Lot 89
Hammerstein Oscar 1895 - 1960 Hammerstein both pokes fun at his lyrical error and discusses philosophy in his musical
Two page TLS on tissue paper, with Oscar Hammerstein letterhead, 7.25" x 10.5". Signed by Oscar Hammerstein II, as "Oscar Hammerstein", and dated "July 28, 1953". Accompanied by the post marked envelope 7.5" x 3.75". Expected folds. Both near fine.
A wonderful jocular, self deprecating letter written by Hammerstein to a local enthusiast in which he jokes "You are quite right in pointing out the error in "Me and Juliet". I wrote the lyric for "Intermission Talk" during rehearsals and didn't discover the mistake I made until we were on the road working the show. It was one of those things that I intended to fix when I got round to it, but there were so many more important revisions to make that I never did get round to it, and in fact never did believe that anyone would be keen enough to catch me at it, but of course in time some one does, and we are always learning this lesson over and over again. I hope you will confine my secret to a few thousand of you most intimate friends. This is not the kind of thing I like to have bruited about."
Of equally great content, the second paragraph of the letter speaks more to Hammerstein's philosophical thought process of how they have chosen to work a scene in a musical to allow the audience the strongest emotional connection. In specific he addresses the scene when Lun Tha was killed in "The King and I", which was left purposefully open to interpretation and conjecture. Oscar Hammerstein noted this was done on purpose to which he commented "In scenes of high melodramatic content, it is best not to put in details which slow up the action and tend to transform emotional reaction to intellectual analysis" It is this very philosophy, this recognition that human nature relates more deeply to strong emotional context rather than specific details that allowed Rogers and Hammerstein to consistently transcend their music to reach the human spirit. Time and and time again, they created the most profound and emotional music ever to grace a stage. It was this perfect combination along with their choices to depart from the comic and sentimental tone of early 20th century musicals by seriously addressing issues such as racism, sexism and classism that made them one of the largest successes in the industry.
As such their legacy includes the examples they set in creating vital plays, often rich with social thought, and deeply resonating music, providing the necessary encouragement for other gifted writers to create musical plays of their own. A wonderful letter showing insight into both the humorous and philosophical side of Oscar Hammerstein II
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