Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) The composer was born, like his first partner Lorenz Hart, to a prosperous family on New York's Upper West Side. He studied at Columbia University, where he met Hart and began their famous partnership. Together they wrote some of Broadway's most sophisticated shows, creating such hits as "Thou Swell," "Where or When," and "The Lady Is a Tramp." Upon Hart's death, he joined forces with lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II and wrote such legendary shows as "Oklahoma!" and "The Sound of Music."