Richard Rodgers was an American composer who worked primarily on Broadway musicals. He was born in New York in 1902, and died in 1979 at the age of 77. Over the course of his life he won virtually every award in his sphere, earning a Pulitzer Prize, an Emmy, a Tony Award, an Oscar, and a Grammy. He is one of only two people in history to have won all five of these prestigious awards.
Richard Rodgers was born to a wealthy family in New York City, and from an early age was immersed in music. He began playing the piano at the age of six, and his family took him to the opera throughout his early childhood, fostering in him an appreciation for the theatre and music’s role in it. Richard Rodgers attended Columbia College, and eventually changed his focus to music, and studied at the Institute of Musical Art, which would come be known as Juilliard.
In 1919, Richard Rodgers teamed up with Lorenz Hart, and together they began writing musical comedies. Their first pieces, Poor Little Ritz Girl in 1920, and The Melody Man in 1924, were poorly received, and it seemed doubtful they would succeed. Then, in 1925, they collaborated on pieces for a benefit show, and their songs were met with overwhelming critical praise. For the remainder of the 1920s Richard Rodgers had no difficulties finding venues, and he and Hart collaborated on a number of musicals, including Dearest Enemy, The Girl Friend, Peggy-Ann, A Connecticut Yankee, and Present Arms.
The 1930s saw Rodgers and Hart make their way to Hollywood, where they worked on a number of big-budget Hollywood productions. Notable among these were Love Me Tonight and Mississippi. Returning to Broadway, the two kept churning out hits, with seven more musicals produced between 1935 and 1942. Some of Richard Rodgers most memorable tunes are from this era, including “The Lady is a Tramp,” “Blue Moon”, “Isn’t It Romantic,” and “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World.”
In 1943 Lorenz Hart died, and Richard Rodgers found himself without a partner. Rodgers turned to a man he had written with in the distant past, before ever meeting Hart, Oscar Hammerstein II. Their first collaboration, 1943’s Oklahoma! was a smash hit, and established the duo of Rodgers and Hammerstein as the most powerful on Broadway. They would go on to create a number of the most iconic Broadway musicals in history, most notably Carousel, South Pacific, for which they would win a Pulitzer Prize, The King and I, and The Sound of Music.
When Hammerstein died in 1960, Richard Rodgers continued working, but his greatest creations were behind him. He continued to collaborate with the next generation of powerful Broadway writers, including Martin Charnin and Stephen Sondheim, but produced nothing with the lasting legacy of his earlier works. Richard Rodgers is considered by many to be the greatest Broadway composer, with a prolific portfolio and with more Broadway standards to his name to than anyone else in the world of musical theatre.