Follow TV Tropes

Following

History Music / IrvingBerlin

Go To

OR

Added: 558

Changed: 569

Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* NeverLearnedToRead: Not only could he not read or write music, he could only play in one key! Specifically, F sharp, so he could mostly stay in the black keys. He had a special piano built with what was essentially a giant lever-operated capo if ever he needed to transpose something. He got around his musical illiteracy by using a "musical secretary" to transcribe his songs. He once asked his songwriting friend Victor Herbert whether he should study composition, to which Herbert replied that it "might help you a little, but it could cramp your style".

to:

* NeverLearnedToRead: *GriefSong: "When I Lost You," which he wrote after the death of his first wife Dorothy.
*NeverLearnedToRead:
Not only could he not read or write music, he could only play in one key! Specifically, F sharp, so he could mostly stay in the black keys. He had a special piano built with what was essentially a giant lever-operated capo if ever he needed to transpose something. He got around his musical illiteracy by using a "musical secretary" to transcribe his songs. He once asked his songwriting friend Victor Herbert whether he should study composition, to which Herbert replied that it "might help you a little, but it could cramp your style".
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

* TheShowMustGoOn: Brought up in the song, "There's No Business Like Show Business".
-->'''You get word before the show has started,\\
That your favorite uncle died at dawn.\\
On top of that, your pa and ma have parted.\\
You're brokenhearted,\\
But you go on.''

Top