Most of you have certainly heard of Duke Ellington, but how many of you are familiar with the work of the lyricist Marshall Barer (1923-1998)? He had his greatest Broadway success as the lyricist for the musical Once Upon a Mattress, written with composer Mary...
written by
Joseph Thalken
Rob Mathes: The Rose, The Lily, The Sun, The Dove
A few years ago, a friend of mine gave me an album entitled Rob Mathes: Orchestral Songs. Those familiar with this CD will no doubt nod in agreement when I tell you that it is not the music to put on when you are multi-tasking—this music compels you to stop. And...
Richard Adler and Jerry Ross: Hey There
By the 1950s, the influence of Rodgers and Hammerstein was enormous, and many younger theatre songwriters—peers of Richard Rodgers’ daughter Mary—aspired to the success of R&H, and shared some of their aesthetic principles. As we look at songs written by...
Harold Arlen: Shake It Off With Rhythm
Ah, the pleasures that come from a well-sung note held for a long, looooong time. Rodgers and Hart had a lot of fun with that idea in their song “Johnny One Note,” from their 1937 musical, Babes In Arms. Of course, that wasn’t the first time a composer used that...
Jerome Kern: Till the Clouds Roll By
There’s no way you could grow up in a Rodgers household without hearing the family music—great songs created by a certain father, daughter and grandson. But in anticipation of this week’s NYFOS “Rodgers, Rodgers & Guettel” concerts, I got to wondering: What other...