Musicals / Composers Datebook: June 9
Brief biography of melodist Cole
Porter, one of the greatest lyricists, composers, and songwriters on stage and
films. Cole
Albert Porter, prominent Broadway composer of the 20th-century, was an inventive and
witty lyricist, and an ingenious songwriter who produced some of the most
sophisticated songs of American music, popular to this day. He has a list of unforgettable songs like
"Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye," "In the Still of the Night,"
"Begin the Beguine," "Kiss Me Kate," and "I Love
Paris."
Early
life: law training
American
composer and lyricist Cole Albert Porter was born rich in his
family's large farm on June 9, 1891, in Peru,
Indiana. Unlike
other known musicians, he composed for pleasure rather than necessity. His
grandfather who made a fortune in lumber saw to it that his grandson got a
quality education in law. He was educated at Worcester
Academy, Yale
University and Harvard Law
School.
The talented
musician
Porter
showed his musical talent and interest when he was young, in fact, he started
writing songs by the age of ten and produced on Broadway by the time he was 21,
in 1912. However, his formal studies in
music only began in 1915 when he started at Harvard School of Music and with
Vincent d'Indy in Paris,
in 1919. Before this, he had a period at law school and the French Foreign
Legion.
Musical
career: stage, film, and songs
The
rest of his life was spent in Hollywood,
in Broadway, and traveling around the world in style. Porter's career in music
spanned an impressive five decades resulting in over 800 songs written for 26 Broadway
shows and another 18 films. He composed a number of musicals, often to his own
lyrics.
His first stage production in New York was See America
First, in 1916. Success after another followed. His first one was with Wake Up
and Dream (1929, London),
then a long series of Broadway musicals and films.
His
songs like Night and Day, What is this Thing Called Love?, Begin the Beguine,
Let’s Do It (1928), I Get a Kick Out of You (1934), and Don’t Fence Me In
(1944) have been widely recorded and admired.
Among
other film successes were Gay Divorce (1932) and Anything Goes (1934) where he
came up with "All Through the Night," "You're the Top,"
"I Get a Kick Out of You, and the title song.
Porter
wrote music for films such as True Love from the hit movie ‘High Society’
starring Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra.
Considered his finest musical is Kiss Me, Kate (1948).
Life
turning point
While
in Paris in
1937, he shattered his legs when a horse fell on him, leaving him crippled for
the rest of his life.
For
an artist who didn't do much to change the direction of the musical theatre,
Cole Porter trail-blazed in areas of lyric writing. He died in Santa
Monica, October 15, 1964.
Cole Porter's hit songs:
All Through the Night. Sung by Ella Fitzgerald. Accessed June 9, 2024.
Cole Porter's Greatest Hits. Lester Lanin & his Orchestra. Accessed June 9, 2024.
Cole Porter Playlist. Lyns Able. Accessed June 9, 2024.
In the Still of the Night. Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book. Accessed June 9, 2024.
Photo credit:
Cole Porter. Wikipedia Commons. Porter in the 1930s
Resources:
The
Grove Concise Dictionary of Music, edited by Stanley Sadie, Macmillan Press,
1984
Bibliographical
Dictionary, edited by Una McGovern, Chambers, 2002
Word
Crazy: Broadway Lyricists form Cohan to Sondheim by Thomas S. Hischak, Praeger,
1991
(c) June 2009. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
