On February 4, The Juilliard School is sponsoring a gala benefit to celebrate the centennial of Richard Rodgers’s birth and to pay tribute to his daughter and Juilliard chairman emeritus, Mary Guettel. We asked her to write a few words about her father and the event.

Richard Rodgers with daughter Mary in 1933. Slide show: A Richard Rodgers Celebration.

Statistically speaking, Richard Rodgers was born in 1902—one hundred years ago this June. Metaphorically speaking, his life began in 1922 when, as he wrote in his autobiography:

I loved my years at the Institute [of Musical Art]. I could devote myself completely to something I cared about deeply, and for the first time in my life, I was surrounded by students and teachers whose addiction to music was as great as mine... There isn’t the slightest doubt that my years there were far more beneficial to me than four years of college could possibly have been.

So. That place, now The Juilliard School, accepted a frustrated young songwriter, a man without an artistic country, and set him on his way to becoming a musical patriot and a national hero of the arts. Good for Us! Mind you, I’m including myself in this collective “Us.” Not that I was part of the Juilliard that produced my father, but my father did produce me, and by a somewhat circuitous route, I became part of Juilliard. I don’t know which I’m more proud of belonging to—it or him.

Oklahoma The Sound of Music My Funny Valentine Blue Moon Bali Ha'i I Whistle a Happy Tune Music provided by the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization. Real Player is required to listen to these audio clips.

Anyway, coming up on February 4 in the Juilliard Theater is a dazzling celebration in honor of the Richard Rodgers centennial, with an array of stars to knock your socks off. Several of these sock-knockers knew my old man personally; all of them admire him for his prodigious gift. Most importantly, all of them are grateful to him for creating material exquisitely wrought for believable characters with unbelievable voices. (Of course, on occasion, his stuff has been performed by not-so-talented actors with less-than-beautiful voices, but we’re not featuring any of those at the gala, thank you very much.)

For this occasion, only the best: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Michael Feinstein, Michael Hayden, Bernadette Peters, Karen Ziemba, Jonathan Tunick to conduct, our magnificant Juilliard Orchestra to play... Jeeze Louise, what an irresistible embarrassment of riches! And they all agreed to take part in this event with such alacrity—how generous of them. After all, these are busy, busy people who work hard for their livings, and usually get handsomely rewarded for performing. I guess they must love Juilliard and Daddy as much as I do.