Oscar Rasbach (August 2, 1888 – March 23, 1975) was an American

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestrat ...

art songs An art song is a Western vocal music composition, usually written for one voice with piano accompaniment, and usually in the classical art music tradition. By extension, the term "art song" is used to refer to the collective genre of such song ...

and works for

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

Biography

Oscar was born in Kentucky, but studied "academic subjects in Los Angeles". He also studied music with Ludwig Thomas, Julius Albert Jahn, José Anderson, and A. J. Stamm. He became a businessman, but went to

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

to study

with Theodor Leschetizky and

music theory Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...

with Hans Thorton. He returned to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1911 and settled in

San Marino, California San Marino is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It was incorporated on April 25, 1913. At the 2020 United States census the population was 12,513, a decline from the 2010 United States census. History Origin of name Th ...

. There he worked as a pianist, accompanist, teacher, and choral director. His obituary in the local news and the ''Musical Times'' claimed that he was a founding member of ASCAP, but the 1966 ASCAP Dictionary says that he joined in 1932.

Music

Rasbach composed two

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

s, around 20 published songs, solos for student pianists, and a few arrangements and instrumental pieces. His most important musical composition was his 1922 setting of ''Trees'', the popular poem by

Joyce Kilmer Alfred Joyce Kilmer (December 6, 1886 – July 30, 1918) was an American people, American writer and poet mainly remembered for a short poem titled "Trees (poem), Trees" (1913), which was published in the collection ''Trees and Other Poems'' in ...

, published by G. Schirmer. It was performed and recorded by many important singers of the 20th century, such as Ernestine Schumann-Heink, John Charles Thomas,

Nelson Eddy Nelson Ackerman Eddy (June 29, 1901 – March 6, 1967) was an American actor and baritone singer who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs ...

, Robert Merrill,

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for h ...

, Richard Tauber and Mario Lanza. More recently, tenor John Aler recorded it on a program entitled ''Songs we Forgot to Remember'', and Julian Lloyd Webber included an instrumental version for cello and piano on his Unexpected Songs cd.

Musical compositions

Songs for voice and piano

*April (text by Elsie M. Fowler), 1932 *Beloved (text by Josephine Johnson), 1941 *Crossing the Bar (text by

Alfred, Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of ...

), 1939 *Debt (text by Sara Teasdale), 1926 *Discovery (text by Gilean Douglas), 1945 *The Eagle, (text by Alfred, Lord Tennyson), unpublished manuscript *Gifts (text by Juliana Horatia Ewing), 1930 *The Greater Thing (text by C.T. Davis), 1941 *The Laughing Brook (text by Elizabeth Ellis Scantlebury), 1926, B.F. Wood Music Co. publisher *The Look (text by Sara Teasdale), 1925 *Love Shall Light the Haven (Prothalamium) (text by Leigh Hanes), 1936 *Motherhood *Mountains (text by Leigh Hanes), 1930 *Overtones (text by William Alexander Percy), 1929 *Prelude in March (text by Gilean Douglas), 1941 *Promise, 1932 *The Redwoods (text by J. B. Strauss), 1937, Sherman, Clay & Co. publisher *

Trees In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only p ...

(text by

), 1922 *A Wanderer's Song (text by

John Masefield John Edward Masefield (; 1 June 1878 – 12 May 1967) was an English poet and writer. He was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate from 1930 until his death in 1967, during which time he lived at Burcot, Oxfordshire, near Abingdon ...

) *When I am dead, my dearest (text by

Christina Rossetti Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English writer of romanticism, romantic, devotional and children's poems, including "Goblin Market" and "Remember". She also wrote the words of two Christmas carols well k ...

), 1941

Piano solo

*Barefoot Boy, 1939 *Day Dreams, 1938, Willis Music publisher (John Thompson's students series for the piano) *El Burrito, 1941 *Étude Mélodique, 1946 *Evening at Padua Hills, 1939 *Folk-Song Sonatinas (In Colonial Days, etc.), 1943 *From 'way Down South (Turkey in the Straw), 1934 *The Old Mill Wheel, 1934 *Pleading, 1934 *Scherzo, 1921 *Spanish Nights, 1934 *Tango, 1936 *Valse Charlene, 1936 *Valse Elaine, 1938 *The Village Blacksmith, 1939 *Waltz Improvisation *Wishing *Woods at Night, 1938

Musical arrangements

* España ( Emmanuel Chabrier), for piano solo *Sigh No More, Ladies (James H. Rogers/Shakespeare), for women's chorus, 1959 *The Skaters ( Emil Waldteufel), for piano solo, 1941 *Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State! (text by

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include the poems " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and '' Evangeline''. He was the first American to comp ...

) ( Engelbert Humperdinck, "Abends, will ich schlafen gehn" from Hansel and Gretel), for women's chorus, 1943 *You and You (

Johann Strauss II Johann Baptist Strauss II (; ; 25 October 1825 – 3 June 1899), also known as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son (), was an List of Austrian composers, Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas as well ...

, '' Die Fledermaus''), for piano solo

Other works

*''Dawn Boy'', Indian Operetta in 2 Acts and 3 Scenes (book and lyrics by C. Allen), 1933 *Gifts, violin and piano *''Open House'', operetta *Songs Without Words, string ensemble with piano (arr. by Louis Hintze), 1937

Filmography

His song ''Trees'' was used in 10 film and television productions:IMDb web site *''The In-Laws'', 1979 (uncredited) *''All in the Family'' (TV series), "The Bunkers Go West", 1978 (uncredited) *''Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall'' (TV series), Episode dated 21 March 1959 (uncredited) *''Melody Time'', 1948 *''Blondie in Society'', 1941 *''Woman Chases Man'', 1937 (uncredited) *''Toyland Broadcast'' (short), 1934 (uncredited) *''The Tree's Knees'' (short), 1931 *''Dorothy Whitmore'' (short), 1928 *''Mme. Ernestine Schumann-Heink'' (short), 1927

Footnotes

References

* *. * *http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0711017/ * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rasbach, Oscar People from Dayton, Kentucky Songwriters from Kentucky 1888 births 1975 deaths People from San Marino, California Songwriters from California 20th-century American songwriters