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Richard Rodgers was brought up in a passionately musical family. His mother was brilliant pianist; his father, a doctor, sang. They would sing and play the comic operas of the day. He was weaned on “The Merry Widow” and “Chocolate Soldier.” “These are the happy memories of childhood.” When he was sixteen years old, he met 23-year-old Lorenz Hart, who proceeded to explain his theory of lyric writing. Rodgers was proud that the age of sixteen he understood Hart. Rodgers played a couple of tunes for him and that was the beginning of a 24-year partnership. Nothing has ever been more gratifying than his first success to its fullest ... loved every minute of it. Everything that’s come along since, I’ve loved. I roll success around in my mouth like a piece of candy.” He hates failure –but thinks it’s the result of being alive –and readily admits to several: “Chee Chee,” “Pipe Dream,” and “Higher and Higher.” “I love it when it’s good and I hate it when it’s bad,” he says. Another Rodgerism: “In writing for people, there are two facets –one is emotional, the other is intellectual.”
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