#1
Posted: 7/24/07 at 10:13pm
I think he's great at both, but my vote would probably be for lyrics.
Do you feel that Sondheim is a better composer or lyricist?
#2
Posted: 7/24/07 at 10:14pm
Most will probably say lyricist. But his music blows me away. I love his lyrics and all the wisdom and rhymes he uses. But his music really does something for me inside.
#3
Posted: 7/24/07 at 10:15pm
Boy, that's like asking someone to choose their favorite child.
#4
Posted: 7/24/07 at 10:15pm
His lyrics. I know I'm in the minority on this one, as much as I try, I really don't care for his music.
Hey Dottie!
Did your colleagues enjoy the cake even though your cat decided to sit on it? ~GuyfromGermany
#5
Posted: 7/24/07 at 10:17pm
Lyrics for sure. Love his music, but his lyrics are amazing.
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
#6
Posted: 7/24/07 at 10:18pm
Lyrics, his music is definitely inspired, but his lyrics are beyond sublime.
#7
Posted: 7/24/07 at 10:20pm
He should've been a poet.
Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiae
Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra
Salve, Salve Regina
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Eva
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
O clemens O pia
Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra
Salve, Salve Regina
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Eva
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
O clemens O pia
#8
Posted: 7/24/07 at 10:23pm
I feel like he uses his music as words too, though. It's so hard to isolate one or the other
The morning star always gets wonderful bright the minute before it has to go --doesn't it?
#9
Posted: 7/24/07 at 10:25pm
^ That's a really good point, Misschung.
#10
Posted: 7/24/07 at 10:26pm
I would say music - his lyrics are always amazing, but they hang upon music that emphasizes the words in exactly the right places. Sondheim has written lyrics to other people's music, but have other people written lyrics to his music?
#11
Posted: 7/24/07 at 10:32pm
For me, the diversity of his music is his real brilliance. No 2 of his scores sound a like. You have the patische of FOLLIES. The operatic pieces like NIGHT MUSIC and SWEENEY. His one and only pop score - MERRILY.There is the Japanese themed PACIFIC OVERTURES. You have PASSION which is like one big love song. And the list can continue.
Amazing.
Amazing.
Updated On: 7/24/07 at 10:32 PM
#12
Posted: 7/24/07 at 10:33pm
I like a few other's music more than his, but he is a definitive lyricist.
One time, Patti LuPone punched me in the face...
It was awesome. - theaterkid1015
It was awesome. - theaterkid1015
#13
Posted: 7/24/07 at 10:38pm
Music.
There's no other music like it and no other musical theatre composer's music makes you feel and think as his music does. His lyrics are equally wonderful, but I think he's a better composer.
There's no other music like it and no other musical theatre composer's music makes you feel and think as his music does. His lyrics are equally wonderful, but I think he's a better composer.
#14
Posted: 7/24/07 at 10:44pm
Lyrics. While his music is fantastic, it's those lyrics that are like no others.
#15
Posted: 7/24/07 at 10:48pm
I think it depends on the show. West Side Story has way better music than lyrics. Forum is the other way around.
"you freakin freaks. get a ****in life. theres more to life than this stupid website." stage manager 2
#16
Posted: 7/24/07 at 10:50pm
He didn't write the music to WSS. That was Leonard Bernstein.
#17
Posted: 7/24/07 at 10:53pm
. West Side Story has way better music than lyrics. Forum is the other way around.
Umm he did not write the music to West Side Story.
I vote lyrics.
Umm he did not write the music to West Side Story.
I vote lyrics.
I shave me Xanadu every morning!
#18
Posted: 7/24/07 at 10:55pm
I would have to say lyricist. His rhymes into the woods are like no other. Into The Woods is his greatest achievement as a lyricist, in my opinion. He obviously also has gorgeous music but, no one else can write as witty lyrics as Sondheim.
#19
Posted: 7/24/07 at 10:56pm
both?
"This ocean runs more dark and deep than you may think you know...I'll be the fear of the fire at sea."
-Marie Christine
#20
Posted: 7/24/07 at 10:58pm
Music.
#21
Posted: 7/24/07 at 11:04pm
music. Some of his chord progressions, orchestrations, layerings, and complex harmonies send chills down my spine. And his music style is so unique that you can almost instantly recognize it as one of his pieces, yet no one can really say they sound similar.... *sigh*
but his lyrics are amazing too
but his lyrics are amazing too
#22
Posted: 7/24/07 at 11:04pm
Tough choice but I'm with everyone on else his music is never the same thing twice and it's always inspired. His lyrical storytelling just blows me away. He's a true poet.
I'm not gonna hate you in the magazines,
(I'm better than that)
I'm not gonna compromise my Christianity,
(I'm better than that)
You know I'm not gonna diss you on the Internet
Cause my momma taught me better than that.
#23
Posted: 7/24/07 at 11:05pm
I think lyricist, to be honest.
Jimmy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM!
#24
Posted: 7/24/07 at 11:11pm
Both. I feel that in the shows that he's written both music and lyrics, the marriage is PERFECTION. Both elevate each other into a whole different level that no composer/lyricist has ever reached.
His lyrics when he's writing with a composer are great, of course. They're perfect, classic musical theatre lyrics (Except Cool, which I think is brilliant).
But Sweeney, Into the Woods, Sunday, Night Music, and so forth, are beyond brilliant.
His lyrics when he's writing with a composer are great, of course. They're perfect, classic musical theatre lyrics (Except Cool, which I think is brilliant).
But Sweeney, Into the Woods, Sunday, Night Music, and so forth, are beyond brilliant.
Personally, I think I have too much bloom.
#25
Posted: 7/24/07 at 11:14pm
perfect marriage of right and left brain, IMO 
The morning star always gets wonderful bright the minute before it has to go --doesn't it?
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