Probably the singular most important moment in the revolution of contemporary musicals.
—Stephen Sondheim30
Referred to by many as simply “the Bench Scene,” Rodgersʼs earliest known draft of this is simply named “SCENE: BILLY AND JULIE – IF I LOVED YOU,” which lets us know that he was thinking of these as musical scenes early on. Yet within each section the lyrical verses and phrases are structured so neatly that we canʼt help but feel weʼre listening to an old-fashioned, traditional thirty-two-bar Broadway song. Here is a chart of the overall structure of the scene.
Table 4. Form and Harmonic Structure in “Bench Scene” from Carousel31
Measure Section / Theme Key: draft pub. scores
Part 1: Youʼre A Queer One, Julie Jordan (reprise)
m. 1 orchestral intro (“Youʼre a queer one”) F-sharp G m. 9 Billyʼs 1st verse (“Youʼre a queer one”) G A-flat m. 16 Julieʼs 1st verse (“You couldnʼt take”) G A-flat m. 26 Billyʼs 2nd verse (“Youʼre a queer one”) E-flat A N/A Billyʼs 3rd verse (“Do you love me?”) D (cut) m. 45 Julieʼs 2nd verse (“Iʼm never gonna marry”) G A-flat m. 53 underscoring (“Youʼre a queer one”) (did not exist yet) D-flat
30. Meryle Secrest, Stephen Sondheim (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), 255.
31 . Rodgers and Hammerstein, Carousel piano-conductor score, 33–51.
m. 61 Julieʼs 3rd Verse (“When I worked in the”) D G Part 2: If I Loved You
m. 1 Julieʼs Verse (“If I Loved You”) C D-flat
m. 37 underscoring (“If I Loved You”) C D-flat
m. 49 Billyʼs 1st verse (“You canʼt hear a sound”) C C m. 81 Billyʼs 2nd verse (“Thereʼs a hell of a lot”) C C
m. 105 Julieʼs interlude (“Thereʼs a feathery cloud”) C (w/ lyrics) C (underscore) m. 118 Billyʼs 3rd verse (“Kinda scrawny and pale”) D E-flat
m. 146 Billyʼs verse (“If I Loved You”) C D-flat
m. 182 orchestral coda (“If I Loved You”) (did not exist yet) D-flat
The scene has two large-scale divisions: the first half being a reprise (with variations) of “Youʼre A Queer One, Julie Jordan” (this time sung by Billy instead of Carrie) which ultimately leads into “If I Loved You.” Rodgers even designates in his early draft when we have reached the song proper, and his designation is faithfully copied into the published scores.
Underneath this large two-part structure lie many different verses and smaller divisions, each of which is perfectly constructed and balanced in its own right. The first half of the song functions much like “Youʼre A Queer One, Julie Jordan” earlier in the act. Instead of launching into his own monologue, Billy keeps cajoling Julie with the same tune for more information about her romantic history. Once she perplexes him enough with her quixotic views on life, she finally sings her conditional love-song “If I Loved You” (strikingly similar in poetic conceit to “People Will Say Weʼre In Love”
from Oklahoma!). In the same way that “Youʼre A Queer One, Julie Jordan” served as a
prelude for “His Name Is Mister Snow,” here it serves as a preamble to “If I Loved You,”
the centerpiece of the Bench Scene.
After Julie has bared her soul with “If Loved If You,” Billy finally opens up with his own innermost thoughts at m. 49, reflecting on nature and manʼs insignificant role in the universe. The paean he sings here “is the first insight into the complexity of Billyʼs character and the course that this relationship will take.”32 This section eventually and inevitably develops into his own verse of “If I Loved You.” When Billy finishes singing, the orchestra continues underscoring the remainder of the scene, until he and Julie kiss.
The final few moments are not what one expects: instead of a reprise of the tune with the two singers in climactic vocal harmony ending on a dominant-to-tonic chord progression, Rodgers finishes with an orchestral climax on an exciting Neapolitan cadence—a fitting finale to an epic scene that lets the audience know the fate of these two lovers is now sealed.
One way Rodgers deftly takes us through this long musical sequence is with
modulation. Each time he changes keys, he grabs the audienceʼs attention, suggesting a shift in content, narrative voice, or mood. Rodgers deals with this so elegantly that we realize only in retrospect that a new song is underway. Joseph Swain points out that the
“harmonization of this song is not the only agent of its expression” and that the “subtlety of melodic phrasing … shows yet another advance from Oklahoma!, whose tunes are built on clear four-bar phrases through and through.”33
There is no major difference in overall harmonic and formal structure between Rodgersʼs undated early draft and the final published scores, but a number of changes
32. Swain, The Broadway Musical, 130.
33. Ibid., 123.
took place before opening night. When the copyist created piano-vocal scores of this number for the rehearsal pianist, most of the sections were eventually transposed up a half step. The strings begin in the key of G instead of F-sharp, and from there on maintain a similar key outline for most of the scene, save for a few interesting exceptions. At mm.
26, Billyʼs second verse was transposed up a tritone from E-flat to A. This creates a modulation from Julieʼs verse, now in A-flat, to A for Billyʼs verse, which gives a playful and jeering quality between the two characters, and has a feeling that the stakes are being raised throughout the scene.
Several sections of music and lyrics were cut and replaced. One of the differences between the draft and published score is that Billy originally had a third verse of “Youʼre A Queer One, Julie Jordan.” The lyrics were originally as follows:
BILLY: (singing) Do you love me? Julie Jordan.
JULIE: (spoken) No.
BILLY: (sings) Then explain just what youʼre doinʼ here with me.
Whyʼd you stay here in the first place?
JULIE: (sings) I like to watch [fermata] the moon upon [fermata] the sea.34
These lyrics and accompaniment were cut entirely before the Broadway opening, and the scene went straight into Julieʼs third verse “Iʼm never gonna marry.” However, after Julieʼs verse, a short stretch of spoken dialogue was inserted with another eight bars of
“Youʼre A Queer One” for underscoring. Without Billyʼs third verse, we transition right into Julieʼs third verse at m. 61. Table 4 shows that this section was originally in the key of D major, and transposed up a perfect fourth to the key of G major. The equivalent
34 . © 2010 by Imagem, C.V. Material contained herein, in a different form. ©1945 by Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II, renewed. International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved.
section in “Youʼre A Queer One, Julie Jordan” employed an identical transposition. This is not surprising, as the higher key is more naturally suited for the ingenue role of Julie.
Both verses of “If I Loved You” were transposed up a half-step from C to D-flat, yet Billyʼs other verses at mm. 49 and 81 were kept in C. Although the key was not changed, when Billy sings “On a night like this I start to wonder / what life is all about” in m. 71 the vocal melody was altered and the accompaniment stayed the same—a rare occurrence for Rodgers. The original melody rather plaintively stays in his lower register, ending on a B below the treble clef. The melody in the final version dramatically leaps up a minor-seventh interval, and ends on a B in the treble clef. This final version certainly has a more dramatic arc, which seems to fit the epic nature of Billyʼs reflections.
Perhaps the most interesting alterations occur in m. 105, right after Billyʼs ode to nature. Julie answers his second verse with a verse of her own, closely mimicking Billyʼs melody.
Example 4. Rodgers, “If I Loved You,” draft, 11–12, Richard Rodgers Collection.35
35. © 2010 by Imagem, C.V. Material contained herein, in a different form. ©1945 by Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II, renewed. International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved.
The original section exists in Walkerʼs full score, but presumably never made it to the New York opening. Rodgers also left behind a very rough sketch that was included with the early draft of the number. Written on a separate manuscript paper he maps out
twenty-seven measures of a melody with Roman numerals for chord progression beneath, titled “2 Little People.” Above the melodic sketch are six measures of what appears to be an even earlier version of Billyʼs verse at m. 49, but with a different accompaniment.
Example 5. Rodgers, “Two Little People,” sketch included with “If I Loved You,”
Richard Rodgers Collection.36
None of Hammerstein’s records allude to any lyrics titled “Two Little People,” so it is difficult to ascertain whether Rodgers was intending to set the pre-existing lyrics to this new melody, or to expand the music to this scene even further.
One final difference between Rodgersʼs draft and the published scores is a variation
36. Rodgers was often inconsistent in sketches with his designation of upper- and lower-case Roman numerals. © 2010 by Imagem, C.V. Material contained herein, in a different form. ©1945 by Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II, renewed. International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved.
on the lyrics that Billy sings as a lead-in to his verse of “If I Loved You.” Originally he sang “But I knew I would be / like you said youʼd be with me,” later changed to “Yet somehow I can see / just exactly how Iʼd be.” This is a subtle yet important change. The original lyric has Billy directly referencing how his conditional state of love would be exactly the same as Julieʼs. The final lyric simply repeats exactly what Julie sings before her own verse of “If I Loved You.” The difference is minuscule, yet the effect is
noticeable. Not only is Billy about to sing the same love song back to Julie, but the new lyric makes it ambiguous as to whether he is consciously deciding to repeat Julieʼs own song back to her, or if this song was just an expression of his views on love in general.
This ambiguity lend a charming innocence to Billyʼs character, as well as to his song, and it ends up transforming the tentative beginnings into a full, unconditional love scene—a perfect example of Hammersteinʼs lyrical and dramatic brilliance at work.
After this moment, Rodgers draft simply instructs the copyist to take the refrain from
“If I Loved You.” The orchestral underscoring and climax that concluded the scene must have been added in rehearsals.
Perhaps the most surprising aspect is this most famous of duets never has even a moment of vocal harmony. (In fact, thereʼs almost no duet harmonizing anywhere in the show.) For a musical with such operatic ambitions it is intriguing that Rodgers and Hammerstein seemed so disinterested in small-ensemble work. Being able to have two or more characters express thoughts at the same time is something unique to music.
Carouselʼs principal characters never express their thoughts at the same time—they only alternate. Only the chorus is given the opportunity to sing together (and almost always in unison). This aspect seems fitting for these people, who live a simple lifestyle in a small New England coastal town.
2.4 “Soliloquy”
This musical scene has long been renowned for its elaborate form, changing textures, and its ability to reflect a number of emotional changes. While this is true of any of the extended scenes in Carousel, “Soliloquy” is exceptional only in that it is for a single character.
—Joseph Swain, The Broadway Musical
One of the functions of the Bench Scene is to build the action and music up to Billyʼs grand “Soliloquy.” This number is a prime example of the way Carouselʼs score so eloquently interjects itself into the action. In the “Rodgersʼs and Hammerstein tradition,”
a character “had an emotion and sang about it … although the ʻSoliloquyʼ in Carousel is a study in ambivalence. It allows for dramatic contrast.”37
Rodgersʼs first known draft of this number is titled “Soliloquy” and consists of mostly melodic sketches, with occasional harmonies written in. He also left a more complete draft with lyrics and accompaniment fully realized. Table 5 chronicles the evolution of the various drafts of “Soliloquy.”
Table 5. Form and Harmonic Structure in “Soliloquy”38
Measure Section / Theme Key: Sketch 2nd Draft Pub. Scores Part 1: “My Boy Bill”
(insert) orchestral intro39 N/A N/A F-sharp
37. Secrest, Sondheim, 256.
38. Rodgers and Hammerstein, Carousel piano-conductor score, 104–18.
39. This introduction (which was lost at some point) is the first five measures of “Youʼre A Queer One, Julie Jordan,” arranged for string quartet. See Pomahac, “Restoration Notes,” 599.
m. 1 “I wonder what heʼll think” A minor A minor B minor m. 21 allegretto “Iʼll teach him” A minor A minor B minor m. 37 “My Boy Bill” 1st verse G major G major G major
m. 73 con moto (6/8) G major G major G major
m. 109 “My Boy Bill” 2nd verse G major G major G major m. 147 Piu mosso “Iʼll be damned” A minor A minor A minor m. 162 “I can see him when heʼs 17”F (mixolydian)F (mix.) F (mix.)
Part 2: “My Little Girl”
m. 185 reprise of 1st verse (dialogue) A minor A minor B minor (insert) “When I have a daughter N/A F major F major
m. 205 “My Little Girl” F major F major F-major
m. 228 Coda “I gotta get ready” C major C major B-flat major
Like the Bench Scene and Julie and Carrieʼs Sequence, “Soliloquy” is constructed on two passages that could be detached as separate songs. One is about the possibility of his
“boy Bill” and the other about his “little girl.”40 We have seen now this two-part structure in more than half the musical numbers in Carousel. It is present in Julie and Carrieʼs Sequence, the Bench Scene, “June Is Bustinʼ Out All Over,” “When The Children Are Asleep,” “This Was A Real Nice Clambake,” and the sequence leading up to “Whatʼs The Use Of Wondʼrinʼ.” The exceptions are Jiggerʼs ode to the sailorʼs life, “Blow High, Blow Low,” Billyʼs solo in the afterlife, “Highest Judge Of All,” and Nettie Fowlerʼs anthem, “Youʼll Never Walk Alone,” which all fit snugly within the traditional thirty-two-bar structure.
40. Swain, The Broadway Musical, 131.
One of the main differences between the early and later versions of the number is a short verse between mm. 204 and 205 that was inserted and then removed from
Rodgers’s second draft.41 After Billy comes to the realization that his chances of having a daughter are equally probable, he sees himself as boasting about his girl to his drinking buddies. Only twelve measures long, this insert serves as connective tissue between the two main sections of Part 2: the reprise of first verse and “My Little Girl” proper.
Although the vocal line does not have the same melodic lilt as the rest of the number and the accompaniment is harmonically and rhythmically static, on a larger scale it adds more weight to the second half of the number, creating a better of balance.
41. The section, sung by John Raitt in the original Broadway production, is included as optional in the restored version of the show.
Example 6. Rodgers, excerpt from “Soliloquy,” insert included with sketch, Richard Rodgers Collection.42
This material is completely absent from the sketch, the second draft, and the piano-vocal rehearsal score. Rodgers included a separate insert into the second draft with
42. It is unknown when the harmony on the fourth beat of m. 3 was changed from A-minor to a G-A-minor. © 2010 by Imagem, C.V. Material contained herein, in a different form. ©1945 by Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II, renewed. International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved.
instructions to the arranger and copyist to “leave space for 24 new bars.” Walker does not recall ever seeing the middle section of the “Soliloquy,” and it is not clear exactly when it was added or removed in the pre-Broadway try-out period.43 However, it was included in the original cast recording, and consistently used by John Raitt (who created the role of Billy Bigelow) in later productions. Raitt recalls “that neither Rodgers nor Hammerstein gave him a reason for inserting or removing it.”44
“Soliloquy” is the only vocal number in Carousel to make frequent use of minor modes.45 Rodgers originally wrote the introduction in A minor and had it transposed up a whole step to B minor for Raitt. This transposition resulted in an interesting harmonic relationship, because the end of the first two verses now arrives at a D-major cadence at mm. 35, which acts as a dominant to the upcoming verse of “My Boy Bill” in G major.
This would not have happened had the introduction remained in A minor. This was surely intentional on the composerʼs part. Rodgers possessed an uncanny ability to change keys deftly in the middle of a number and not have it feel forced.
For the remainder of the number, the three versions of “Soliloquy” do not differ in key structure until the coda, which was lowered from C major to B-flat major for tryouts. The driving bass line and unusual harmonic progression starting in mm. 228 of the coda bears a marked resemblance to the end of Jud Fryʼs song “Lonely Room” from Oklahoma!.
The similarities are not just musical: both characters sing a determined and hair-raising coda after soliloquizing about their dreams and desires. Although Jud Fry is a
misanthropic villain and Billy Bigelow an anti-hero, the manner in which Rodgers sets
43. Conrad, Correspondence with Ted Chapin, 629.
44. Pomahac, “Restoration Notes” from Carousel full score, 599.
45. The purely instrumental “Carousel Waltz” has many themes that frequently modulate in and out of minor modes. See pp. 13–14 for more detail.
their problems to music is similar. As Jud becomes even more determined to win Laurey’s hand, the music climaxes to a B-minor chord with a C-sharp suspension (realized with chilling orchestration by Bennett). Billy has a more heroic, yet desperate, resolution to provide for his unborn child, and his song ends with a brass fanfare in B-flat major. Both characters meet their fate by self-inflicted knife wounds—Jud accidentally and Billy intentionally.
Example 7. A comparison between endings of “Soliloquy” and “Lonely Room.”46 a. Rodgers, “Soliloquy” from Carousel, mm. 228–30.
b. Rodgers, “Lonely Room” from Oklahoma!, mm. 44–47.
46. © 2010 by Imagem, C.V. Material contained herein, in a different form. ©1945 by Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II, renewed. International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved.
"Lonely Room" is the only number in Oklahoma! to begin in a minor key; likewise,
“Soliloquy” is the only one in Carousel to begin in minor. Both of these numbers immediately distinguish themselves from other songs by using a clashing minor-second interval in the opening vamp. This lack of harmonic stability lends uncertainty as to where each song might venture, and the many different scenarios Billy psychologically projects have an equivalent musical landscape, wandering through many different keys, meters, and styles. Ultimately, though, Hammerstein deserves equal credit for the
dramatic scenario he provided for Billy, which Rodgers’s music perfectly reflects. By the end of the song he is not an inherently different person than when he started, but the journey he takes in just 253 measures is electrifying.
III