Jerome Kern
USA, 1904–1945
American composer (1885-1945) who made the Broadway score a serious form. Show Boat (1927) bound song to story as no American musical had, and 'Ol' Man River', 'Smoke Gets in Your Eyes' and 'The Way You Look Tonight' became foundations of the standard repertoire.
MusicRoots documents 2 artists who influenced Jerome Kern and 1 artist Jerome Kern influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.
Who influenced Jerome Kern?
- Jacques Offenbach — Kern was the link between European operetta and the Broadway musical, adapting to American idiom and pace the form Offenbach invented in Paris.
- Johann Strauss II — The Viennese side of that inheritance came through Strauss - Kern trained in Germany, and the waltz-time, almost operatic writing surfaces openly in Show Boat.
Which artists did Jerome Kern influence?
- George Gershwin — Kern was Gershwin's greatest early influence - 'I followed Kern's works and studied each song he composed' - and the man who convinced him that popular song could be made of better material.