Sigmund Romberg
Sigmund Romberg was a prominent composer known for his significant contributions to American operetta. Born in 1887 in Nagykanisza, Austro-Hungarian Empire, he faced anti-Semitic violence, prompting his family to relocate to Croatia shortly after his birth. Romberg showed early musical talent, receiving instruction in multiple instruments, but his parents encouraged a more practical career path. Ultimately, he pursued music, moving to Vienna to study composition and later emigrating to the United States in search of opportunity.
In New York, Romberg began his career playing piano and conducting, eventually composing successful works like "The Student Prince" and "The Desert Song." His ability to adapt Viennese operetta for American audiences led to widespread acclaim. Despite facing challenges during the Great Depression, he transitioned to film and radio, maintaining his presence in the entertainment industry. Romberg’s legacy endures, as his works continue to be revived and celebrated, making him a key figure in the history of American musical theater. He passed away in 1951 at the age of sixty-four, leaving a lasting impact on Broadway and Hollywood.
Subject Terms
Sigmund Romberg
- Born: July 29, 1887
- Birthplace: Nagykanizsa, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Hungary)
- Died: November 9, 1951
- Place of death: New York, New York
Hungarian-born musician and composer
Romberg is best remembered for his romantic operettas, which provided a critical link between European operetta and the creation of the modern American musical.
Early Life
Sigmund Romberg (SIHG-muhnd ROM-burg) was born in Nagykanisza, Austro-Hungarian Empire, to Adam Rosenberg and Klara Weil. He was four years older than his brother Hugo. Anti-Semitic violence in June, 1887, might explain why less than a year later the family left the area for Croatia.
As a child, Romberg had musical instruction in piano, violin, and cello. His parents, however, were determined that he pursue a more practical vocational program. They boarded him at the Realschulen in Osijek, in Pécs, and in Szeged, and he graduated from the last in 1906. His parents hoped Romberg would attend the Polytechische Hochshule in Vienna. Instead, the youth spent much of his time at the Theater am der Wien, a popular operetta venue. Additionally, he studied musical composition with composer Richard Heuberger. After a year, his parents came to Vienna and realized their nineteen-year-old son’s passion was for music. Romberg fulfilled his Hungarian military obligations in 1907 and 1908, and then he took a year abroad. He was briefly recalled for reserve duty in 1909. Upon his discharge, Romberg departed for London and after two weeks sailed for New York.
Life’s Work
Upon his arrival, Romberg stayed with maternal cousins in the Bronx and spent a short time bundling pencils in a lower Manhattan factory. He quickly found jobs playing the piano and conducting café bands. He published a few ragtime pieces, and he parlayed these into a meeting with J. J. Shubert. In January, 1914, Romberg scored his first Shubert show, The Whirl of the World. He was quickly contracted as the impresario’s staff composer, writing revues, musical comedies (notably for Al Jolson), and adapting operetta properties. He won attention with Blue Paradise (1915) and Maytime (1917), both in Viennese styling.
Frustrated with scoring indifferent Shubert shows, Romberg formed a partnership with Max Wilner, a Yiddish theater actor. Between 1919 and 1920, they produced three plays. For various reasons, these shows flopped and led to bankruptcy. For a comeback, Romberg scored Foolish Wives (1922), a lavish silent film.
Returning to the Shuberts, he was paired with librettist Dorothy Donnelly. They fashioned Blossom Time (1921), a saccharine story based on the themes of Franz Schubert. Romberg adapted the most popular Schubert melodies for the score. Critics faulted his “borrowing,” but they did acclaim The Student Prince (1924), a heavily produced American musical. With his reputation secure, Romberg was able to pick his future projects, includingThe Desert Song (1926), My Maryland (1927), The New Moon (1928), and Rosalie (1928), the last cowritten with George Gershwin. These formulaic shows with unifying theme waltzes and rousing male choral numbers made Romberg world famous.
With the onset of the Depression, operettas seemed passé and new productions were hard to finance. Moving to Beverly Hills in 1931, Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II were under contract alternately with Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). They were more successful with adapting their hit shows to film than with writing original screen operettas. Romberg also turned to recording for Radio Corporation of America (RCA) Victor, hosting a National Broadcasting Company (NBC) radio series, and administering the Songwriters Protective Association. When World War II began, Romberg donated his time to performing in hospitals and stateside military bases. This led him to a concert tour in 1943, An Evening with Sigmund Romberg. These nostalgic shows found large audiences wanting to see him conduct and play his music. Producer Michael Todd brought Dorothy Fields and Romberg together for the composer’s last great stage success, Up in Central Park (1945).
Romberg was married to Eugenie Erb (they were later divorced) and Lillian Harris. He was a member of the B’nai Brith Temple (now known as the Wilshire Boulevard Temple) in Los Angeles. Romberg also served on fund-raising campaigns sponsored by the New York Area United Jewish Appeal. He remained quite active in all facets of entertainment until his death from a stroke at age sixty-four.
Significance
Romberg was the last great composer of American operetta in its purest form. The writer of more Broadway shows than anyone before or since, he succeeded in adapting the Viennese operetta for American audiences and helped extend the genre’s popularity for decades. His classic stage shows have been revived worldwide for more than eighty years. Since the 1950’s, his screen operettas have been in constant television syndication. Likewise, dozens of his hit songs remain staples for classical, popular, and jazz repertoires, thus linking the golden ages of Broadway and Hollywood musicals to the present.
Bibliography
Arnold, Elliott. Deep in My Heart: A Story Based on the Life of Sigmund Romberg. New York: Duell, Sloan, and Pearce, 1949. After World War II, Romberg dictated this rather fanciful and choppy autobiography. Romberg’s ethnicity and professional disappointments are carefully whitewashed. This served partially as the basis for the MGM Romberg biopic, Deep in My Heart (1954). The appendixes feature a compendium of Romberg’s many musical plays and songs.
Bordman, Gerald. American Operetta: From H.M.S. Pinafore to Sweeney Todd. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981. An interesting and breezy monograph with a significant Romberg discussion. The author suggests that operetta survived for decades by being masked as “folk opera.”
Everett, William A. Sigmund Romberg. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2007. While some of the musicological diagramming might distract the average reader, the vast majority of the book acknowledges Romberg as an expert in “remounting nostalgia” with his most famous operettas.
Hirsch, Foster. The Boys from Syracuse: The Shuberts’ Theatrical Empire. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1998. Hirsch describes the role the Shuberts played in Romberg’s career and vice versa.
Mordden, Ethan. Make Believe: The Broadway Musical in the 1920’s. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Part of a popularly written series covering Broadway musicals by the decades. With great passion, Mordden re-creates the decade when Romberg musicals dominated Broadway.
Stagg, Jerry. The Brothers Shubert. New York: Random House, 1968. Though not academic, this book has many Romberg references, especially related to Blossom Time and The Student Prince.