American lyricist and librettist, author of Show Boat as well as a series of musical classics with Richard Rodgers.Hammerstein initially pursued a career as a lawyer. He was drawn toward the theater, however, and participated in varsity shows as a writer and performer, first at Columbia College and later at Columbia Law School.
Career
He took a job as stage manager of You're in Love, a musical produced by his uncle, Arthur Hammerstein. Three years later Oscar Hammerstein II provided both book and lyrics for the musical show Always You, which had a short Broadway run.he wrote the book and lyrics for Romberg's The New Moon(1928) and Kern's Music in the Air(1932), and his songs for Hollywood movie musicals of the 1930's included the appealing waltz "When I Grow Too Old to Dream" (music by Romberg) and the bittersweet "The Last Time I Saw Paris" .Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote the charming television musical Cinderella and the popular Broadway show Drum Flower Song(1958). The Sound of Music(1959) features the last song written by Rodgers and Hammerstein, the tender "Edelweiss."
Personality
Oscar Hammerstein II's lyrics were deceptively simple models of singability, clean rhyme, and poetry. A master of colloquial dialogue, he was a patient researcher who was devoted to historical accuracy and factual detail. He was the first lyricist to write long musical numbers that interwove dialogue with song. It was a notion that would be carried further by Stephen Sondheim, to whom Hammerstein was a father figure and mentor.