FREDERICK LOEWE (1904-1988)
'GIGI' Selection for orchestra arranged by Robert Russell Bennett
The partnership of Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner (1918-1986) produced some
of the most successful stage musicals, and subsequently films, of the 20th century:
My Fair Lady, Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon and Camelot were all fruits of the collaboration
which began when they met in 1942.
Loewe was born in Vienna, the son of an operetta tenor, and he trained for a career
as a concert pianist: he studied with Busoni and d'Albert and studied composition
under Reznicek in Berlin. In 1924 he and his father emigrated to America, but Frederick
failed to make the grade as composer or concert pianist and worked as a jobbing pianist
in New York restaurants. He began to write songs, and then several musicals for the
Broadway stage, but none had much success, until he met Alan Jay Lerner. They worked
together on Brigadoon, which was produced with great success in 1947.
In the Loewe-Lerner canon Gigi came between My Fair Lady and Camelot. Gigi had not
been a stage show: the film, directed by Vincente Minelli, was released by MGM in
1958. It was based on a story by the French writer Colette, famous for, among other
things, her early novels of schoolgirl life - and by the end of her career, a cult
figure. She was the first Frenchwoman to be given a state funeral. When MGM took
up the story Gigi had already been filmed in France, in 1948, but the Hollywood version
was altogether more elaborate. It is the story of a rich man-about-town (Maurice
Chevalier) who brings up a teenage girl (Leslie Caron) to be a courtesan. But she
is a tomboy with a mind of her own and the plan seems unlikely to succeed: she decides
to get married instead.
Musical highlights of the film included Chevalier's cynical-sentimental duet with
Hermione Gingold, I Remember it Well, and the now politically objectionable Thank
Heaven for Little Girls. But Gigi was further distinguished by Cecil Beaton's designs
and costumes, set in fin de siècle Paris, and these won Oscars and Gigi won seven
others, for direction, photography, editing, screenplay, scoring, for the song 'Gigi'
itself and, not least, for Best Picture. The orchestral selection offers a reprise
of the film's best numbers.
Programme Notes by Paul Vaughan ©
The Wimbledon Symphony Orchestra is a registered charity (No. 259860)
