,” “My Heart Stood Still,” “My Romance,” “The Most
Beautiful Girl in the World,” “There’s a Small Hotel,” “Where or When,”
“My Funny Valentine,” “Spring Is Here,” “Falling in Love With Love,” “I
Could Write a Book” and “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.”
_By Jupiter_, in 1942, was the last of the Rodgers and Hart musicals.
Hart’s physical and moral disintegration made it necessary for Rodgers
to seek out a new collaborator. He found him in Oscar Hammerstein II,
with whom Rodgers embarked on a new and even greater career as composer
for the theater. Their first collaboration was _Oklahoma!_ in 1943, an
unprecedented box-office triumph, and a production that revolutionized
the musical stage by crystallizing the concept and procedures of the
musical play as opposed to the musical comedy. After that Rodgers and
Hammerstein brought to the stage such classics as _Carousel_, _South
Pacific_, and _The King and I_. Other Rodgers and Hammerstein
productions were _Allegro_ (1947), _Me and Juliet_ (1953), _Pipe Dream_
(1955), _The Flower Drum Song_ (1958) and _The Sound of Music_ (1959).
Among the most famous songs by Rodgers from these productions—besides
those from musical plays discussed below—were “A Fellow Needs a Girl,”
“No Other Love,” “Everybody’s Got a Home But Me,” “All at Once You Love
Her,” “I Enjoy Being a Girl,” “Do, Re, Mi,” “The Sound of Music” and
“Climb Every Mountain.” The collaboration of Rodgers and Hammerstein
ended in 1960 with the death of the lyricist.
_Oklahoma!_, _Carousel_, _South Pacific_, and _The King and I_ have
become enduring monuments in the American theater. They are continually
revived, have been adapted for motion pictures, and are perpetually
represented at semi-classical concerts and on records. In whatever form
they appear they never fail to excite and inspire audiences. It is in
these productions that Rodgers has reached the highest creative
altitudes of his career, with music of such expressive lyricism,
dramatic impact, consummate technical skill, and pervading charm and
grace that its survival in American music seems assured. Robert Russell
Bennett has made skilful orchestral adaptations of the basic melodic
material from each of these musical plays, and it is most usually these
adaptations that are most frequently performed by pop and semi-classical
orchestras.
_Carousel_ is the second of the Rodgers and Hammerstein masterworks,
succeeding _Oklahoma!_ by about two years. It is one of the most radiant
ornaments of our musical stage. Oscar Hammerstein II here adapted Ferenc
Molnar’s play, _Liliom_, with changes in setting, time, and some basic
alterations of plot. In the musical version the action takes place in
New England in 1873. Billy Bigelow, a barker in an amusement park, falls
in love and marries Julie Jordan. A charming but irresponsible young
man, Billy decides to get some money in a holdup, when he learns his
wife is pregnant. Caught, Billy eludes arrest by committing suicide.
After a brief stay in Purgatory, Billy is permitted to return to earth
for a single day to achieve redemption, the price for his admission to
Heaven. On earth, he meets his daughter. Through her love, understanding
and forgiveness he achieves his redemption. Thus the musical ends in a
happy glow of love and compassion whereas Molnar’s original play ended
on the tragic note of frustration.
_Carousel_ opened in New York on April 19, 1945. John Chapman described
it as “one of the finest musical plays I have ever seen, and I shall
remember it always.” It received the Drama Critics Award and eight
Donaldson Awards. Since then it has often been revived besides being
adapted for the screen; in 1958 it was presented at the World’s Fair in
Brussels.
The heartwarming glow that pervades the play in Hammerstein’s moving
dialogue and lyrics was magically caught in the score, which begins with
an extended waltz sequence for orchestra. In the play this music is
heard under the opening scene which represents an amusement park
dominated by a gay carousel. This waltz music is a self-sufficient
composition that can be, and often is, played independently of the other
excerpts. The other main musical episodes include the love duet of Billy
and Julie, “If I Loved You”; Billy’s eloquent and extended narrative,
“Soliloquy,” when he learns he is about to become a father; the
spiritual “You’ll Never Walk Alone”; the ebullient “June Is Bustin’ Out
All Over”; two vigorous choral episodes, “Blow High, Blow Low” and “This
Was a Real Nice Clambake.”
_The King and I_, presented on March 29, 1951, was adapted by Oscar
Hammerstein II from Margaret Landon’s novel _Anna and the King of Siam_
(which had already been made into a successful non-musical motion
picture starring Rex Harrison and Irene Dunne). Anna, played in the
musical by Gertrude Lawrence, is an English schoolmistress come to Siam
to teach Western culture to the royal princes and princesses. Her own
strong will and Western independence comes into sharp conflict with the
king, an Eastern despot enacted by Yul Brynner. But they are nonetheless
drawn to each other, partly through curiosity, partly through
admiration. Naturally, since they are of different social stations and
cultures, a love interest is out of the question, but they are
ineluctably drawn to each other, particularly after Anna has managed to
save a critical political situation in Siam through her ingenuity. The
king dies just before the final curtain; Anna remains on as a teacher of
the children she has come to love.
Part of the attraction of Rodgers’ music is its subtle Oriental
flavoring. In the music—as in text, settings and costuming—_The King and
I_ is a picture of an “East of frank and unashamed romance,” as Richard
Watts, Jr., said, “seen through the eyes of ... theatrical artists of
rare taste and creative power.” The Oriental element is particularly
pronounced in the orchestral excerpt, “The March of the Royal Siamese
Children,” with its exotic syncopated structure and orchestration. Other
popular excerpts from this score include Anna’s lilting “I Whistle a
Happy Tune”; her poignant ballad “Hello, Young Lovers”; Anna’s duet with
the king, “Shall We Dance?”; her amiable conversation with the children,
“Getting to Know You”; the King’s narrative, “A Puzzlement”; also two
sensitive and atmospheric duets by the two Siamese lovers, Tuptim and
Lun Tha, “We Kiss in the Shadow” and “I Have Dreamed.”
_Oklahoma!_, the first of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical
plays—which opened on March 31, 1943—made stage history. Its run of
2,248 performances was the longest run of any Broadway musical up to
then; a national company toured for ten years. It was successfully
produced in Europe, Africa, and Australia. But beyond being a box-office
triumph of incomparable magnitude, it was also an artistic event of the
first importance. This was musical comedy no more, but a vital folk play
rich in dramatic content, and authentic in characterization and
background. The play upon which it was based was Lynn Riggs’ folk play,
_Green Grow the Lilacs_, adapted by Oscar Hammerstein II. In making his
adaptation, Hammerstein had to sidestep long accepted formulas and
clichés of the American musical stage to meet the demands of Riggs’
play. Chorus-girl routines made way for American ballet conceived by
Agnes De Mille. Set comedy routines were replaced by a humor which rose
naturally from text and characters. Each musical incident was basic to
the movement of the dramatic action. Even the plot was unorthodox for
our musical theater. At the turn of the present century in West-Indian
country, Laurey and Curly are in love, but are kept apart by their
respective diffidence and a false sense of hostility. An ugly, lecherous
character, Jud Fry, pursues Laurey. Laurey and Curly finally declare
their love for each other. At their wedding Jud arrives inebriated,
attacks Curly with a knife, and becomes its fatal victim when he
accidentally falls upon the blade during a brawl. A hastily improvised
trial exonerates Curly of murder and permits him and his bride to set
off on their honeymoon for a land that some day will get the name of
Oklahoma.
The play opens at once with its best musical foot forward, a simple
song, “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’,” which has the personality of
American folk music. It is sung offstage by Curly. After that the
principal musical episodes include the love song of Curly and Laurey,
“People Will Say We’re in Love”; several songs with a strong American
national identity, including “Kansas City,” “The Farmer and the Cowman,”
“The Surrey With the Fringe on Top,” and the title number; and two
highly expressive numbers, “Out of My Dreams” and “Many a New Day.”
_Slaughter on Tenth Avenue_ is one of Rodgers’ most famous orchestral
compositions, and one of the finest achievements of the school of
symphonic-jazz writing. This music was used for a ballet sequence in the
Rodgers and Hart musical, _On Your Toes_, first produced in 1936. Since
_On Your Toes_ dwelled in the world of ballet, with dancers as principal
characters, ballet episodes played an important part in the unfolding of
the story; these episodes were conceived by George Balanchine. The play
reaches a dramatic climax with a jazz ballet, a satire on gangsters,
entitled _Slaughter on Tenth Avenue_. This is a description of the
pursuit by gangsters of a hoofer and his girl. Caught up in a Tenth
Avenue café, the gangsters murder the girl and are about to kill the
hoofer when the police come to his rescue. Rodgers’ music for the ballet
is an extended and integrated symphonic-jazz composition which has won
its way into the permanent repertory of semi-classical music. It is
constructed from two main melodic ideas. The first is an impudent little
jazz tune, and the second is a rich and luscious jazz melody for
strings.
_South Pacific_, produced on April 7, 1949, was both commercially and
artistically of the magnitude of _Oklahoma!_ Its Broadway run of 1,925
performances was only 325 less than that of its epoch-making
predecessor. In many other respects _South Pacific_ outdid _Oklahoma!_:
In the overall box-office grossage; in sale of sheet music and records;
in the capture of prizes (including the Pulitzer Prize for drama, seven
Antoinette Perry and nine Donaldson awards). The book was adapted by
Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan from _Tales of the South Pacific_,
a series of short stories about American troops in the Pacific during
World War II. In the adaptation two love plots are emphasized. The first
involves the French planter, Emile de Becque, and the American ensign,
Nellie Forbush; the other engages Liat, a Tonkinese girl, and Lieutenant
Cable. The first ends happily, but only after complications brought on
by the discovery on Nellie’s part that Emile was once married to a
Polynesian and is the father of two Eurasian children. The other love
affair has a tragic ending, since Lieutenant Cable dies on a mission.
With Ezio Pinza as De Becque and Mary Martin as Nellie, _South Pacific_
was “a show of rare enchantment,” as Howard Barnes reported, “novel in
texture and treatment, rich in dramatic substance, and eloquent in
song.” Among its prominent musical numbers are De Becque and Nellie’s
love song, “Some Enchanted Evening”; De Becque’s lament “This Nearly Was
Mine”; Cable’s love song “Younger Than Springtime”; three songs by
Nellie, “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair,” “A Cockeyed
Optimist,” and “I’m in Love with a Wonderful Guy”; two exotic numbers by
the Tonkinese Bloody Mary, “Happy Talk” and “Bali Ha’i”; and a spirited
and humorous choral number by the Marines, “There Is Nothing Like a
Dame.”
_Victory at Sea_ is a nine-movement suite for symphony orchestra adapted
by Robert Russell Bennett from the extended musical score for a series
of documentary films on naval operations during World War II. These
films were presented over NBC television in 1952 and received both the
Sylvania and the George Foster Peabody Awards. Much of the acclaim
accorded to these remarkable films belonged to Rodgers’ background music
which, as Otis L. Guernsey said, “suggested courage, self-sacrifice and
the indomitable spirit of the free man.” A _New Yorker_ critic described
Rodgers’ music as a “seemingly endless creation, now martial, now
tender, now tuneful, now dissonant ... memorable and tremendously
moving.”
The first movement, “The Song of the High Seas,” is a picture of ships
menaced by Nazi U-boats on the seas during the early part of World War
II. They finally get involved in battle. “The Pacific Boils Over”
describes the beauty of Hawaii at peace in a melody suggesting Hawaiian
song and dance. War comes, and this idyllic mood is shattered. A broad
melody for strings ending in forceful chords tells about the tragedy of
Pearl Harbor and the grim business of repairing the damage inflicted
upon it by the Japanese. The third movement is one of the most famous in
the suite, often performed independently of the other sections. It is
stirring and dramatic march music of symphonic dimensions entitled
“Guadalcanal March.” This is followed by “D Day,” its principal melody a
broad, strong subject for brass telling of the gradual build-up of men
and materials for the invasion of Fortress Europe. The fifth movement,
“Hard Work and Horseplay” provides the lighter side of war. American
soldiers find relief from grim realities in mischievous escapades and
playtime. “Theme of the Fast Carrier” brings up the picture of a battle
scene and ends with moving funeral music. In “Beneath the Southern
Cross” we get an infectious tango melody which Rodgers later borrowed
for his hit song, “No Other Love,” for the Rodgers and Hammerstein
musical play, _Me and Juliet_. “Mare Nostrum” recalls the harsh
realities of war, first by presenting a serene Mediterranean scene, and
then showing how it is torn and violated by the fierce naval attack on
North Africa, Sicily, Salerno, and Anzio. The suite ends on a note of
triumph with “Victory at Sea.” A hymn of thanksgiving is sounded. Then
we hear reminders of the “Guadalcanal March” and the seductive tango
melody from “Beneath the Southern Cross.” This tango is soon transformed
into a rousing song of joy and triumph with which the suite comes to a
magnificent culmination.