Irving Berlin, RIP. (obituary)

From: National Review | Date: October 27, 1989| Author: Hart, J. | Copyright information

THE TIN PAN ALLEY tunes of the first half of this century conformed to a model as strict as the sestina. The model resembled a romantic opera, compressed to a miniature. The dramatic situation was set forth in a few stanzas of three or four lines each, after which came the romantic and lyrical

part, which most people considered the " song." Thus the aria followed the recitative. "The girl that I will marry will have to be / As soft and as pink as a nursery." The Tin Pan...

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