Sigmund Romberg

@Composers, Career and Life ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Sigmund Romberg was an Austro-Hungarian composer best known for his musicals and operettas American Musicians Composers Leo Celebrities Sigmund Romberg was an Austro-Hungarian composer best known for his musicals and operettas. Over the course of his prolific career he composed nearly 60 works for musical theater as well as music for revues, and musical comedies. He developed interest in music early on in life and his talents became apparent when he was just a small child. With his father’s encouragement he started learning the violin and piano at the age of six and eight, respectively. He was very active in his high school orchestra and it did not take him long to realize that music was his calling in life. Even though his parents had supported his love for music when he was young, they wanted him to eventually pursue a career in some other more stable field. So they persuaded him to study engineering and sent him to Vienna for training. Instead on focusing on his engineering studies he immersed himself in music and eventually migrated to the USA in order to become a musician. He struggled initially to find his footing but eventually established himself as a popular and successful composer. He was a key figure of American operetta during the early 20th century and developed a new model for operetta with Oscar Hammerstein II. Eventually he also went on to compose musical scores for Hollywood films

Personal Details

Birthday: July 29, 1887 Died on: November 9, 1951 Nationality: American Famous: Musicians, Composers Spouses: Lillian Harris Birth Place: Nagykanizsa Religion: Judaism Information Detail Birthday July 29, 1887 Died on November 9, 1951 Nationality American Famous Musicians, Composers Spouses Lillian Harris Birth Place Nagykanizsa Religion Judaism Gender Male Sun Sign Leo Born in Nagykanizsa Famous as Composer Died at Age 64

Nagykanizsa

Sigmund Romberg born at Unsplash Birth Place

His first marriage was with Eugenia. Not much is known about her except for the information that she was an Austrian, a detail mentioned in a 1920 federal census form. Unsplash Personal Life

He tied the knot for the second time with Lillian Harris in March 1925 in New Jersey. The couple had no children. Unsplash Personal Life

He died of a stroke on 9 November 1951 and was interred in the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. He was 64 years old. Unsplash Personal Life

He was born as Siegmund Rosenberg on 29 July 1887 in Gross-Kanizsa during the Austro-Hungarian kaiserlich und königlich (Imperial and Royal) monarchy period. His parents, Adam and Clara Rosenberg were Jews. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

His family moved to Belišće, which was then in Hungary, in 1889. Here he started attending a primary school. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

His father loved music and Sigmund too started displaying his musical talents early on. He learned to play the violin when he was just six and the piano when he was eight. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

In 1897, he was enrolled at the Osijek gymnasium from where he received his secondary education. During his high school he was active in the school orchestra. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

He loved music and hoped to pursue a musical career. However, his parents wanted him to get established in a more stable and secure career. Thus they convinced him to study engineering and sent him away to Vienna for his training. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

He served a short stint spanning 18 months in the Hungarian Army, starting from 1907. Then he decided to move to the USA in order to pursue his dream of becoming a musician. Unsplash Career

He moved to the USA in 1909. His initial years in the USA were marked by struggles. His first job was in a pencil factory for seven dollars a week. Unsplash Career

Talented and ambitious, he soon got the chance to play music at cafes and bars as a pianist. With his hard work and determination he graduated to leading an orchestra and soon became very popular on the musical scene. Unsplash Career

He now shifted his focus to composing for the musical stage. He collaborated with lyricist Harold Atteridge to write ‘The Whirl of the World’ which opened in 1914. The same year Romberg became an American citizen. Unsplash Career

He continued his partnership with Atteridge for several years producing shows like ‘The Blue Paradise’ (1915) and ‘Maytime’ (1917). In 1921, Romberg wrote ‘Song of Love’ for the operetta ‘Blossom Time’, which became his biggest hit so far. Unsplash Career

His operetta, ‘The Student Prince’, based on Wilhelm Meyer-Förster's play ‘Old Heidelberg’ is one of his most successful works. The show ran for 608 performances and was the longest-running Broadway show of the 1920s. Unsplash Major Works

He composed the music for the operetta, ‘The Desert Song’, which ran for a very successful 465 performances and is a popular piece for community light opera groups. The operetta was inspired by stories of Lawrence of Arabia aiding native guerrillas. Unsplash Major Works

His operetta ‘The New Moon’ was the last of his hit operettas. The show ran for 519 performances and spawned a number of revivals and two film versions, and it is still played by light opera companies. Unsplash Major Works

Information	Detail
Birthday	July 29, 1887
Died on	November 9, 1951
Nationality	American
Famous	Musicians, Composers
Spouses	Lillian Harris
Birth Place	Nagykanizsa
Religion	Judaism
Gender	Male
Sun Sign	Leo
Born in	Nagykanizsa
Famous as	Composer
Died at Age	64

Sigmund Romberg

American

Jul 29, 1887

Biography

Personal Details

Nagykanizsa