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Sigmund Romberg

May 04, 2023

Sigmund Romberg (July 29, 1887 – November 9, 1951)[1] was a Hungarian-born American composer. He is best known for his musicals and operettas, particularly The Student Prince (1924), The Desert Song (1926) and The New Moon (1928).

Romberg in 1949

Early in his career, Romberg was employed by the Shubert brothers to write music for their musicals and revues, including several vehicles for Al Jolson. For the Shuberts, he also adapted several European operettas for American audiences, including the successful Maytime (1917) and Blossom Time (1921). His three hit operettas of the mid-1920s, named above, are in the style of Viennese operetta, but his other works from that time mostly employ the style of American musicals of their eras. He also composed film scores.

Biography

Romberg was born in Hungary as Siegmund Rosenberg to a Jewish[2][3] family, Adam and Clara Rosenberg,[4] in Gross-Kanizsa (Hungarian: Nagykanizsa) during the Austro-Hungarian kaiserlich und königlich (Imperial and Royal) monarchy period. In 1889 Romberg and his family moved to Belišće, which was then in Hungary,[5] where he attended a primary school. Influenced by his father, Romberg learned to play the violin at six, and piano at eight years of age. He enrolled at Osijek gymnasium in 1897, where he was a member of the high school orchestra.[4] He went to Vienna to study engineering, but he also took composition lessons while living there. In June 1909, he boarded the SS Oceanic as a second-class cabin passenger, sailing from the Port of Southampton, England,[citation needed] to the Port of New York.[6] After a brief stint working in a pencil factory in New York,[citation needed] he was employed as a pianist in cafés and restaurants.[3]

He eventually founded his own orchestra and published a few songs, which, despite their limited success, brought him to the attention of the Shubert brothers, who in 1914 hired him to write music for their Broadway theatre shows. That year he wrote his first successful Broadway revue, The Whirl of the World. He then contributed songs to several American musical adaptations of Viennese operettas, including the successful The Blue Paradise (1915). Even more successful was the musical Maytime, in 1917. Both involved love across generations and included nostalgic waltzes, along with more modern American dance music.[7] At the same time, Romberg contributed songs to the Shuberts' popular revues The Passing Show of 1916 and The Passing Show of 1918 and to two vehicles for Al Jolson: Robinson Crusoe, Jr. (1916), an extravaganza burlesque on the familiar story, and Sinbad (1918), an Arabian Nights-themed musical. Romberg wrote another Jolson vehicle in 1921, Bombo.[8] He wrote the music for the musical comedy Poor Little Ritz Girl, which also had songs by Richard Rodgers.[9]

Romberg's adaptation of melodies by Franz Schubert for Blossom Time (1921, produced in the UK as Lilac Time) was a great success.[10] He subsequently wrote his best-known operettas, The Student Prince (1924), The Desert Song (1926) and The New Moon (1928), which are in a style similar to the Viennese operettas of Franz Lehár.[11] He also wrote Princess Flavia (1925), an operetta based on The Prisoner of Zenda. His other works, My Maryland (1927), a successful romance; Rosalie (1928), together with George Gershwin; and May Wine (1935), with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, about a blackmail plot; and Up in Central Park (1945), are closer to the American musical in style.[12] In 1948, he wrote a new score for "My Romance" after the show had folded in try-outs. Romberg also wrote a number of film score and adapted his own work for film.[13]

Columbia Records asked Romberg to conduct orchestral arrangements of his music (which he had played in concerts) for a series of recordings from 1945 to 1950 that were issued both on 78-rpm and 33-1/3 rpm discs. These performances are now prized by record collectors. Naxos Records digitally remastered the recordings and issued them in the U.K. (They cannot be released in the U.S. because Sony Music Entertainment, which is a parent company of Columbia Records, holds the copyright for their American release.) Much of Romberg's music, including extensive excerpts from his operettas, was released on LP during the 1950s and 1960s, especially by Columbia, Capitol, and RCA Victor. Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald, who appeared in an MGM adaptation of The New Moon in 1940, regularly recorded and performed his music. There have also been periodic revivals of the operettas.

Romberg died in 1951, aged 64, of a stroke at his Ritz Towers Hotel suite in New York City and was interred in the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.

Romberg married twice. Little is known about his first wife, Eugenia, who appears on a 1920 federal census form as being Austrian. His second wife was Lillian Harris, whom he married on March 28, 1925, in Paterson, New Jersey.[14] They had no children. Lillian Harris was born March 8, 1898, and died April 15, 1967, in New York City.

Selected songs

Media

Romberg was the subject of the 1954 Stanley Donen-directed film Deep in My Heart, in which he was portrayed by José Ferrer. The film was an adaptation of Elliott Arnold 's 1949 biography of Romberg.[17]

His operetta The New Moon was the basis for two film adaptations, both titled New Moon; the 1930 version starred Lawrence Tibbett and Grace Moore in the main roles, and the 1940 version starred Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy.

"Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise" and "Lover, Come Back to Me" from The New Moon are jazz standards and have been performed by many jazz performers.

He is featured in the lyrics to the 1963 Allan Sherman comedy song "The Mexican Hat Dance".

Radio

Romberg starred in An Evening with Romberg on NBC June 12, 1945 – August 31, 1948, mostly Tuesdays at 10:30 pm as a summer replacement series for Hildegarde's Raleigh Room (1945) and for The Red Skelton Show (1947–1948). The program featured three vocalists (Anne Jamison, Reinhold Schmidt, Robert Merrill), a 58-piece orchestra, and Frank Gallop as host/announcer.[18] Music genres included "operatic arias, short symphonic works and overtures to popular songs, light classics, dance music and even a bit of outright jazz."[19]

Honors

Since 1970, Belišće organizes musical evenings[20] in Romberg's honor; similar events are held in Osijek since 1995.[4] He was named as one of the meritorious and notable citizens of Osijek.[4] Romberg was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.[21]

References

  1. ^ Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. pp. 2136/7. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
  2. ^ "Posjet predstavnika židovske općine iz Osijeka" 2013-05-22 at the Wayback Machine (Visit of representatives of the Jewish community of Osijek), Grad Belišće, Gradski bilten; broj 25, November 15, 2007 (in Croatian)
  3. ^ a b "Romberg [Rosenberg], Sigmund" by William A. Everett, Grove Music Online (subscription required)
  4. ^ a b c d "Biografija; Sigmund Romberg" (in Croatian). Essekeri.hr. Retrieved April 8, 2012.
  5. ^ Everett, William A.; Block, Geoffrey Holden (2007). Sigmund Romberg. Yale University Press. p. 38. ISBN 9780300111835. When Romberg lived there, Belišće was in Hungary
  6. ^ "Romberg, Sigmund" by Peter Gammond and Andrew Lamb, The Oxford Companion to Music (subscription required)
  7. ^ Everett2007, pp. 77–92.
  8. ^ Everett 2007, Chapter 2.
  9. ^ ​Decorating Clementine​ at the Internet Broadway Database
  10. ^ Everett 2007, Chapter 4.
  11. ^ Everett 2007, Chapters 5, 6 and 7.
  12. ^ Everett 2007, Chapter 8.
  13. ^ Everett 2007, Chapter 9.
  14. ^ "Sigmund Romberg Weds". New York Times. March 29, 1925. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
  15. ^ a b c d Parker, Bernard S. (2007). World War I Sheet Music (Volume 1). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. pp. 221, 237, 347, 420. ISBN 978-0-7864-2798-7.
  16. ^ a b Parker, Bernard S. (2007). World War I Sheet Music (Volume 2). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. pp. 586, 793. ISBN 978-0-7864-2799-4.
  17. ^ Arnold 1949.
  18. ^ The Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio by John Dunning, p. 235
  19. ^ "Sigmund Romberg Returns with All Types of Music". The Morning Herald. Hagerstown, Maryland. October 15, 1940. p. 6. Retrieved May 20, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.  
  20. ^ "The Romberg Music Evenings". htz.hr. Hrvatska turistička zajednica. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
  21. ^ "Sigmund Romberg (bio)". IMDb. Retrieved 16 February 2019.

Sources

Further reading

  • Bordman, Gerald. American Operetta. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981.
  • Čić, Emil [hr]. Hrvatska glazba i glazbenici [Croatian music and musicians]. Split: Naklada Bošković, 2005.
  • Clarke, Kevin. "Im Himmel spielt auch schon die Jazzband". Emmerich Kálmán und die transatlantische Operette 1928–1932. Hamburg: von Bockel Verlag, 2007 (examines the connection between Kálmán's jazz-operettas of the 1920s and Romberg's scores; in German)
  • Everett, William A. Sigmund Romberg. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.
  • Gänzl, Kurt. The Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre (3 volumes). New York: Schirmer Books, 2001.
  • Traubner, Richard. Operetta: A Theatrical History. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1983.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sigmund Romberg.

May 04, 2023
sigmund, romberg, july, 1887, november, 1951, hungarian, born, american, composer, best, known, musicals, operettas, particularly, student, prince, 1924, desert, song, 1926, moon, 1928, romberg, 1949, early, career, romberg, employed, shubert, brothers, write,. Sigmund Romberg July 29 1887 November 9 1951 1 was a Hungarian born American composer He is best known for his musicals and operettas particularly The Student Prince 1924 The Desert Song 1926 and The New Moon 1928 Romberg in 1949 Early in his career Romberg was employed by the Shubert brothers to write music for their musicals and revues including several vehicles for Al Jolson For the Shuberts he also adapted several European operettas for American audiences including the successful Maytime 1917 and Blossom Time 1921 His three hit operettas of the mid 1920s named above are in the style of Viennese operetta but his other works from that time mostly employ the style of American musicals of their eras He also composed film scores Contents 1 Biography 2 Selected songs 3 Media 4 Radio 5 Honors 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External linksBiography EditRomberg was born in Hungary as Siegmund Rosenberg to a Jewish 2 3 family Adam and Clara Rosenberg 4 in Gross Kanizsa Hungarian Nagykanizsa during the Austro Hungarian kaiserlich und koniglich Imperial and Royal monarchy period In 1889 Romberg and his family moved to Belisce which was then in Hungary 5 where he attended a primary school Influenced by his father Romberg learned to play the violin at six and piano at eight years of age He enrolled at Osijek gymnasium in 1897 where he was a member of the high school orchestra 4 He went to Vienna to study engineering but he also took composition lessons while living there In June 1909 he boarded the SS Oceanic as a second class cabin passenger sailing from the Port of Southampton England citation needed to the Port of New York 6 After a brief stint working in a pencil factory in New York citation needed he was employed as a pianist in cafes and restaurants 3 He eventually founded his own orchestra and published a few songs which despite their limited success brought him to the attention of the Shubert brothers who in 1914 hired him to write music for their Broadway theatre shows That year he wrote his first successful Broadway revue The Whirl of the World He then contributed songs to several American musical adaptations of Viennese operettas including the successful The Blue Paradise 1915 Even more successful was the musical Maytime in 1917 Both involved love across generations and included nostalgic waltzes along with more modern American dance music 7 At the same time Romberg contributed songs to the Shuberts popular revues The Passing Show of 1916 and The Passing Show of 1918 and to two vehicles for Al Jolson Robinson Crusoe Jr 1916 an extravaganza burlesque on the familiar story and Sinbad 1918 an Arabian Nights themed musical Romberg wrote another Jolson vehicle in 1921 Bombo 8 He wrote the music for the musical comedy Poor Little Ritz Girl which also had songs by Richard Rodgers 9 Romberg s adaptation of melodies by Franz Schubert for Blossom Time 1921 produced in the UK as Lilac Time was a great success 10 He subsequently wrote his best known operettas The Student Prince 1924 The Desert Song 1926 and The New Moon 1928 which are in a style similar to the Viennese operettas of Franz Lehar 11 He also wrote Princess Flavia 1925 an operetta based on The Prisoner of Zenda His other works My Maryland 1927 a successful romance Rosalie 1928 together with George Gershwin and May Wine 1935 with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II about a blackmail plot and Up in Central Park 1945 are closer to the American musical in style 12 In 1948 he wrote a new score for My Romance after the show had folded in try outs Romberg also wrote a number of film score and adapted his own work for film 13 Columbia Records asked Romberg to conduct orchestral arrangements of his music which he had played in concerts for a series of recordings from 1945 to 1950 that were issued both on 78 rpm and 33 1 3 rpm discs These performances are now prized by record collectors Naxos Records digitally remastered the recordings and issued them in the U K They cannot be released in the U S because Sony Music Entertainment which is a parent company of Columbia Records holds the copyright for their American release Much of Romberg s music including extensive excerpts from his operettas was released on LP during the 1950s and 1960s especially by Columbia Capitol and RCA Victor Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald who appeared in an MGM adaptation of The New Moon in 1940 regularly recorded and performed his music There have also been periodic revivals of the operettas Romberg died in 1951 aged 64 of a stroke at his Ritz Towers Hotel suite in New York City and was interred in the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale New York Romberg married twice Little is known about his first wife Eugenia who appears on a 1920 federal census form as being Austrian His second wife was Lillian Harris whom he married on March 28 1925 in Paterson New Jersey 14 They had no children Lillian Harris was born March 8 1898 and died April 15 1967 in New York City Selected songs EditHer Soldier Boy 1917 15 Home Again 1916 lyrics Augustus Barratt 15 Kiss Waltz 1916 lyrics Rida Johnson Young 15 Mother 1916 lyrics Rida Johnson Young 15 Sister Susie s Started Syncopation 1915 lyrics Harold Atteridge 16 Won t You Send a Letter to Me 1917 lyrics Harold Atteridge 16 Lover Come Back to Me 1928 lyrics Oscar Hammerstein II One Kiss 1928 lyrics Hammerstein Softly as in a Morning Sunrise 1928 lyrics Hammerstein Stout Hearted Men 1928 lyrics HammersteinMedia EditRomberg was the subject of the 1954 Stanley Donen directed film Deep in My Heart in which he was portrayed by Jose Ferrer The film was an adaptation of Elliott Arnold s 1949 biography of Romberg 17 His operetta The New Moon was the basis for two film adaptations both titled New Moon the 1930 version starred Lawrence Tibbett and Grace Moore in the main roles and the 1940 version starred Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy Softly as in a Morning Sunrise and Lover Come Back to Me from The New Moon are jazz standards and have been performed by many jazz performers He is featured in the lyrics to the 1963 Allan Sherman comedy song The Mexican Hat Dance Radio EditRomberg starred in An Evening with Romberg on NBC June 12 1945 August 31 1948 mostly Tuesdays at 10 30 pm as a summer replacement series for Hildegarde s Raleigh Room 1945 and for The Red Skelton Show 1947 1948 The program featured three vocalists Anne Jamison Reinhold Schmidt Robert Merrill a 58 piece orchestra and Frank Gallop as host announcer 18 Music genres included operatic arias short symphonic works and overtures to popular songs light classics dance music and even a bit of outright jazz 19 Honors EditSince 1970 Belisce organizes musical evenings 20 in Romberg s honor similar events are held in Osijek since 1995 4 He was named as one of the meritorious and notable citizens of Osijek 4 Romberg was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 21 References Edit Colin Larkin ed 1992 The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music First ed Guinness Publishing pp 2136 7 ISBN 0 85112 939 0 Posjet predstavnika zidovske opcine iz Osijeka Archived 2013 05 22 at the Wayback Machine Visit of representatives of the Jewish community of Osijek Grad Belisce Gradski bilten broj 25 November 15 2007 in Croatian a b Romberg Rosenberg Sigmund by William A Everett Grove Music Online subscription required a b c d Biografija Sigmund Romberg in Croatian Essekeri hr Retrieved April 8 2012 Everett William A Block Geoffrey Holden 2007 Sigmund Romberg Yale University Press p 38 ISBN 9780300111835 When Romberg lived there Belisce was in Hungary Romberg Sigmund by Peter Gammond and Andrew Lamb The Oxford Companion to Music subscription required Everett2007 pp 77 92 Everett 2007 Chapter 2 Decorating Clementine at the Internet Broadway Database Everett 2007 Chapter 4 Everett 2007 Chapters 5 6 and 7 Everett 2007 Chapter 8 Everett 2007 Chapter 9 Sigmund Romberg Weds New York Times March 29 1925 Retrieved February 14 2023 a b c d Parker Bernard S 2007 World War I Sheet Music Volume 1 Jefferson North Carolina McFarland amp Company pp 221 237 347 420 ISBN 978 0 7864 2798 7 a b Parker Bernard S 2007 World War I Sheet Music Volume 2 Jefferson North Carolina McFarland amp Company pp 586 793 ISBN 978 0 7864 2799 4 Arnold 1949 The Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio by John Dunning p 235 Sigmund Romberg Returns with All Types of Music The Morning Herald Hagerstown Maryland October 15 1940 p 6 Retrieved May 20 2019 via Newspapers com The Romberg Music Evenings htz hr Hrvatska turisticka zajednica Archived from the original on 17 July 2012 Retrieved 8 April 2012 Sigmund Romberg bio IMDb Retrieved 16 February 2019 Sources Arnold Elliott 1949 Deep in My Heart A Story Based on the Life of Sigmund Romberg New York City Duell Sloan and Pearce Everett William A 2007 Sigmund Romberg Yale University Press ISBN 978 0300138351 Further reading EditBordman Gerald American Operetta New York Oxford University Press 1981 Cic Emil hr Hrvatska glazba i glazbenici Croatian music and musicians Split Naklada Boskovic 2005 Clarke Kevin Im Himmel spielt auch schon die Jazzband Emmerich Kalman und die transatlantische Operette 1928 1932 Hamburg von Bockel Verlag 2007 examines the connection between Kalman s jazz operettas of the 1920s and Romberg s scores in German Everett William A Sigmund Romberg New Haven Yale University Press 2007 Ganzl Kurt The Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre 3 volumes New York Schirmer Books 2001 Traubner Richard Operetta A Theatrical History Garden City New York Doubleday 1983 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sigmund Romberg Sigmund Romberg at the Internet Broadway Database Sigmund Romberg at IMDb Free scores by Sigmund Romberg at the International Music Score Library Project IMSLP Sigmund Romberg Composer Dies 64 Victim of Stroke in His Suite at Ritz Towers obituary in The New York Times November 10 1951 List of Romberg s stage works Historical reviews and a biography worklist by Kurt Ganzl Sigmund Romberg profile at Naxos Records Sigmund Romberg recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings Sigmund Romberg collection 1918 1950 Library of Congress Portals Biography Opera Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Sigmund Romberg amp oldid 1152570478, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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