Leroy Anderson

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Leroy Anderson (born June 29, 1908 in Cambridge , Massachusetts , † May 18, 1975 in Woodbury , Connecticut ) was an American composer. Anderson became known for his short, original concert pieces, which he composed for the Boston Pops Orchestra from 1936 at the suggestion of Arthur Fiedler .

Life

The son of Swedish parents received piano lessons from his mother, an organist, as a child. In 1919 he began taking piano and music lessons at the New England Conservatory of Music .

At Harvard University , Anderson studied harmony with Walter Spalding, counterpoint with Edward Ballantine, canon and fugue with William C. Heilman and orchestration with Edward Burlingame Hill and Walter Piston . In 1929 he earned a Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude and was elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa . In 1930 he earned a Master of Arts in music . At Harvard University Graduate School he studied composition with Walter Piston and George Enescu ; He learned organ and double bass from musicians of the Boston Symphony Orchestra , Henry Gideon and Gaston Dufresne.

In the early 1930s he continued his studies at Harvard University with the aim of doing a doctorate in German and Scandinavian languages . At the same time he worked as a music tutor at Radcliffe College . Eventually he mastered Danish , Norwegian , Icelandic , German , French , Italian and Portuguese , alongside the Swedish and English of his childhood.

During World War II , Anderson served as a captain in the United States Department of Defense .

The recordings of his works were great commercial successes. Blue Tango was the first instrumental recording to sell a million copies and for which he received his first gold record. The single reached number 1 in the US charts in 1951 and was listed on the charts for 38 weeks.

In various of Anderson's pieces of music, unusual instrumentations or "instruments" appear again and again. Thus, in Sandpaper Ballet used sandpaper in The Typewriter a typewriter in Sleigh Ride Sleigh bells in The Phantom Regiment neighing of horses, in The Waltzing Cat , the orchestra imitates the mewing of cats and The Syncopated Clock a grandfather clock. The Syncopated Clock was selected as the title theme for the program The Late Show by WCBS in 1950 . The title was Anderson's first hit parade and reached number 12 in the US singles charts in the spring of 1951.

From 1957 to 1967 the instrumental title Belle of the Ball was used by Radio Luxemburg as a signature melody. In 1958 Anderson set the fairy tale Goldilocks to music, for which he wrote 18 pieces of music. The musical ran from October 11, 1958 in 161 performances to February 28, 1959 on the Broadway Theater in the Lunt-Fontanne Theater and brought the actors Russell Nype for best actor and Pat Stanley for best actress a Tony Award .

Several of Anderson's works have also been used in film and television:

The title Sleigh Ride developed into an instrumental Christmas piece over the course of time, although it was actually only supposed to depict a journey through a winter landscape.

Works (excerpt)

(alphabetical order)
  • Alma Mater (1954)
  • Arietta (1962)
  • Balladets (1962)
  • Belle of the Ball (1951)
  • Birthday Party (1970)
  • Blue Tango (1951)
  • Bugler's Holiday (1954)
  • Cambridge Centennial March of Industry (1946)
  • The Captains and the Kings (1962)
  • Chatterbox (1966)
  • Chicken Reel (1946)
  • China Doll (1951)
  • A Christmas Festival (1950, 9:00)
  • A Christmas Festival (1952, 5:45 am)
  • Clarinet Candy (1962)
  • Classical Jukebox (1950)
  • Concerto in C Major for Piano and Orchestra (Piano Concerto in C major, 1953)
  • The Cowboy and His Horse (1966)
  • Do You Think That Love Is Here To Stay? (1935)
  • Easter Song (194_)
  • Fiddle-Faddle (1947)
  • The First Day of Spring (1954)
  • Forgotten Dreams (1954)
  • The Girl in Satin (1953)
  • The Golden Years (1962)
  • Goldilocks , Musical (1958)
    • Goldilock's Overture
    • Come to me
    • Guess Who
    • Heart of Stone (Pyramid Dance)
    • He'll Never Stray
    • Hello
    • If I Can't Take it With Me
    • I never know when to say when
    • Lady in waiting
    • Lazy moon
    • Little girls
    • My last spring
    • Save a Kiss (1958)
    • Shall I Take My Heart and Go?
    • Day-a-long kid
    • The Pussy Foot
    • Town House Maxixe
    • Who's Been Sitting in My Chair?
  • Governor Bradford March (1948)
  • Harvard Fantasy (1936)
  • Hens and Chickens (1966)
  • Home Stretch (1962)
  • Horse and Buggy (1951)
  • The Irish Suite (1947 + 1949)
    • The Irish Washerwoman (1947)
    • The Minstrel Boy (1947)
    • The Rakes of Mallow (1947)
    • The Wearing of the Green (1949)
    • The Last Rose of Summer (1947)
    • The Girl I Left Behind Me (1949)
  • Jazz Legato (1938)
  • Jazz Pizzicato (1938)
  • Love May Come and Love May Go (1935)
  • Lullaby of the Drums (1970)
  • March of the Two Left Feet (1970)
  • Melody on Two Notes (1966)
  • Mother's Whistler (1940)
  • The Music in My Heart (1935)
  • An Old Fashioned Song (196_)
  • Old MacDonald Had a Farm (1947)
  • The Penny Whistle Song (1951)
  • The Phantom Regiment (1951)
  • Piece for Rolf (1961)
  • Plink, plank, plunk! (1951)
  • Promenade (1945)
  • Sandpaper Ballet (1954)
  • Saraband (1948)
  • Scottish Suite (1954)
    • The Bluebells of Scotland
    • Turn Ye To Me
  • Connecticut National Guard Second Regiment March (1973)
  • Serenata (1947)
  • Sleigh Ride (1948)
  • Song of Jupiter (1951)
  • Song of the Bells (1953)
  • Suite of Carols for Strings (1955)
  • Suite of Carols for Brass (1955)
  • Suite of Carols for Woodwinds (1955)
  • Summer Skies (1953)
  • The Syncopated Clock (1945)
  • Ticonderoga March (1939)
  • To a Wild Rose (1970) (Edward MacDowell)
  • A Trumpeter's Lullaby (1949)
  • The Typewriter (1950)
  • Waltz Around the Scale (1970)
  • The Waltzing Cat (1950)
  • Wedding March for Jane and Peter (1972)
  • What's the Use of Love? (1935)
  • The Whistling Kettle (1966)
  • Woodbury Fanfare (1959)
  • You Can Always Tell a Harvard Man (1962)

Discography

Recordings by the composer (North America)
  • Leroy Anderson's Irish Suite (Decca DL 4050; 1952)
  • Leroy Anderson conducts Blue Tango and other Favorites (Decca DL 8121; 1958)
  • A Christmas Festival (Decca DL 78925 (s); 1959)
  • Leroy Anderson Conducts Leroy Anderson (Decca DL 78865 (s); 1959)
  • Leroy Anderson Conducts His Music (Decca DL 78954 (s); 1960)
  • The New Music of Leroy Anderson (Decca DL 74335 (s); 1962)
  • The Leroy Anderson Collection (Digitally remastered from original Decca analog recordings) (MCA Classics MCAD2-9815-A & B; 1988)
  • The Best of Leroy Anderson: Sleigh Ride (Digitally remastered from original Decca analog master recordings) (MCA Classics MCAD -11710; 1997)

Published music books

  • Leroy Anderson At The Piano - Complete Works For Solo Piano. Alfred Publishing, 2008, ISBN 0-73904-663-2 . (Collection of scores)
  • The Leroy Anderson Songbook - Vocal Works by Leroy Anderson. Alfred Publishing, 2008, ISBN 0-73905-046-X . (Collection of scores)

honors and awards

  • For the composition Blue Tango he got the gold record in 1952.
  • American Bandmasters Association Goldman Memorial Citation on March 10, 1966.
  • Honorary Doctorate (Ph.D.) from Portia Law School in Boston in June 1971.
  • Honorary Doctorate (Ph.D.) from Western New England College, in Springfield, Massachusetts in May 1974.
  • A star on the 1976 Hollywood Walk of Fame .
  • Induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1988.
  • In his hometown of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Leroy Anderson Square was inaugurated on May 31, 2003.

bibliography

English

Books

  • Burgess Speed, Eleanor Anderson, Steve Metcalf: Leroy Anderson: A Bio-Bibliography (Praeger, 2004) ISBN 0-313-32176-0 .
  • Howard Pollack: Harvard Composers - Walter Piston and his Students pp. 20-40, (The Scarecrow Press, 1992) ISBN 0-8108-2493-0 .
  • Edward Jablonski: The Encyclopedia of American Music (Doubleday & Co., Inc. 1981) ISBN 0-385-08088-3 .
  • George McCue: Music in American Society 1776-1976 p. 46. (Transaction Books., 1977) ISBN 978-0-87855-634-2 .
  • Christopher Pavlakis: The American Music Handbook (MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1974) ISBN 0-385-08088-3 .
  • David Ewen: Popular American Composers - from Revolutionary Times to the Present (HW Wilson Co., 1962).
  • Jan-Erik Ander, Jeremy Lamb (translator): New Sweden 1638–1988 (Swedish National Committee for New Sweden '88, 1992) ISBN 91-7176-146-2 .
  • Steven Ledbetter: 100 Years of the Boston Pops (Boston Symphony Orchestra, Inc., 1985).

Magazines

  • Joseph Smith: Leroy Anderson - Scandinavian Review (American-Scandinavian Foundation, 2009).
  • Eliot Spalding: Vita: Leroy Anderson (Harvard Review, 1993).
  • Janet Frank: Syncopated Clock, Indeed! (The American Scholar - Phi Beta Kappa Society, 2008).
  • Jane Anderson Vercelli: Composer Leroy Anderson: Cambridge Born and Bred (The Newetowne Chronicle - Cambridge Historical Society, 2008).
  • Joanne Kaufmann: Leroy Anderson: Tuneful Blade Runner (Wall Street Journal, 1995).
  • Anthony Tommasini: Tuneful Gems from a Master: Leroy Anderson (New York Times, 1996).
  • Frederick Fennell: Music by Leroy Anderson (The Instrumentalist, 1990).
  • Anders Neumueller, editor: Leroy Anderson (Swedish Press Society, 1994).
  • Andrew & Martha Sherman, editors: Annual Report dedication to Leroy Anderson (Town of Woodbury, 2008).

German

  • Hans-Walter Berg: Leroy Anderson: a master of miniature ; Buchloe, Germany; Pp. 53-79. (Papers and analyzes) (Neue Blasmusik, 1992).

Swedish

  • Svea: Svenskättling Berömd Amerikansk Kompositör ; Worcester, Massachusetts USA; (Svea Publishing Company, November 10, 1949).
  • Norra Strö Hembygdsförening: Norra Strö: Bygden och Folket (Norra Strö Hembygdsförening, 2009) - Documentation of Leroy Anderson parents birthplaces in Sweden .
  • Carin Dohlman: Leroy Anderson's Julmusik ; Wellesley, Massachusetts USA; (Gult och Blatt i Boston-New England, 2009).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biography leroyanderson.com
  2. ↑ US catalog number: Decca 27875
  3. ^ Joel Whitburn: Top Pop Records 1940–1955 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, 1973, p. 9
  4. ↑ Discography - Recordings by the Composer , in: Burgess Speed, Eleanor Anderson, Steve Metcalf: Leroy Anderson: A Bio-Bibliography . Praeger, 2004, pp. 84-94.
  5. ↑ Edwin Franko Goldman Memorial Citation americanbandmasters.org, see the PDF available there, p. 10.
  6. ↑ Hollywood Star Walk: Leroy Anderson Los Angeles Times
  7. ^ Songwriters Hall of Fame: Leroy Anderson
  8. ↑ Leroy Anderson Square dedicated news.harvard.edu, July 17 of 2003.
personal data
SURNAME Anderson, Leroy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American composer
DATE OF BIRTH June 29, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Cambridge , Massachusetts, USA
DATE OF DEATH May 18, 1975
Place of death Woodbury , Connecticut, USA