Cole Porter: His Music and Lyrics
American Lyricist, Songwriter, Composer, Famous for Night and Day
Jun 12, 2008
Porter, prominent Broadway composer of the 20th-century, was an inventive and witty lyricist, and an ingenious songwriter who produced sophisticated songs of American music, popular to this day. His unforgettable lovely songs linger on, like "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye," "In the Still of the Night," "Begin the Beguine," "Kiss Me Kate," "I Love Paris," and many more.
Early Life of Porter in Law Training
American composer and lyricist Cole Albert Porter (1891-1964) was born rich in his family's large farm in Peru, Indiana. Unlike other known musicians, he composed for pleasure rather than necessity. His grandfather who made a fortune in lumber saw to it that his grandson got a quality education in law. He was educated at Worcester Academy, Yale University and Harvard Law School.
Cole Porter's Musical Talent
Porter showed his musical talent and interest when he was young, in fact, he started writing songs at the age of ten, and produced on Broadway by the time he was 21. However, his formal studies in music only began in 1915 when he started at Harvard School of Music and with Vincent d'Indy in Paris, in 1919. Before this, he had a period at law school and the French Foreign Legion.
Musical Career in Stage, Film, and Songs
The rest of his life was spent in Hollywood, in Broadway, and travelling around the world in style. Porter's career in music spanned an impressive five decades resulting in over 800 songs written for 26 Broadway shows and another 18 films. He composed a number of musicals, often to his own lyrics.
Porter's first stage production in New York was See America First, in 1916. Success after another followed; his first one was with Wake Up and Dream (1929, London), then with a long series of Broadway musicals and films.
His songs like "Night and Day," "What is this Thing Called Love?," "Begin the Beguine," "Let’s Do It," "I Get a Kick Out of You," and "Don’t Fence Me In," have been widely recorded and admired. Among Porter's other film successes were Gay Divorce (1932) and Anything Goes (1934) where he came up with "All Through the Night," "You're the Top," "I Get a Kick Out of You, and the title song.
Porter wrote music for films such as "True Love" from the hit movie High Society starring Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra. Considered his finest musical is his 1948 Kiss Me, Kate.
Cole Porter's Turning Point
While in Paris in 1937, he shattered his legs when a horse fell on him, leaving him crippled for the rest of his life.
Cole Porter trail-blazed in the area of lyric and song writing. He is regarded one of the titans of Broadway that include Oscar Hammerstein II, George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and Jerome Kern.
Sources:
- Bibliographical Dictionary, edited by Una McGovern, Chambers, 2002
- The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music, edited by Stanley Sadie, Macmillan Press, 1984
- Word Crazy: Broadway Lyricists form Cohan to Sondheim by Thomas S. Hischak, Praeger, 1991
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