Sondheim, Stephen (1930—)
Stephen Sondheim is one of the most important creative personalities in the American musical theater of the late twentieth century. Like George M. Cohan and Cole Porter before him, Sondheim is one of those rare songsters who creates both words and music. Sondheim and his shows have almost a cult following because of their sophistication of topic, music, and approach. Sondheim is a composer who creates something unique and different for each show, yet each work bears his unmistakable imprint. His most popular number, "Send in the Clowns," has been recorded by numerous singers worldwide.
Sondheim was born on March 22, 1930, into an affluent New York family and began his musical studies at very young age. He grew up as a neighbor of Oscar Hammerstein II, who took the young Stephen under his wing. He graduated from Williams College with a music degree and continued his composition studies with Milton Babbitt, a pioneer in computer-generated music. He began his career as a composer of musicals in the 1950s with Saturday Night (1955), a show which was not staged until 1997. He also wrote incidental music for the play Girls of Summer (1956).
Sondheim's first commercial success was as librettist for West Side Story (1957).
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