33 West 55th Street
New York, N.Y. 10019




Sigmund (originally Zsigmond) Romberg was born on July 29, 1887, to a Jewish family in the West-Hungarian provincial town of Nagykanizsa during the Austro-Hungarian K.u.K. Monarchy period. He went to Vienna to study engineering, but also took composition lessons while there. He moved to the United States in 1909 and, after a brief stint working in a pencil factory, was employed as a pianist in cafés. He eventually founded his own orchestra and published a few songs, which, despite their limited success, brought him to the attention of the Shubert brothers, who in 1914 hired him to write music for their Broadway theatre shows. That year he wrote his first successful Broadway revue, The Whirl of the World.

Romberg's adaptation of melodies by Franz Schubert for Blossom Time (1921, produced in the UK as Lilac Time) was a great success. He subsequently wrote his best-known operettas, The Student Prince (1924), The Desert Song (1926) and The New Moon (1928), which are in a style similar to the Viennese operettas of Franz Lehár. He also wrote Rosalie (1928) together with George Gershwin. His later works, such as Up in Central Park (1945), are closer to the American musical in style, but they were less successful. Romberg also wrote a number of film scores and adapted his own work for film.

Much of Romberg's music, including extensive excerpts from his operettas, was released on LP during the 1950s and 1960s, especially by Columbia, Capitol, and RCA Victor. Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald, who appeared in an MGM adaptation of The New Moon in 1940, regularly recorded and performed his music. There have also been periodic revivals of the operettas.

Several of Romberg's popular song hits were recorded on Aeolian Duo-Art Rolls by Lew White, who was at one time the principal organist of the Roxy Theatre and owner of the Lew White Institute of Organ, a school for theatre organists. Aeolian's Musical Comedy Fantasie contained a Sigmund Romberg medley with "I Wanna Be Loved By You" (Good Boy), "One Kiss" (New Moon), "Why Do I Love You?" (Show Boat), "Blue Shadows" (The Vanities), "Anything Your Heart Desires" (Just a Minute), and "March of the Musketeers" (The Three Musketeers). Lew White recorded another medley of tunes from Romberg's popular operetta, The New Moon, including the Introduction, "Lover Come Back to Me," "The Girl on the Prowl," "Try Her Out at Dances," "Wanting You," "Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise," "One Kiss," and the March. After the theatre organ lust its luster, Lew White was a regular organist for popular radio programs, and became involved with the Hammond Organ School of New York.

Sigmund Romberg's residence on West 55th Street included a large book-lined studio that had a grand piano which could be played from the Aeolian pipe organ. Romberg would conceive a song at the organ, then complete it on the piano. The studio was said to have "perfect acoustics" and was often used as a recording studio. After Romberg donated the Aeolian organ to the Scottish Rite Temple in Baltimore, he used a Hammond electric organ. In the 1930s, Romberg also had a residence in Beverly Hills, Calif., that had a similar studio setup.

Romberg died in 1951 in New York City and was interred in the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.

Sources:      Brubacher, Ray (Olney, Md.). Electronic correspondence about Aeolian Organ, Op. 1685 (1928).      Everett, William A. Sigmund Romberg: The Man and His Music. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.      Smith, Rollin. The Aeolian Pipe Organ and its Music. Richmond: The Organ Historical Society, 1998.      Trupiano, Larry. Factory Specifications (May 15, 1928) of Aeolian Organ, Op. 1685.      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Romberg. Biographical information. Illustrations:      Lewis, James. Console of Aeolian Company organ, Op. 1685 (1928).      http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Sigmund_Romberg. Photo of Sigmund Romberg.