Don Walker (musician, 1907)

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Don Walker

Don Walker (born October 28, 1907 in Lambertville , New Jersey , † September 12, 1989 in New Hope , Pennsylvania ) was an American arranger, composer and conductor. He worked on Broadway and for film and television.

Life

Don Walker attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania . Like many arrangers, his career began in 1930 as an assistant to Max Dreyfus in the studios of Chappel Music . He went into business for himself in New York City in the early 1950s .

As an arranger, he took care of the orchestration of numerous well-known musicals such as Carousel , Finian's Rainbow , Call Me Madam , The Pajama Game , The Music Man , Anatevka , Shenandoah , Cabaret , Anyone Can Whistle and The Gay Life . His orchestration was usually characterized by a certain peculiar sound, which he achieved by emphasizing a single instrument. In Fiddler on the Roof , for example, he put an accordion at the center, while in The Gay Life the use of the cymbal was emphasized. For Anyone Can Whistle he used five cellos and completely dispensed with violins and violas. Like other busy arrangers, he also used assistants for various pieces who later became famous themselves. Among other things, Irwin Kostal and Robert Ginzler learned from him.

It was also used to give older musicals a fresher staging. He was the arranger of the 1943 version of A Connecticut Yankee (1927) and the 1952 versions of Pal Joey (1940) and Of Thee I Sing (1931). He realized that many older musicals were no longer arranged in keeping with the times and that newer arrangements could be licensed again. Together with Frank Loesser, the production company Music Theater International was created , which registered and exploited secondary rights for older musicals.

He wrote some arrangements for Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical By Jeeves , as well as for Frank Loesser's The Most Happy Fella , which was telecast in 1980 as part of the Great Performances series. Walker also appeared on NBC and DuMont's Admiral Broadway Revue .

Walker also wrote his own music and lyrics for shows on Broadway. In 1945 he worked with Clay Warnick on Memphis Bound , a swing version of the operetta HMS Pinafore by Arthur Sullivan and WS Gilbert in which Bill Robinson played the leading role. Along with Jack Lawrence wrote Courtin 'Time , directed by the actor Alfred Drake ..

In 1965 he wrote his only score for the comedy Thousand Clowns with Gerry Mulligan . For this he was nominated for an Oscar at the 1966 Academy Awards. Otherwise he provided some elements for the film A Touch of Sensuality .

He was seen as a conductor on the television program Your Hit Parade .

literature

  • Steven Suskin: The Sound of Broadway Music: a book of orchestrators and orchestrations , New York: Oxford University Press, 2009
  • Craig Zadan: Sondheim & Co. , New York: Harper & Row, 1974 & 1986 p. 4 ISBN 1-85145-190-0
  • Michael Walsh: Andrew Lloyd Webber: His Life and Works , Abrams: New York (1989, revised and expanded 1997).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Richard F. Shepard: Don Walker, 81, an Orchestrator Of Broadway Musical Comedies. The New York Times , September 13, 1989, accessed July 20, 2009 .
  2. ^ The Boys That Make the Noise . Time of July 5, 1943
  3. ↑ Suskin, p. 44
  4. ^ Suskin, p. 109
  5. ↑ Suskin, p. 325
  6. ^ Suskin, p. 43
  7. ↑ Susan Loesser: A Most Remarkable Fella: Frank Loesser and the Guys and Dolls in His Life . Hal Leonard Corp. New York 1993, pp. 228-229.
  8. ↑ The Theater: New Musicals in Manhattan , June 4, 1945 and June 25, 1951, Time magazine .
  9. ↑ Don Walker in the Internet Movie Database (English)Template: IMDb / Maintenance / "imported from" is missingTemplate: IMDb / Maintenance / Unnecessary use of parameter 2
personal data
SURNAME Walker, Don
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American arranger, composer and conductor
DATE OF BIRTH October 28, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Lambertville , New Jersey
DATE OF DEATH September 12, 1989
Place of death New Hope , Pennsylvania