Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise is a song that Sigmund Romberg composed based on a text by Oscar Hammerstein II and that was written in 1928 for his operetta The New Moon . The song has become a pop and a jazz standard .

Features of the song

Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise is actually a song full of bitterness that laments a lost love. He compares the beginning and the end of love with the rising and setting of the sun. It gives consolation that the light of love is again and again as gently as the morning sunrise in the new day.

The song is written in the song form AABA. The in minor held A-portions each have a II-VI - cadence on. “In the B part, the motifs of the A part are imaginatively processed”; The jump from the E flat major seventh chord to the C major seventh chord as well as the tritone ensure surprise and tension. The rhythm of the song is reminiscent of an Argentine tango .

Reception history

The piece was recorded by Nat Shilkret and the Troubadors with singer Franklyn Baur . Their recording reached number five on the American charts in 1929. Further recordings of the piece were initially not made.

The stage success of the New York version of the operetta, however, led MGM to send a film version of the play by Jack Conway with Grace Moore and Lawrence Tibbett to the cinemas in 1931 , with the setting being changed from New Orleans in the late 18th century to old Russia . In 1940 a remake of the film was presented in which Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald had the lead roles.

Not until 1938 was a version by Artie Shaw , in an arrangement by Jerry Gray , which paved the way for the song to become standard.

Important jazz versions

Only a few musicians of the older jazz styles, such as Joe Venuti or Bobby Hackett , recorded the song. The Modern Jazz Quartet recorded Softly as in the Morning Sunrise twice. In its version from 1955 it preceded the song with a canon of Johann Sebastian Bach. Relevant hardbop versions were recorded by Sonny Rollins (1957), Sonny Clark (1957) and Wynton Kelly (1959). Ron Carter recorded the song as a cellist with Eric Dolphy (1961). In the same year John Coltrane interpreted the song on the soprano saxophone ( Live! At the Village Vanguard ); his version in turn influenced that of the organist Larry Young ( Unity , 1965) with Joe Henderson and Woody Shaw . In 1979 a duo version by Chet Baker and Wolfgang Lackerschmid ( Ballads for Two ) was created, in 1991 the song was used for another dialogue between Stan Getz and Kenny Barron . Hiromi Uehara and Dave Weckl (1990) presented a fusion version in 2008 . Singers such as June Christy (1955), Abbey Lincoln (1958), Jenny Evans (1997), Jay Clayton (with Don Lanphere , 1998) and Lisa Bassenge have also adopted the piece in their repertoire.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Like Lover, Come Back to Me, the song was not in the original version, which was staged in Cleveland in 1928 , but was not very successful and was canceled after five months. The two authors therefore wrote more songs for the New York performance, which ultimately turned out to be hits. The New York premiere (and world premiere of the song) was on September 19, 1928 at the Imperial Theater . The tenor Robert Halliday performed the song in the operetta. See song portrait at jazzstandards.com
  2. ↑ See lyrics
  3. ↑ H.-J. Schaal Jazz-Standards , p. 437f.
  4. ↑ a b See song portrait at jazzstandards.com
  5. ^ Brian Rust Victor Master Book, Volume 2 , WC Allen, Stanhope, New Jersey, 1970, p. 237.
  6. ^ Joel Whitburn Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories: 1890--1954: The History of American Popular Music , Record Research, Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, 1986, p. 387. ISBN 0-89820-083-0
  7. ↑ Canon "a 2 Violini in unisono" from the Musical Offering BWV 1079
  8. ↑ Garyy Giddins: Weather Bird: Jazz at the Dawn of Its Second Century . Oxford University Press US, 2004, ISBN 0195156072 , p. 129.
  9. ↑ Bob Blumenthal : A New Look at Unity . Liner Notes from the 2002 CD edition.