Jerome Kern
American composer of over 700 songs for stage and film.
Last updated
via Wikipedia: Jerome Kern · see source
His mother, a professional musician and instructor, recognized his early musical talent and gave him lessons on both piano and organ.[1]
Quick Facts
- Born
- January 27, 1885
- Died
- November 11, 1945
- Field
- Composer of musical theatre and popular music
- Nationality
- American
- Known for
- Over 700 songs
- including 'Ol' Man River'
- 'Smoke Gets in Your Eyes'
- 'All the T
Facts from the source article.
Making and release
His father insisted he work in business, but Kern failed at his first task by ordering 200 pianos instead of two.[2] He worked as a rehearsal pianist on Broadway and as a song-plugger for Tin Pan Alley publishers.[3] He composed 16 Broadway scores between 1915 and 1920 and contributed to London hits and revues like the Ziegfeld Follies.[4] In 1902, during his senior year of high school, Kern departed before completing his diploma, having previously composed songs for school theatricals.[5]
He enrolled at the New York College of Music later in 1902, and that same year saw the publication of his initial composition, a piano work titled At the Casino.[2] From 1903 through 1905, Kern furthered his musical education with private instructors in Heidelberg, Germany.[6] Kern started supplying these interpolated numbers in 1904 for the British productions An English Daisy and Mr. Wix of Wickham.[3] The Red Petticoat (1912) marked Kern's initial full Broadway score, and it ranks among the earliest musical-comedy Westerns.[1]
By the time World War I began, Kern's songs, numbering over one hundred, had been featured in roughly thirty different productions.[1]
What the cited sources add
The American musical found a new creative direction thanks to Jerome Kern, a native New Yorker who started by amending scores of imported British musicals.[7] Kern's song "They Didn't Believe Me" eclipsed everything in the show's original British score and made him the hottest new composer on Broadway.[7] As Kern once told an interviewer, "I'm trying to apply modern art to light music as Debussy and those men have done to more serious work."[7] Show Boat (1927) was the collaborative effort of producer Florenz Ziegfeld, composer Jerome Kern and lyricist-librettist Oscar Hammerstein II.[8]
The show deals with racism, interracial romance, marital heartbreak and alcoholism – subjects previously considered taboo in musical theatre.[8] Show Boat proved to be the most lasting accomplishment of Ziegfeld's career, the only one of his shows still performed today.[8]
References
- Wikipedia, "Jerome Kern" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Byrnside, Ronald and Andrew Lamb. "Kern, Jerome (David)" . Grove Online, Oxford Music Online, accessed May 10, 2010 (requires subscription). (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Jerome Kern" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jerome Kern at GuidetoMusicalTheatre.com, accessed May 17, 2010; "Kern, Jerome David". Who Was Who, accessed May 10, 2010 (requires subscription) (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Jerome Kern" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bordman, Gerald and Thomas Hischak, eds. "Kern, Jerome (David)". The Oxford Companion to American Theatre, third edition, Oxford University Press 2004. Oxford R (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Jerome Kern" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bordman, Gerald. "Jerome David Kern, Innovator/Traditionalist", The Musical Quarterly, Volume 71, no. 4, April 1985, pp. 468-73 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Jerome Kern" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Slonimsky, Nicholas and Laura Kuhn (ed). Kern, Jerome (David)" . Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Volume 3 (Schirmer Reference, New York, 2001), ac (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Jerome Kern" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Byrnside, Ronald and Andrew Lamb. "Kern, Jerome (David)" . Grove Online, Oxford Music Online, accessed May 10, 2010 (requires subscription).; "Kern, Jerome David". Who Was Who, accessed May 10, 2010 (requires subscription) (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Kenrick, John. History of The Musical Stage 1910-1919: Part I , accessed May 11, 2010. facts only, no text reused. musicals101.com
- Kenrick, John. "Three Landmarks" . History of The Musical Stage, accessed May 11, 2010. facts only, no text reused. musicals101.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Jerome Kern (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Classical & Opera
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Jerome Kern (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced