Rodgers & Hammerstein

Rodgers and Hammerstein were both born into families that supported their respective talents as composer and lyricist. Oscar Hammerstein II was born in 1895, the grandson of the New York impresario Oscar Hammerstein I. Richard Rodgers was born in New York in 1902 into a family that nurtured his talent for music, starting with the piano at the age of four.

Hammerstein studied law, but soon gave up to go to work for his Uncle Arthur, a Broadway producer, before starting to write operettas. He worked with a range of composers, including George Gershwin and Jerome Kern, and produced pre-war successes such as Rose-Marie, The Desert Song and Show Boat. he spent much of the 1930s in Hollywood, writing for the big screen with relatively limited success, before returning to Broadway to work with Rodgers.

Rodgers started composing at the age of 14, producing big hits in the 1920s and 1930s with lyricist Lorenz Hart, such as The Boys From Syracuse, Pal Joey, Babes in Arms and A Connecticut Yankee. It was not until the premature death of Hart in 1943 from alcoholism that Rodgers started to collaborate with Hammerstein on a series of Broadway smash hits, starting with Oklahoma! in 1943, followed by Carousel in 1945, South Pacific in 1949, The King and I in 1951 - as well as a few lesser known shows - ending with The Sound of Music in 1959. Cinderella comes in 1957, near the end of the partnership.

Hammerstein's last song before his death in 1960 was 'Edelweiss', written for the tryout of The Sound of Music. Rodgers continued to write music until his own death in 1979, working with new lyricists including Stephen Sondheim and Sheldon Harnick. The 46th Street Theater on Broadway was renamed The Richard Rodgers Theater in 1990 - a fitting accolade to a man who published nearly 1,000 songs and over 40 musicals, receiving 35 Tony Awards and 15 Academy Awards in his lifetime.

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