Paul Rubens (composer)

Paul Alfred Rubens (29 April 1875 – 25 February 1917) was an English songwriter and librettist for some of the most popular Edwardian musical comedies. Although he suffered from consumptive disease for nearly his entire adult life, Rubens contributed to the success of dozens of musicals.

Life and career

Rubens was born in Kensington, London, the eldest son of a successful German-born Jewish stockbroker, Victor Rubens, and Jenny Rubens, née Wallach. Rubens attended Winchester College and then studied law at University College, Oxford from 1895 to 1897. Rubens had begun writing songs for shows as early as age 10, and he continued in music and dramatic societies throughout school."The Times" obituary, 6 October 1917, p. 10] He intended, at first, to practise law, but he soon gave it up to write songs for the stage, including for a production of "Alice in Wonderland", while still at Oxford, in which Lewis Carroll collaborated.Gänzl, Kurt [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/62437 "Rubens, Paul Alfred (1875–1917)",] "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 18 Sept 2008, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/62437]

Early career

Rubens supplied lyrics and melodies for a number of successful musicals in the 1890s, beginning with "The Little Chinchilla" in the hit musical "The Shop Girl" (1894), sung by Ellaline Terriss at the Gaiety Theatre, London. Rubens was a talented melodist, but, lacking musical training, others had to supply the accompaniment for his songs. In the years that followed, he wrote songs for Arthur Roberts for "Dandy Dan the Lifeguardsman" (1898, "There's Just a Something Missing"); for "Milord Sir Smith"; for "Little Miss Nobody" ("Trixie of Upper Tooting", "A Wee Little Bit of a Thing Like That", "We'll Just Sit Out", and "The People All Come to See Us"); and for the hit musical "San Toy" (1899, "Me Gettee Outee Velly Quick") for producer George Edwardes. During the same year, he wrote the play "Young Mr Yarde" (1898, with Harold Ellis) and co-wrote a burlesque, "Great Caesar" (1899, with George Grossmith, Jr.), which was produced on the West End, but both were failures. [http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/british/composers/rubens.html "Paul Rubens",] British Musical Theatre website of The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, 21 August 2004]

In 1899, he wrote songs for "L'amour mouillé" and the international hit, "Florodora" (1899: "Inkling", "Tact", "When I Leave Town", "I Want to Marry a Man", "When an Interfering Person", "Queen of the Philippine Islands", and "When We're on the Stage"), which brought him wider fame. Edwardes quickly hired Rubens as an "additional material" writer, and Rubens supplied some of the most successful numbers in "The Messenger Boy" in 1900 ("Tell Me Pretty Maiden", "How I Saw the CIV", and "A Perfectly Peaceful Person"); "The Toreador" in 1901 ("Everybody's Awfully Good to Me"); "A Country Girl" in 1902 ("Two Little Chicks" and "Coo"); "The Girl from Kays" in 1902 ("I Don't Care"); "The School Girl" in 1903; "The Cingalee" in 1904 ("Sloe Eyes", "Make a Fuss of Me", "She's All Right", '"You and I and I and You", "Golly-wogs", and "Somethings Devilish Wrong"); "The Blue Moon" in 1905; and "The Dairymaids" by Robert Courtneidge (1906).

During this period, Rubens also wrote incidental music for the 1901 production of "Twelfth Night" at His Majesty's Theatre. He also wrote songs for "The Medal and the Maid" (1902, 'Consequences') and "The School Girl" (1903). Edwardes gave Rubens the opportunity to write the book, lyrics and some of the music for "Three Little Maids" (1902), which had London and international success; "Lady Madcap" (1904); and "Mr. Popple of Ippleton" (1905), a more sophisticated piece than many of Rubens' earlier musical comedies, which was later produced in America as "Nobody Home", with songs by Jerome Kern.

Later years

Frank Curzon then hired Rubens to write both the words and songs for musicals starring his wife, Isabel Jay (who had already starred in two of Rubens' shows), at the Prince of Wales Theatre, with exotic sets, elaborate costumes and a host of beautiful chorus girls. The first was "Miss Hook of Holland" in 1907, which turned out to be Rubens' most enduring success. Because of the progression of the consumptive illness from which he suffered most of his life, he needed the assistance of the director, Austen Hurgon, to finish the libretto. Rubens and Hurgon next wrote the disappointing "My Mimosa Maid" (1908) and the somewhat more successful "Dear Little Denmark" (1909).

After writing songs that made their way into several Broadway shows, Rubens supplied songs for a number of mostly successful later shows, beginning with Curzon's "The Balkan Princess" in 1910 (an international hit, also starring Jay). He then returned to Edwardes' theatres, where the departure of Ivan Caryll gave him the chance to write the songs for "The Sunshine Girl" in 1912, "The Girl from Utah" in 1913, "After the Girl" in 1914, "Tina" and "Betty", both in 1915, and "The Happy Day" in 1916. His best and most popular work from these years, however, is heard in his melodies and lyrics for "Tonight's the Night" (1914). After the outbreak of World War I, Rubens wrote a successful recruiting song called "Your King and Country Need You". Vesta Tilley often performed the song. [Duffy, Michael. [http://www.firstworldwar.com/audio/yourkingandcountrywantyou.htm "Vintage Audio: Your King and Country Want You",] FirstWorldWar.com, 8 December 2002] Rubens' songs continued to be used at least into the 1920s. "The Gondola and the Girl" was was part of the score of Irene Bordoni's 1924 production, "Little Miss Bluebeard".

Rubens met actress Phyllis Dare when she was cast in "The Sunshine Girl", and he wrote a number of songs for her. They began a relationship and ultimately became engaged, but Rubens who had suffered severe ill-health through virtually his whole career, became too sick to marry, and so the couple separated.

He retired to Cornwall and died in Falmouth, England of consumption, at the age of 41.

Notes

References

*Gänzl, Kurt. "The encyclopedia of the musical theatre", 2 vols. (1994)
*Gänzl, Kurt. "The British musical theatre", 2 vols. (1986)
*cite book|last=Hyman|first=Alan|year=1978|title=Sullivan and His Satellites|location=London|publisher=Chappell
*Parker, J. ed. "Who’s who in the theatre", 6th ed. (1930)
*Robertson, W. Graham. "Time was: the reminiscences of W. Graham Robertson" (1931)
*Obituary: Paul Rubens, "Musical Times", Vol. 58, No. 889, 1 March 1917, p. 117.
*"The Era", 29 November 1902

External links

* [http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=13521 List of Broadway credits]
* [http://www.halhkmusic.com/victorian.html Links to Midi files, lyrics and cast lists from 16 of Rubens' shows, among others]