Rodgers, Richard (Charles)

Rodgers, Richard [Charles] (1902–79), composer. He was born in New York and educated at Columbia, where he wrote music for college shows. The first part of Rodgers's remarkable career was collaborating with lyricist Lorenz Hart on the songs and occasionally the books of imaginative musical comedies. Their work for Broadway was heard initially in Poor Little Ritz Girl (1920), but success did not begin to come until they wrote “Manhattan” for the first Garrick Gaieties (1925). Other musicals with Hart included Dearest Enemy (1925), Garrick Gaieties of 1926, The Girl Friend (1926), Peggy‐Ann (1926), Betsy (1926), A Connecticut Yankee (1927), Present Arms (1928), She's My Baby (1928), Chee‐Chee (1928), Heads Up! (1929), Spring Is Here (1929), Simple Simon (1930), America's Sweetheart (1931), Jumbo (1935), On Your Toes (1936), Babes in Arms (1937), I'd Rather Be Right (1937), I Married an Angel (1938), The Boys from Syracuse (1938), Too Many Girls (1939), Higher and Higher (1940), Pal Joey (1940), and By Jupiter (1942). After breaking with Hart he joined Oscar Hammerstein and largely abandoned musical comedy for the musical play. Their Oklahoma! (1943) revolutionized American operetta writing, just as their next success, Carousel (1945), explored new ways of integrating song and character and their disappointing Allegro (1947) experimented with new ways of storytelling. The subsequent Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals were South Pacific (1949), The King and I (1951), Me and Juliet (1953), Pipe Dream (1955), Flower Drum Song (1958), and The Sound of Music (1959). After Hammerstein's death, Rodgers's luck soured although he continued to compose fine music, most notably when he set his own lyrics to his melodies for No Strings (1962). Hs later scores, with various lyricists, were Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965), Two by Two (1970), Rex (1976), and I Remember Mama (1979). Rodgers sometimes co‐produced his shows and those by others, such as I Remember Mama (1944), Annie Get Your Gun (1946), Happy Birthday (1946), and John Loves Mary (1947). From the start Rodgers's music was both traditional and inventive. One notable point was his steady return to the waltz at a time when many composers neglected it. Perhaps his most remarkable effort in this style was “The Carousel Waltz.” Because of the types of musicals for which he was writing and because of his lyricist, his material with Hart tended to be lighter and jauntier. Working with Hammerstein, both his sentimental and humorous moments tended to become more heavy‐handed. But his gift for incomparable melody never deserted him, nor did his willingness to attempt musicals on fresh, challenging themes. Few theatre composers were more popular than Rodgers; his songs still are performed in various venues perhaps more than any of his contemporaries. His enticing use of melody and harmony, his endless variety, and his ability to capture a mood or an entire culture in a few notes are among the talents that make Rodgers one of the greatest musical artists America ever produced. Autobiography: Musical Stages, 1975; biographies: Richard Rodgers, William Hyland, 1998; Somewhere for Me: A Biography of Richard Rodgers, Meryle Secrest, 2001.