Oscar Hammerstein II

He co-wrote hundreds of songs that singers and jazz players still treat as living repertoire. With Jerome Kern he helped forge the integrated musical play in Show Boat, where numbers such as Ol' Man River rise out of plot and people rather than stopping the show for decoration. With Richard Rodgers he carried that idea further: Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, Flower Drum Song and The Sound of Music bind song, dance and dialogue so the music advances feeling and argument. The catalogue runs from People Will Say We're in Love and If I Loved You to Some Enchanted Evening, Getting to Know You, You'll Never Walk Alone, Climb Ev'ry Mountain and Edelweiss. On these recordings his lines surface in Broadway selections, carillon colour and jazz standards such as Hello Young Lovers, proof that the melodies hold whether sung straight, swung or struck on bells.