Biography
Richard Rodgers (1902-1979), born in New York City, was the most prolific and successful composer in American musical theatre history. His first enduring partnership, with lyricist Lorenz Hart, produced Pal Joey (1940) and Babes in Arms. After Hart's death in 1943, Rodgers began his second legendary partnership with Oscar Hammerstein II, producing the integrated book musicals that transformed the genre: Oklahoma! (1943), Carousel (1945), South Pacific (1949), The King and I (1951), and The Sound of Music (1959). Rodgers won the Pulitzer Prize (for South Pacific), twelve Tony Awards, two Academy Awards, an Emmy, and a Grammy—one of only sixteen people ever to achieve the EGOT. After Hammerstein's death in 1960, Rodgers continued composing with less success, working briefly with Stephen Sondheim and others. He died in New York in 1979.
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