Irving Berlin, America’s Songwriter with Marc Strauss
Monday evenings from 6-8 p.m on Zoom
February 7, 14, 21, 28 and March 7.
Irving Berlin (1888 – 1989) was a Russian American composer and lyricist, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in history. His music forms a major part of the Great American Songbook, including hits as recognizable and eternally popular as “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” (1911), “Blue Skies” (1926), “Puttin’ on the Ritz” (1927), “Easter Parade” (1933), “God Bless America” (1938), “White Christmas” (1942), and literally hundreds of others.
Following the approach of earlier Open University of Wellfleet composer-focused courses on Rodgers and Hart, Harold Arlen, and most recently, Jerome Kern, Marc Strauss, Ph.D., will present, discuss, and analyze dozens of vocal and dance versions of Berlin’s popular, and oftentimes overlooked, songs, from his first published tune, “Marie from Sunny Italy” (1907), through his last hit in 1966, “An Old-Fashioned Wedding.” Come revisit, or experience for the first time, the broad historical and popular reach of one of the world’s greatest songwriters, on Broadway and in film.