Cole Porter was one of the most important composers and lyricists of the Broadway musical. Many scholars have defined his approach to the songwriting as “dualistic”; for example Philip Furia, who wrote: “On the one hand his lyrics, even more than Hart's or Gershwin's, epitomize an era when popular song radiated the qualities of vers de société, particularly his 'list' songs, which rattle off stupendous catalogs of witty images and allusions that keep "topping" each other in verve and brilliance. On the other hand, Cole Porter wrote some of the worst lyrics—melodramatic, histrionic, banal—of the age. While Lorenz Hart and Ira Gershwin almost never slipped into sentimentality, Porter frequently wallowed in it”. The lecture brings some examples of this so-called “dualism” and suggests a possible explanation to this dualistic approach.

Recorded musical examples: COLE PORTER (1891-1964) · You're the top (performed by Porter) · Anything goes (performed by Porter) · Night and day (performed by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers in The gay divorcee, video excerpt)

Readings: excerpts from C. Schwartz, Cole Porter: a biography; Philip Furia, Poets of Tin Pan Alley; Robert Kimball, Cole; David Ewen, All the years of American popular music; Matthew Shaftel, From inspiration to archive: Cole Porter's Night and day.

Handouts by ICAMus; Lorenzo Puliti, author and editor.

Nothing sacred words and music by Cole Porter Flyer