 |
 |
  |
Leroy Anderson
|
| 2008 marks the centennial of the exceptional American composer, Leroy Anderson. His light-hearted compositions Blue Tango and The Syncopated Clock live on as popular mainstays of orchestral programs everywhere, and his boisterous holiday song Sleigh Ride is a perennial favorite known by all.
Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on June 29, 1908 to Swedish immigrant parents, Anderson embarked on his musical path early. He began studying piano at the New England Conservatory of Music. At Harvard in 1925, his studies encompassed harmony, counterpoint, orchestration, canon and fugue. He excelled at these, continuing into courses on composition, organ and double bass. Receiving his B.A. magna cum laude in Music in 1929, awarded his M.A. in Music in 1930 (all from Harvard), he seemed destined for a lifelong career in music. But Anderson, a talented linguist fluent in nine languages, was doubtful that music would be a viable profession and decided to pursue his PhD in German and Scandinavian languages - even seriously considering a teaching post at a college in Pennsylvania. Thankfully destiny prevailed and the allure of music proved too strong for Anderson to ignore. He chose to stay on at Harvard. Eventually he became the Director of the Harvard Band, where the skill and ingenuity of his arrangements caught the ear of the director of the Boston Pops Orchestra, Arthur Fiedler.
In 1936, Anderson’s clever medley of his alma mater’s songs Harvard Fantasy was performed to much acclaim by Fiedler’s orchestra and this was the beginning of a fruitful relationship. Jazz Pizzicato (Anderson’s first composition), Jazz Legato, and many other orchestral miniatures were performed and recorded by the renowned Boston Pops Orchestra.
As World War II intervened, Anderson served ably in the U.S. Army, utilizing his language skills as a translator and interpreter for Military Intelligence. Although he advanced to the rank of Captain while stationed at the Pentagon, his musical drive could not be quelled. During this stressful time, he somehow managed to compose the delightful The Syncopated Clock and Promenade.” He also conducted these pieces at their premiere performances with the Boston Pops Orchestra. Then in 1945, after declining a prestigious military promotion, Anderson was released from active duty. He was ready to settle down with his family and become the full-time composer he always wanted to be. Anderson’s international success was soon to follow.
In the fertile period between 1946 and 1952, Anderson’s creative abilities really bloomed. He produced such great compositions as Sleigh Ride, Blue Tango, The Typewriter, Serenata, Belle of the Ball, Bugler’s Holiday and Forgotten Dreams. With the added benefit of his association with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra, Anderson’s reputation as a composer flourished.
Anderson continued his confident mastery of the orchestral miniature, though he was not content to just relax within the confines of this popular form. Exhibiting no aversion to experimentation, in 1954 Anderson composed the ambitious Concerto in C for Piano – a work that, upon completion, he himself deemed “not ready” and in need of serious revisions. He needn’t have worried… the “unedited” piece was released posthumously and is now performed with great enthusiasm around the world.
In the sixties, Leroy Anderson’s music gained even further recognition through its uses in radio and television – most famously The Syncopated Clock was the theme for CBS-TV’s The Late Show for more than 25 years and Plink, Plank, Plunk! became the theme for the game show I’ve Got A Secret.
In 1972, his good friends at the Boston Pops Orchestra performed a tribute concert on a nationally televised broadcast, where the esteemed man himself guest-conducted. This celebrated event was merely a foretelling of the awards yet to be bestowed on Leroy Anderson: induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Harvard University Band headquarters named in his honor – and if that is not enough, there is the dedicated Leroy Anderson Square, nestled in the city of his birthplace, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Leroy Anderson’s accomplishments were many, but the everlasting joy his music brings to people everywhere to this day, is perhaps his greatest accomplishment of all.
Iconic Tracks:
BELLE OF THE BALL (Anderson)*
BLUE TANGO (Anderson)*
BUGLER’S HOLIDAY (Anderson)
CHINA DOLL (Anderson)
FIDDLE-FADDLE (Anderson)
FORGOTTEN DREAMS (Anderson)*
JAZZ PIZZICATO (Anderson)
PENNY-WHISTLE SONG (Anderson)
PLINK, PLANK, PLUNK! (Anderson)
PROMENADE (Anderson)
SERENATA (Anderson)*
SLEIGH RIDE (Anderson)*
THE SYNCOPATED CLOCK (Anderson)
A TRUMPETER’S LULLABY (Anderson)
THE TYPEWRITER (Anderson)
* Please note that these songs are all instrumental versions. There are available equally well-known vocal versions with words penned by the revered lyricist Mitchell Parish.
Creative research & bio by Mike Moeller.
© 2008 EMI MUSIC PUBLISHING. 75 Ninth Avenue, New York, NY 10011.
All Rights Reserved. This Information, or Part Thereof, May Not Be Reproduced In Any Form Without Prior Written Permission. |
|
|
| Blue Tango |
|
| Sleigh Ride |
|
Sleigh Ride
(The Ronettes) |
|
| The Syncopated Clock |
|
| The Typewriter |
|
|
Keith D'Arcy
