“Rodgers had a very keen dramatic sense and a fine literary taste...Hammerstein, on the other hand, had great understanding of music, thus the two see eye to eye as regards musical and dramatic values.”
—Deems Taylor
—Deems Taylor
Every leader, at the beginning of his career, is an unknown amateur, and makes mistakes. Rodgers and Hammerstein had these periods in their lives, but their early experiences were different.
Richard Rodgers
"I was taken to a Saturday matinee, by whom I don't recall, nor do I remember being interested in the plot.... What stirred me deeply was hearing real singers and a real orchestra. The scenery and lighting were stunning. It was 1909, when I was seven, and I couldn't eat my dinner or sleep that night. I had taken my first deep drink of the heady wine known as theatre." —Richard Rodgers
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Richard Rodgers grew up seeing plays and operettas. When he was 14 years old, Rodgers met Oscar Hammerstein II, who was acting in a college play.
“When I told Morty how much I admired what Hammerstein had contributed, my brother, who was in the same fraternity as Oscar, offered to take me backstage to meet him. Going Backstage at a Varsity Show was heady stuff for a fourteen-year-old stagestruck kid, and I was overawed when I was introduced to the worldly upperclassman who had not only acted in a Varsity Show but had also written its lyrics. He accepted my awkward praise with unaffected graciousness and made me feel that my approval was the greatest compliment he could receive." —Richard Rodgers
As he grew, Richard Rodgers became increasingly interested in musical theatre. He started writing his own songs and soon wrote a full musical comedy score.
Rodgers attended Columbia University. While there, he composed songs (Lorenz Hart wrote the words) for a show that won a university competition. This was the beginning of Rodgers’s career.
“When I told Morty how much I admired what Hammerstein had contributed, my brother, who was in the same fraternity as Oscar, offered to take me backstage to meet him. Going Backstage at a Varsity Show was heady stuff for a fourteen-year-old stagestruck kid, and I was overawed when I was introduced to the worldly upperclassman who had not only acted in a Varsity Show but had also written its lyrics. He accepted my awkward praise with unaffected graciousness and made me feel that my approval was the greatest compliment he could receive." —Richard Rodgers
As he grew, Richard Rodgers became increasingly interested in musical theatre. He started writing his own songs and soon wrote a full musical comedy score.
Rodgers attended Columbia University. While there, he composed songs (Lorenz Hart wrote the words) for a show that won a university competition. This was the beginning of Rodgers’s career.
“One of the most striking things about Rodgers’ music is his extraordinary versatility. He can handle any dance form––waltzes, fox trots, tangos, mazurkas, polkas, hornpipes––all with equal facility and apparent ease. He can handle a sentimental mood, a serious one, or a comic one. Since his association with Hammerstein he had gained greatly in dramatic power, and rising to the challenge of his partner’s variety in lyrics, has written music in many unorthodox forms (the old -fashioned sixteen bar verse and thirty-two-bar chorus is now the exception in his music).” —Deems Taylor
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Oscar Hammerstein II
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"His father, William, was a theatre manager and for many years director of Hammerstein's Victoria, the most popular vaudeville theatre of its day. His uncle, Arthur Hammerstein, was a successful Broadway producer and his grandfather, Oscar Hammerstein, a famous opera impresario." —Rodgers and Hammerstein website
Oscar Hammerstein grew up around music and theatre. Although many of his family were in show business, they didn’t approve of young Oscar pursuing a career in theatre.
"Willie's death did not affect Oscar as deeply as his mother's had, although he was now without parents at the age on nineteen. Interestingly enough, since he had promised his father that he would stay out of the theater, one of the first things he did that fall, as soon as school started, was to join the Columbia University Players.... [Oscar's uncle] Arthur voiced his displeasure. 'Ockie, don't! I promised your father that I would never permit it.' Oscar assured his uncle that these theatrical ventures were merely extracurricular and that it was still his intention to enter law school at the end of the year." —Hugh Fordin
Because of his passion for show business, he never completed his law degree, instead spending time acting and writing songs.
"In his early years, Oscar worked with a great number of collaborators. It is difficult to know what causes the kind of chemistry between collaborators that brings out the best in both men, but unparalleled in the annals of collaboration was Oscar's ability to work with so many composers, of such varying styles, and create shows that for each composer were artistic successes, and often the greatest successes of their careers. In his first decade in the theater he worked with Herbert Stothart, Rudolf Friml, Vincent Youmans, Sigmund Romberg and Jerome Kern." —Hugh Fordin
Before joining with Rodgers, his longest partnership was with Jerome Kern. Hammerstein and Kern created successful musicals like Show Boat and Music in the Air, but many of their later works failed. Because of this, Rodgers took a risk in partnering with Hammerstein.
Oscar Hammerstein grew up around music and theatre. Although many of his family were in show business, they didn’t approve of young Oscar pursuing a career in theatre.
"Willie's death did not affect Oscar as deeply as his mother's had, although he was now without parents at the age on nineteen. Interestingly enough, since he had promised his father that he would stay out of the theater, one of the first things he did that fall, as soon as school started, was to join the Columbia University Players.... [Oscar's uncle] Arthur voiced his displeasure. 'Ockie, don't! I promised your father that I would never permit it.' Oscar assured his uncle that these theatrical ventures were merely extracurricular and that it was still his intention to enter law school at the end of the year." —Hugh Fordin
Because of his passion for show business, he never completed his law degree, instead spending time acting and writing songs.
"In his early years, Oscar worked with a great number of collaborators. It is difficult to know what causes the kind of chemistry between collaborators that brings out the best in both men, but unparalleled in the annals of collaboration was Oscar's ability to work with so many composers, of such varying styles, and create shows that for each composer were artistic successes, and often the greatest successes of their careers. In his first decade in the theater he worked with Herbert Stothart, Rudolf Friml, Vincent Youmans, Sigmund Romberg and Jerome Kern." —Hugh Fordin
Before joining with Rodgers, his longest partnership was with Jerome Kern. Hammerstein and Kern created successful musicals like Show Boat and Music in the Air, but many of their later works failed. Because of this, Rodgers took a risk in partnering with Hammerstein.
“Hammerstein’s life followed the classic theatrical pattern of a well made play: early success, adversity in the second act, and a triumphant third act with a smashing finale.” --Max Wilk