Hammerstein, Oscar, II (1895-1960)

US lyricist and librettist. He collaborated with Richard Rodgers over a period of 16 years on some of the best-known US musicals, including Oklahoma! (1943, Pulitzer Prize), Carousel (1945), South Pacific (1949, Pulitzer Prize), The King and I (1951), and The Sound of Music (1959).

He was a grandson of the opera impresario Oscar Hammerstein (I) (1846-1919). He earned his first successes with Rose Marie (1924), with music by Rudolf Friml (1879-1972); Desert Song (1926), music by Sigmund Romberg (1887-1951); and Show Boat (1927), music by Jerome Kern. Show Boat represented a major step forward in integration of plot and character. After a period of moderate success in film music, he joined Rodgers and began their 16-year collaboration. His adaptation of Carmen as a musical (Carmen Jones) was premiered in 1943.

His grandfather established the Manhattan Opera House in 1906, in rivalry with the New York Metropolitan Opera House. US premieres of Elektra and Pelléas et Mélisande were given but in 1920 he was bought out by the New York Metropolitan and prevented from mounting opera in New York and other major US cities. A London Opera House, opened at Kingsway in 1911, lasted only two seasons.