7/21/2019 Musical Analysis of “Softly as in a Morning Sunrise”

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Softly As in a Morning Sunrise (1928)

Origin and Chart InformationMore than any other leader of the big band era, clarinetist Artie Shaw was responsible for introducing Broadway show compositions into the jazz repertoire. - Chris Tyle 

Rank 132

Music Sigmund Romberg

Lyrics Oscar Hammerstein II

Sigmund Romberg wrote the music and Oscar Hammerstein II wrote the words for this composition for the musical New Moon, which premiered in New York at the Imperial Theater on September 19, 1928. Actor Robert Halliday introduced the song inthe show. Another song from the musical, Lover, Come Back to Me, was recorded by a number of artists and had three recordings in the charts for 1929. Softly... didnt fare as well, with only this one recording:

Nat Shilkret and His Orchestra (as The Troubadors) (1929, Franklin Baur, vocal,#5)

 

Chart information used by permission fromJoel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954

The presentation of Softly... in New Moon was more in the nature of an operatic performance, which seems to have hindered its adaptation by dance orchestras. Oddly enough, neither of the two big hits (Softly... and Lover, Come Back...) were in t

e original production that premiered in Cleveland. The show flopped and in the intervening five months the two composers came up with what would be the two bighits.

 

More on Oscar Hammerstein II at JazzBiographies.com

More on Sigmund Romberg at JazzBiographies.com

The ultimate success of New Moon led to an MGM film version in 1931 starring Grace Moore and Lawrence Tibbett, although the setting was changed from late-18th century New Orleans to Russia. MGM redid the film in 1940, changing the locale back to the original. The 1940 version featured the singing team of Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald.

New Moon was the last operetta that Sigmund Romberg composed. After the productions closed, he, like many other composers, saw the handwriting on the wall that

7/21/2019 Musical Analysis of “Softly as in a Morning Sunrise”

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Hollywood was the place to be. But New Moon had incredible staying power and has successfully been revived a number of times on Broadway, the last time in 2004. 

Chris Tyle - Jazz Musician and Historian 

Music and Lyrics AnalysisHammersteins lyrics were written during a time of personal upheaval in his life.It is not unusual that circumstances in lyricists lives are reflected in the material they are working on. Such is the case with Softly... The song likens the beginning of a love affair to a sunrise, but at the end of each phrase there is a line that implies that the affair will someday end. The vow that will betray, the passions that kill love, and the light that gave you glory, will take it all away.

- Chris Tyle

Musical analysis of Softly As in a Morning Sunrise Original Key D minor, shifting to the relative major of F in the B sectionForm A - A - B - A

Tonality A sections are minor; B is majorMovement Downward leaps on half notes are followed by an eighth rest and a motif consisting of three eighths and two quarters. Scale-wise movement between sections ascends into B and descends into the final A. Overall, A sections move generaownward while B moves upward.Comments (assumed background) The sinuous, strongly rhythmic melodic line resembles an Argentine tango. This,in fact, was Rombergs original intention; his arrangement was marked as such andwritten in 2/4. Use of repeated rhythmic motif and relative lack of rhythmic variety may be considered dull by the standards of modern jazz players, but this made the tune quite danceable in its time. (The tango underwent a period of popularity in the late 20s, and the dance which defined the Jazz Era-the Charleston-is

actually derived from the tango, played four times as fast).Harmonically A is simply the minor variation on I -VI- ii -V7. B starts out with ths progression (in the relative major), but a descending bass line leads to a deceptive cadence as the viiø7of F major becomes the iiø7 of D minor. K. J. McElrath - Musicologist for JazzStandards.com

Check out K. J. McElraths book of Jazz Standards Guide Tone Lines at his web site (www.bardicle.com).