Romberg [Rosenberg], Sigmund

(b Nagykanizsa, 29 July 1887; d New York, 9 Nov 1951). American composer and conductor of Hungarian birth. He was born into a cultured Jewish household: his father was an amateur pianist who spoke four languages, while his mother was a respected writer of poetry and short stories. Romberg studied at various places in the Austro-Hungarian Empire before eventually going to Vienna, where his parents' intent was for him to study civil engineering. Instead, Romberg focussed on music, working as a coach and accompanist at the Theater an der Wien, and studying composition and orchestration with operetta composer Victor Heuberger, thereby absorbing the world of Viennese operetta. In 1909, he arrived in New York City and found work as a pianist at various restaurants. He formed and conducted a small orchestra at Bustanoby's, a venue frequented by the theatre world, where he came to the attention of the Shubert brothers who, in 1914, employed him as a staff composer for their revues. He contributed to many of their revues, including the famed The Passing Show series, and, knowing of Romberg's background, they also contracted him to rework Viennese operettas for American audiences. His first adaptation was The Blue Paradise (1915), a version of Edmund Eysler's Ein Tag im Paradies. Among Romberg's additions to the score was the waltz Auf Wiedersehn, his first hit. Two other adaptations proved to be very successful in subsequent years: Maytime (1917; from Kollo's Wie einst in Mai) and Blossom Time (1921; from Berte's Das Dreimaderlhaus). Both works contained waltzes which became among Romberg's most famous compositions: Will you remember? from Maytime and Song of Love from Blossom Time.

Romberg's primary significance lies in the original operettas he created during the 1920s. His first original operetta was The Student Prince (1924) whose libretto and score both exude the concept of 'nevermore', portrayed musically through the waltz. Three of his most famous songs, Deep in my heart, dear, Golden Days and Drinking Song, are waltzes from The Student Prince; other important numbers from the show are Students marching song and Serenade. The Desert Song (1926) romanticized the then-current Riff wars and capitalized on the fame of Rudolf Valentino. (The Sheik). Its score uses waltzes such as the title song and One Alone, and marches such as The Riff Song and The French Military Marching Song. My Maryland (1927), set during the American Civil War, included the immensely popular march Your land and My land, while The New Moon (1928), Romberg's last operetta of the decade, included the waltz One Kiss, the tango Softly, as in a morning sunrise, and the march Stouthearted Men. His principal orchestrators during this period were Emil Gerstenberger and Alfred Goodman.

During the 1930s he lived in California, working in the motion picture industry; another of Romberg's most popular waltzes, When I grow too old to dream, comes from the film The Night is Young (1935). During the 1940s, he formed his own orchestra and travelled throughout the country giving programmes of what he himself termed 'middle-brow music': too low-brow for symphony conductors, too high-brow for jazz conductors. He often included his own music in these concerts. He returned to Broadway operetta later in life. While these shows, which included Up in Central Park (1945) and The Girl in Pink Tights (1954), possessed some significant single numbers, they did not achieve the same success as his works from the 1920s.

Romberg excelled at writing nostalgic waltzes and stirring marches, two forms which permeate Viennese operetta. His general approach was conservative in terms of form, melody and harmony, but it is melody, fundamentally diatonic and therefore easily remembered, which dominates a Romberg score. He was an amazingly prolific composer, writing all or most of the music for nearly 60 shows. His legacy also includes his adaptation and transformation of the essence of Viennese operetta for American audiences. Romberg, who worked with such legendary librettists as Oscar Hammerstein II and Dorothy Fields, is an important link between Viennese operetta and the mature American musical theatre.

Romberg was also an avid collector of musical scores, and his personal music library, purchased by the University of California after his death, contained over 4500 items. Archives of his manuscripts, performance materials and orchestral materials are held at the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the Shubert Archive and the University of California.

WORKS
(selective list)

stage
all dates are those of first New York performance, and are operettas unless otherwise stated; many early revues and musicals include interpolations by other composers; where different, authors shown as (lyricist; librettist)
The Whirl of the World (revue, H. Atteridge), 10 Jan 1914
The Passing Show of 1914 (revue, Atteridge), collab. H. Carroll, 10 June 1914
The Blue Paradise (H. Reynolds; E. Smith), collab. L. Edwards and C. Lean, after E. Eysler: Ein Tag im Paradies, 5 Aug 1915 [incl. Auf Wiedersehen]
Ruggles of Red Gap (musical play, Atteridge), 25 Dec 1915
Robinson Crusoe, Jr. (musical, Atteridge), 17 Feb 1916
The Passing Show of 1916 (revue, Atteridge), collab. O. Motzan, 22 June 1916
The Girl from Brazil (Smith and M. Woodward), 30 Aug 1916
Follow me (musical, R.B. Smith), 29 Nov 1916
Her Soldier Boy (R.J. Young), 6 Dec 1916
The Passing Show of 1917 (revue, Atteridge), collab. Motzan, 26 April 1917
Maytime (Young and C. Wood), 16 Aug 1917 [incl. Will you remember?]; film, 1937
Over the Top (revue, Atteridge and P. Bartholomae), 1 Dec 1917
Sinbad (musical, Atteridge), 14 Feb 1918
The Passing Show of 1918 (revue, Atteridge), collab. J. Schwartz, 25 July 1918
Monte Cristo, Jr. (musical, Atteridge), collab. Schwartz, 12 Feb 1919
The Passing Show of 1919 (revue, Atteridge), collab. Schwartz, 23 Oct 1919
Poor Little Ritz Girl (musical, L. Hart, G. Campbell and L. Fields), collab. R. Rodgers, 28 July 1920
Blossom Time (D. Donnelly), 29 Sept 1921 [incl. Song of Love]
Bombo (musical, Atteridge), 6 Oct 1921
The Blushing Bride (musical, Wood), 6 Feb 1922
The Rose of Stamboul (Atteridge), after L. Fall: Die Rose von Stambul, 7 March 1922
The Passing Show of 1923 (revue, Atteridge), collab. Schwartz, 14 June 1923
The Passing Show of 1924 (revue, Atteridge and A. Gerber), collab. Schwartz, 3 Sept 1924
Artists and Models of 1924 (revue, H.W. Gribble, S. Coslow and C. Grey), 15 Oct 1924
Annie Dear (musical, C. Kummer and Grey), 4 Nov 1924
The Student Prince (Donnelly), 2 Dec 1924 [incl. Deep in my heart, dear, Drinking Song, Golden Days, Serenade]; films, 1927, 1954
Louie the 14th (musical, A. Wimperis), 3 March 1925
Princess Flavia (H.B. Smith), 2 Nov 1925
The Desert Song (Harbach, Hammerstein and F. Mandel), 30 Nov 1926 [incl. The Desert Song, One Alone, The Riff Song, Romance]; films, 1929, 1942, 1953
Cherry Blossoms (H.B. Smith), 28 March 1927
My Maryland (Donnelly), 12 Sept 1927 [incl. Mother, Silver Moon, Won't you marry me?, Your Land and My Land]
My Princess (Donnelly), 6 Oct 1927
The Love Call (H.B. Smith and E. Locke), 24 Oct 1927
Rosalie (musical, I. Gershwin and Wodehouse; W.A. McGuire and G. Bolton), collab. G. Gershwin, 10 Jan 1928
The New Moon (Hammerstein, Mandel and L. Schwab), 19 Sept 1928 [incl. Lover, come back to me, Softly, as in a morning sunrise, Stouthearted Men, Wanting You]; films, 1930, 1940
Nina Rosa (Harbach and I. Caesar), 20 Sept 1930
East Wind (Mandel and Hammerstein), 27 Oct 1931
Melody (E.C. Carpenter and Caesar), 14 Feb 1933
May Wine (Mandel and Hammerstein), orchd D. Walker, 5 Dec 1935 [incl. I built a dream]
Forbidden Melody (Harbach), orchd Walker, 2 Nov 1936
Sunny River (Hammerstein), orchd Walker, 4 Dec 1941
Up in Central Park (H. and D. Fields), orchd Walker, 27 Jan 1945 [incl. Close as Pages in a Book]; film, 1948
My Romance (R. Leigh), orchd Walker, 19 Oct 1948
The Girl in Pink Tights (J. Chodorov and J. Fields; L. Robin), completed and orchd Walker, 5 March 1954

films
Viennese Nights (Hammerstein), 1930 [incl. You will remember Vienna, I bring a love song]
Children of Dreams (Hammerstein), 1931 [incl. That Rare Romance]
The Night is Young (Hammerstein), 1935 [incl. When I grow too old to dream]
The Girl of the Golden West (G. Kahn), 1938 [incl. Who are we to say?]

songs
(most associated with shows or films)
Come back to the old cabaret (Paulton), in The Midnight Girl, 1914; Honeymoon Land (Atteridge), in Follow the Girl, 1918; When Hearts are Young (Wood), in The Lady in Ermine, 1922; All Year Around (Atteridge), in The Dream Girl, 1924; Mothers of the World (Grey), in Artists and Models of 1925, 1924; Twilight Rose (Atteridge), in Marjorie, 1924; Go south young man (E. Heyman) (1934); The Night you Name the Day (Heyman), in Ice Follies of 1939 (film), 1938; Beneath the Winter Snows (Kahn), in Balalaika (film), 1939; No time to argue (Kahn), in Broadway Serenade (film), 1939; Where's the girl (Kahn), in Honolulu (film), 1939; Faithfully Yours (C. Tobias) (1943)

other works
Inst: Pf Qnt, 1922; Cl Conc., 1935--7
Pf: Leg of Mutton (1913); Le poeme (1913); Some Smoke (De la fumee), (1913); Valse parfumee (1918)
Principal publishers: Harms, G. Schirmer

WRITINGS
(selective list)
'A Peep into the Workshop of a Composer', Theatre Magazine, xlvii/6 (1928), 27, 72, 74
'Screen Operetta', Pacific Coast Musician (3 May 1930)
'A Short History of American Operetta', Music and Dance in California, ed. J. Rodriguez (Hollywood, 1940), 88--103
'So You've a Song to Publish', Notes i/4 (1944), 7--13
'Can there be Television without Music?', Variety (4 Jan 1950)
'How to Write a Song', Etude lxviii/12 (1950), 15
 

BIBLIOGRAPHY
E. Arnold: Deep in My Heart (New York, 1949)
S. Green: The World of Musical Comedy (New York, 1960, 4/1980)
G. Bordman: American Operetta (New York, 1981)
G. Bordman: American Musical Comedy (New York, 1982)
R. Traubner: Operetta: a Theatrical History (Garden City, NY, 1983)
J. Koegel: The Film Operettas of Sigmund Romberg (thesis, California State U., Los Angeles, 1984)
W. Everett: Sigmund Romberg's Operettas 'Blossom Time', 'The Student Prince', 'My Maryland', and 'My Princess' (diss., U. of Kansas, 1991)
W. Everett: 'Golden Days in Old Heidelberg: the First-Act Finale of Romberg's ''The Student Prince''', American Music, xii/3 (1994), 255--82
W. Everett: 'Sigmund Romberg and the American Operetta of the 1920s', Arti musices: musikoloski zbornik, xxvi/1 (1995), 49--64
 

WILLIAM A. EVERETT