Sigmund Romberg Biography

Sigmund Romberg was an Austro-Hungarian composer best known for his musicals and operettas. Over the course of his prolific career he composed nearly 60 works for musical theater as well as music for revues, and musical comedies. He developed interest in music early on in life and his talents became apparent when he was just a small child. With his father’s encouragement he started learning the violin and piano at the age of six and eight, respectively. He was very active in his high school orchestra and it did not take him long to realize that music was his calling in life. Even though his parents had supported his love for music when he was young, they wanted him to eventually pursue a career in some other more stable field. So they persuaded him to study engineering and sent him to Vienna for training. Instead on focusing on his engineering studies he immersed himself in music and eventually migrated to the USA in order to become a musician. He struggled initially to find his footing but eventually established himself as a popular and successful composer. He was a key figure of American operetta during the early 20th century and developed a new model for operetta with Oscar Hammerstein II. Eventually he also went on to compose musical scores for Hollywood films