![]() ![]() “You can’t do that with Arlen melodies, and you can’t do it with Rodgers & Hammerstein songs. They might as well have been written yesterday.” Vocalist Mary Cleere Haran says that the young Rodgers wrote “innocent, other-worldly melodies, while Hart wrote irreverent, sarcastic words and the clash between the two styles made the songs interesting.” Dave Frishberg, the pianist-singer-composer, says that jazz players love Hart’s songs because Rodgers set them with ambiguous harmonies that can go in all sorts of different directions. Jazz singer Stacey Kent says: “The songs still feel fresh. It’s sad that you don’t hear his music on radio as we used to, but nightly, in small rooms, cabaret singers keep this repertoire alive.” Hart combined wit with a marvelous romantic view. The question is: who was responding to whom? Did the pop singers take their cue from what was happening on Broadway, or was it the other way around? Or was everyone in the late-1940s- composers and pop singers alike- responding to a triumphant, almost bombastic national mood that said, “We won the war, and we can achieve anything we want!”Ĭabaret impresario Donald Smith said that audiences appreciate Hart songs “because they’re timeless, as long as people fall in love and out of love. In the Rodgers & Hart era, Bing Crosby, Russ Colombo and Rudy Vallee crooned more softly. The most popular singers in the Rodgers & Hammerstein era- Perry Como, Billy Eckstine, Eddie Fisher- belted loud, high endings to many of their songs. (In his collaboration with Hart, Rodgers composed the melodies before the words were written.)Īnother explanation is the social environment. Orchestrator Bruce Pohamac points out that Rodgers, when writing with Hammerstein, had lyrics in front of him, so he knew that he was composing for the emotional climax of the scene and therefore wrote big endings. Hammerstein ballads build to big, high endings as in “Some Enchanted Evening,” “People Will Say We’re in Love,” “Younger Than Springtime” and “No Other Love.” Hart’s ballads are quieter, like “My Romance” and “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was.” Singers say that R&Hart provide better cabaret material because their songs are more intimate, while R&Hammerstein are more operatic. Hart’s songs are meant for quiet moments when you’re alone or with one special friend. The songs are communal and festive - just what people want to sing when they’re at a clambake, a hoedown or climbing a mountain. It’s easy to see why Rodgers & Hammerstein is a logical choice for big events. Clearly, he was revealing his personal favorites. Most were chosen by Rodgers extemporaneously as he sat at the piano. 14 of the 17 songs that night were by Hart. Rodgers wrote more shows and more songs with Hart- 26 shows with Hart versus nine with Hammerstein, and ten original movie musicals with Hart versus one with Hammerstein.Ĭonsider the play list for TV’s “Tonight Show” of January 19, 1956, when Rodgers was Steve Allen’s guest for the entire 90-minute program. But Rodgers worked with Hart even longer than he worked with Hammerstein, from 1919 to the year of Hart’s death, 1943, while Rodgers’ partnership with Hammerstein lasted from 1943 until Oscar’s death in 1960. Richard Rodgers’ song-writing partnership with Oscar Hammerstein is better-known. A moment, please, to remember Lorenz Hart. ![]()
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