OSHER 866 - Arlen, Mercer, Mancini, Sondheim, and Bacharach: Contrasting Styles

Few composers altered the landscape of the American Songbook as vibrantly as Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, Henry Mancini, Steven Sondheim, and Burt Bacharach. With the recent deaths of Bacharach (2023) and Sondheim (2021), the landscape of the American Songbook lost two legends of song. Wayne Egan, a long-recognized local jazz pianist, will explore the relationship between music and language based on the songs of these celebrated American composers and lyricists. The exploration will include brief lectures, live performances, and limited showing of YouTube clips. Dr. Egan will analyze select songs and ponder the elements one so admires in a great song--surprise (unexpectedness), subtlety, wit, and inevitability. We will also look at the lives of the composers. Participants will be invited to sing along with live accompaniment on a Steinway grand piano and an acoustic bass. Attend this class and discover how the musical poetry of incredible songs has delighted listeners for decades with an aesthetic that defies explanation, songs that convey primal feeling, which is all that a love song requires.