LERNER & LOEWE LECTURES

RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN     /     LERNER & LOEWE

SIMILARITIES

A style of musical beginning in 1940‘s called “Lyric Theatre”  
          Dramatic Plot Development,
                  Song/Plot Integration,
                          Strong Character Portrayals
                                  Dramatic use of Dance & Ballet
                                          Similar Song Types  (handout)

DIFFERENCES

Rodgers and Hammerstein (major works)

Emphasis: Social Concerns   Method: Romantic Realism

Oklahoma! (1943) 
              Carousel (1945) 
                       South Pacific (1949) 
                                The King & I (1951) 
                                           Flower Drum Song (1958) 
                                                    The Sound of Music  (1959)

Lerner and Loewe

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Emphasis:  Personal Relationships   Method:  Realistic Fantasy

Brigadoon (1947)
              Paint Your Wagon (1951)
                        My Fair Lady (1956)
                                  Gigi (movie 1958)
                                            Camelot (1960)

                     

Composer FREDERICK LOEWE

(1901-1988)

Biography and  Influences

                Classical European Music
                       (child prodigy)
       
                              Melodious Popular Viennese Operetta Music
                                       (his father’s operetta concerts)

Excerpts from Franz Lehar’s celebrated Viennese Operetta
THE MERRY WIDOW  (1905)

Excerpt One -- think of the musical style in Gigi...

Excerpt Two -- think of the comedy songs of Doolittle in My Fair Lady...

Excerpt Three -- think of the romantic L&L songs...esp in Camelot...

Excerpt Four -- think of the misogynist songs of Higgins in My Fair Lady...

Playwright / Lyricist ALAN JAY LERNER (1918-1986)

(1918 - 1986)

Biography and  Influences 

Friend and mentor LORENZ (Larry) HART (1896 -1943) (Rodgers & Hart)

                      Friends during Lerner's post-college days and last 3 years of Hart's life...          
                      Hart was witty & cynical...but also melancholy and ROMANTIC...
                     ”My Funny Valentine”...”Where or When”...”Isn’t It Romantic”...”BLUE MOON”
           
                      Strong early relationship with his father JOSEPH LERNER (founded Lerner Stores)
                      Alan had privileged youth...well educated in England and US...grad Harvard (1940)
                      Alan was favored middle son to father...attended boxing matches (lost eye at Harvard)
                     ...attended NY theatre with father...vowed to have a career writing on Broadway..

                     Rejected his father's anti-romantic, anti-spiritual and misogynist view of life...

“All his life, it would seem, Lerner was caught in a conflict between his instinctive romanticism and the cynicism about women (and religion and life generally) preached to him by his father.  He wanted to believe that love transforms all; he wanted to believe that the paths of glory do not lead to an all-too-final grave."  --Gene Lees, Inventing Champagne: The Worlds of Lerner and Loewe, p. 324