Word: schmalzmusik
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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...Hart did not originate sophisticated lyrics. William Schwenk Gilbert was 48 years and many a smart jingle ahead of him. Richard Rodgers is not the first man to write melodies that get inside of people and do something to them. Franz Lehar could still give him a lesson in Schmalzmusik. But a song is words and music, and nobody ever fused words and music more effectively than Rodgers & Hart. When Rodgers' melodic line expresses gaiety, sadness, humor, Hart's lyrical line invariably complements and fulfills it. The lyrical slant may not be as sophisticated or clever as Cole...
Composer Friml's score has charm equal to anything he has done in the 22 years which have passed since he wrote High Jinks. "Sweet Fool" is a ballad worthy of place among modern Schmalzmusik. But the libretto with its creaky structure belongs to the bygone era of celluloid collars and beehive police helmets. In surrendering her role to Natalie Hall, Mme Jeritza escaped being a Venetian noblewoman of 1934 who thinks better of spurning a commoner when, in a flashback, she impersonates her own fisher maiden ancestor in 1770 wooing and winning the Duke of Orsano. She also...
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