# Rodgers and Hart



## Guest (Aug 5, 2020)

I adore the work of these two great songwriters; Rodgers, music; Lorenz "Larry" Hart, wordsmith. I've read a few books about them both over the years. Their music was elegant and sophisticated and timeless.










Their songs speak of their millieu and often raise the quotidian to the level of artistry few songwriters have ever achieved. Take a close listen to the incredible words in this song: from 1:30 here, though I don't think Rooney's voice was suitable for this song (wonderful orchestration by Conrad Salinger): "...._the conversation with the flying plates_...."_the self-deception that believes the lie_..". Inspired writing for "*I Wish I was in Love Again*" - a song about a bored couple:






What a fortuitous day for Richard Rodgers when he met Larry Hart. The lyrics for this song are sublime and Rodgers provides THE perfect melody. "_Your looks are laughable, unphotographable"..._ Sung here by Rita Hayworth, "*My Funny Valentine*".






Another masterpiece, "*Spring is Here*". The song is believed by many to represent its eternally troubled and increasingly lachrymose lyricist:






It's amazing how Sinatra's voice dropped and mellowed as he matured.

Another great singer created fabulous interpretations of Rodgers and Hart. Here is 'the velvet Fog', Mel Torme, singing "*Blue Moon*". "_I heard somebody whisper 'please adore me' and when I looked the moon had turned to gold_..."






Finally, "*Where's that Rainbow*?" from the film "Words and Music". Again, inspired words and with that familiar plangent quality - at first!: the song is given the Conrad Salinger orchestral treatment here.


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## Guest (Aug 5, 2020)

Here's Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart in playful mood from their show "A Connecticut Yankee"; the song is "Thou Swell" and demonstrates the brilliant and witty lyrics of Hart. Also note that many of their songs had segues that lead from the dialogue of the show to the numbers which involved singing and usually dancing. Taken out of context the segue doesn't seem to make sense. There's a longer segue in "Thou Swell":


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## Joe B (Aug 10, 2017)

I know very little about Rogers and Hart, but I love this disc of their music:


















track #1:


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I wish rap singers would be required to study the great lyricists. They knew how to turn a phrase and play with not only words but rhythms. 

My personal favorite of Rodgers and Hart is Isn't it Romantic. I was asked to play for 30 minutes before a wedding, and I made sure I put that one in.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Joe B said:


> I know very little about Rogers and Hart, but I love this disc of their music.


Dang, what an interpretation! Some opera singers can't pull off show tunes, but Dawn Upshaw is amazing. I'm going to play that one again.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

The CD I listen to for Rodgers & Hart.


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## Guest (Aug 6, 2020)

Manxfeeder said:


> Dang, what an interpretation! Some opera singers can't pull off show tunes, but Dawn Upshaw is amazing. I'm going to play that one again.


She's incredible. The essence of the stage and musicals is the ability to project the voice and make sure the audience hears the lyrics. Dawn has this in spades.


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## Guest (Aug 6, 2020)

starthrower said:


> The CD I listen to for Rodgers & Hart.


Fitzgerald is the high water mark of the American Songbook, in my opinion. She came from the streets and had almost no education. She overcame. And how.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

*Rodgers and Hart*

Simply among the best!


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

starthrower said:


> The CD I listen to for Rodgers & Hart.


I know, I know Starthrower, I've posted this before...

"Vexed again, perplexed again,
thank God I can be over-sexed again,
Bewitched, bothered..."

Hart was a genius and enough of a match for Rodgers considerable gift. I have every single Ella songbook and simply adore her renditions. BTW For those in the UK there is a fabulous in depth documentary on Ella available on the BBC iPlayer at present.


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## Guest (Aug 6, 2020)

Yes, those lyrics are absolutely extraordinary. Hart was quite the renaissance man and he was known around Columbia University as such. I have formed the view that Richard Rodgers was a better composer when working with Lorenz Hart; his work with Oscar Hammerstein was quite wonderful but there wasn't that sophistication you got with Hart. With Oscar there was a stronger influence of the Viennese operetta but with Hart the music defied categorization. In short, one lyricist was progressive and clever and the other was conservative and clever. Rodgers worked perfectly with both.

The only other composer for American musical theater to rival Rodgers and Hart in terms of sophistication was Cole Porter. He was a one-man band, providing his own incredible lyrics. We mustn't forget the Gershwins, who belong in a category all by themselves, though I hasten to add that Ira Gershwin didn't have Hart or Porter's phenomenal gifts - but he was perfect for George. That is not an insult; to devalue the Gershwins is like devaluing Beethoven!! (Saul Chaplin once said the same thing.)

But for lyrics it just doesn't get better than Hart or Porter. Listen to these words: bear in mind it's an 'archaic' performance and the balance between voice and accompaniment is pretty poor:






Cole Porter came from a background of wealth. His lyrics reflect the insouciance of somebody who doesn't have the daily grind that most of us do! And this performance demonstrates that Rodgers and Hart and Cole Porter's music easily translates to modern audiences: THIS IS EXTRAORDINARY.


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## Guest (Aug 6, 2020)

This song by Rodgers & Hart is quite wonderful and I regard it as a masterpiece, "*I Could Write a Book*": the magic of the song is that it can be interpreted so differently - from maudlin to cheerful. This from a musical about a philandering and unpleasant man.






"..and the world discovers as my book ends,
how to make two lovers of friends".

PERFECTION

This excerpt from the biopic "*Words and Music*" demonstrates very well the incredible magic between Rodgers and Hart:


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Christabel said:


> Fitzgerald is the high water mark of the American Songbook, in my opinion. She came from the streets and had almost no education. She overcame. And how.


All the education in the world won't bestow someone with musical talent, intelligence and imagination. Or personality for that matter.


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## Guest (Aug 7, 2020)

starthrower said:


> All the education in the world won't bestow someone with musical talent, intelligence and imagination. Or personality for that matter.


That's perfectly true, but education helps you to think and speak and (as I used to tell my school students) people tend to take you more seriously if you can acquit yourself verbally. She came from nothing, knew nothing about contracts and may only have had a basic reading ability anyway. In spite of that she made a successful career.


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## Joe B (Aug 10, 2017)

Christabel said:


> Yes, those lyrics are absolutely extraordinary. Hart was quite the renaissance man and he was known around Columbia University as such. I have formed the view that Richard Rodgers was a better composer when working with Lorenz Hart; his work with Oscar Hammerstein was quite wonderful but there wasn't that sophistication you got with Hart. With Oscar there was a stronger influence of the Viennese operetta but with Hart the music defied categorization. In short, one lyricist was progressive and clever and the other was conservative and clever. Rodgers worked perfectly with both.
> 
> *The only other composer for American musical theater to rival Rodgers and Hart in terms of sophistication was Cole Porter. * He was a one-man band, providing his own incredible lyrics. *We mustn't forget the Gershwins*, who belong in a category all by themselves, though I hasten to add that Ira Gershwin didn't have Hart or Porter's phenomenal gifts - but he was perfect for George. That is not an insult; to devalue the Gershwins is like devaluing Beethoven!! (Saul Chaplin once said the same thing.)
> 
> ...


I am no expert in this genre, but I think another composer that must be mentioned is *Vernon Duke*:


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Christabel said:


> That's perfectly true, but education helps you to think and speak and (as I used to tell my school students) people tend to take you more seriously if you can acquit yourself verbally. She came from nothing, knew nothing about contracts and may only have had a basic reading ability anyway. In spite of that she made a successful career.


Ella, along with Oscar Peterson were fortunate to have Norman Granz managing their careers. Granz was an honest man who was in it for the music so he looked after their best interests. He is the one who initiated and produced the Songbook series for Ella which is now legendary.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Music, musicians, songwriters, composers and lyricists I have long admired.... It was a pleasure to read through this thread and to open the links and listen. Bravo! Bravo!


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## Guest (Aug 7, 2020)

SONNET CLV said:


> Music, musicians, songwriters, composers and lyricists I have long admired.... It was a pleasure to read through this thread and to open the links and listen. Bravo! Bravo!


When I was teaching I was fortunate to meet friends who were on the same page as me with regard to this genre; one woman in particular and even a casual teacher (from NYC) who used to sing excerpts and ask me to identify the song (much to the chagrin of the staff wanting to work!). In the front office an ancilliary staff member used to sing "Where's That Rainbow?" every time he saw my face. I do very much miss that interaction.


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## Guest (Aug 7, 2020)

The John Wilson Orchestra has performed at the BBC Proms a few times; this is a very popular and polished ensemble. Here's a program from 2012 where they present show tunes, with singing as required. People may not know this but John Wilson uses all the original arrangements from the FILMS made for these shows. Where there are no extant scores available (the studios were appallingly reckless in this regard with many destroyed) Wilson listened carefully to the recordings and then transcribed what he heard back onto manuscript paper - a laborious task I think you will agree - and then these were published in parts for the orchestra. The result is the almost exact sound world of the original films.






When I was researching Conrad Salinger a few years ago I met a fellow on the internet who became very interested in my project; he said most of the arrangements from the MGM Freed Unit had been destroyed but that he could write them out again (as John Wilson has done for his work) but that he'd have to be paid. I stopped right there. If I had been 20 years younger this project could have turned into a PhD research project.


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