About Sigmund Romberg
Sigmund Romberg (1887-1951)
was Hungary's gift to melody-loving
Americans with a legacy of more
than 2,000 songs and 78 musical plays. Born into a cultured family,
Romberg's natural talent surfaced early. Young Sigmund learned
to play the piano at age six, the violin at eight, and within
a few years he was familiar with almost every orchestral instrument.
He was headed for a career in civil engineering, with music but an avocation, when as a student and soldier in Vienna he was befriended by the famous operetta composer Franz Lehar (Merry Widow). Thanks to Lehar's influence and a brief period of formal musical education, Romberg decided to become a professional musician.
He ventured to New York in 1909 and soon worked as a pianist on the restaurant circuit until 1914 when some of his piano compositions came to the attention of Broadway producer J. J. Shubert who hired Romberg to compose for his Winter Garden revues. In a five-year period, Romberg contributed to 16 revues, musical plays and operettas for the Shubert organization.
It was not until after World War I that Romberg's career as a composer of operettas with Viennese flavor really bloomed. During the 1920s he wrote Blossom Time, The Student Prince, The Desert Song Rosalie and The New Moon for the Shuberts, Florenz Ziegfeld and other legendary producers. Among his friends and musical collaborators were Al Jolson, Oscar Hammerstein II, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Gus Kahn and Irving Berlin.
With the advent of sound films, Romberg moved to Hollywood in 1929 and composed four movie musicals. More than a half dozen film adaptations of his operettas were released between 1929 and 1954.
Radio opened up a third field for Romberg. Throughout the '30s and '40s he hosted weekly programs that included his own songs and works by other popular composers, and introduced many young singers who would later find fame in opera and concert halls.
In early 1940 Romberg organized
his first concert tour, and
by 1944 the endeavor had grown to include 277 performances in 128
cities. The Sigmund Romberg Orchestra not only played the music
of Broadway, but also the "popular classics",
including movements from
famous symphonies, overtures and arias from operas. Despite his
frenetic schedule during the period, he found time to compose works
for the New York musical theatre including Up In Central Park and
My Romance.
Known to his friends as "Romy", Romberg was a congenial,
fun-loving man known for
his appreciation of good food and drink. He was a tireless composer,
working on a new musical at the time of his death in 1951.
For more info, go to:
http://www.intlconcertmgmt.com
