When was leroy anderson born

Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts to Swedish parents, Leroy Anderson received his first piano lessons from his mother who was organist. In Anderson entered Harvard, where he studied theory with Walter Spalding, counterpoint with Edward Ballantine, harmony with George Enescu and composition with Walter Piston, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in and his Master of Arts in In August , he composed the famous song "Sleigh Ride" piece for the holidays and Christmas Day during a heat wave.

Meco, a famous musician from the disco era, honored him in his album Hooked On Instrumentals, the medley titled Hooked On Leroy Anderson. In , one of his piano works, Forgotten Dreams has become the soundtrack to an advertisement broadcast on British television for the mobile company "3". Plink Plank Plunk. A Christmas Festival. Selection from Suite of Carols.

Lullaby With Trumpet Solo. Anderson composed a different song for the graduating class in and again for his own graduation in He conducted the school orchestra himself each time. Heilman, and orchestration with Edward B. Hill and Walter Piston. Leroy received a B. He earned an M. Not thinking that a career in music held much promise, Anderson intended to become a language teacher. He applied for and was offered a position at a private school in Pennsylvania.

At the last moment he decided to give music a final try and sent his regrets to the school in Pennsylvania. This turned out to be a pivotal decision for him. As a graduate student Leroy became Director of the Harvard University Band and wrote numerous clever arrangements for the band that brought him to the attention of Arthur Fiedler, Director of the Boston Pops Orchestra.

His first arrangement for Fiedler in was a medley of Harvard songs - Harvard Fantasy. In the Boston Pops performed his first composition, Jazz Pizzicato. It was an immediate hit. Fiedler encouraged him to write original compositions for the orchestra. Leroy wrote Jazz Legato in This was followed by a succession of his now famous delightful miniatures.

Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra were the first to perform and record many of these compositions. During the 's, Leroy worked as an arranger for popular dance orchestras, alongside his brother, Russell, who played double bass.

Together, they played in the orchestra on the Hellig Olav of the Copenhagen-based ship company Scandinavia Line crossing between New York and Scandinavia in Note: 1. Earlier versions of this page stated that Leroy Anderson and his brother Russell played in the orchestra aboard ships of the Norwegian Line in and Further research in the Leroy Anderson archives shows that the ship was the Hellig Olav owned by the Danish ship company Scandinavia Line.

Leroy spent the summer of playing in the orchestra on ships of the Scandinavia Line, crossing from New York to Oslo and back by way of Copenhagen. George Judd, the manager of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, came up to speak to me.

He said he had heard my arrangements played by the Harvard Band at the Stadium football games and asked me to make a symphonic setting of Harvard songs for the 25th reunion of his class and to conduct the number at the class special night at the Pops.

Thus I met Mr. Fiedler, who conducted the concert except for the "Harvard Fantasy" , to which he listened off-stage. After the concert I went to the librarian's office and found Mr. Fiedler examining my score intently "This is very good", he said.

Then he urged me to write more for the Pops concerts, especially original compositions, and promised to perform my music if he thought it suitable. Meanwhile I had thought of writing a number for the strings in which the players lay down their bows and pluck the strings throughout in the style of Delibes' "Pizzicato Polka" -- but in modern jazz idiom. Fiedler thought the idea a good one and worth trying. The result was "Jazz Pizzicato", which has been played for several seasons at the Pops.

After Mr. Fiedler recorded "Jazz Pizzicato" its popularity spread rapidly throughout the country. Army , which made use of his fluency in languages. He married Eleanor Jane Firke before shipping off to Iceland where he served as a translator and interpreter in the U.

Army Counter Intelligence Corps , beginning in While there he wrote an Icelandic Grammar for the U. Because I knew Icelandic I was assigned to Headquarters in Reykjavik where I had duties involving contact with the Icelandic population. My only musical activity in Iceland was attending performances of the Bach "St. John Passion" and Haydn's "The Seasons", both given by local church choirs and the Reykjavik orchestra.

I seldom thought about music during the war because all my assignments were full-time jobs that took most of my energies. Anderson wrote Promenade and The Syncopated Clock in Leroy sent the manuscripts to Arthur Fiedler for him to use in rehearsal with the Boston Pops Orchestra. Soon Leroy was promoted to the rank of Captain. Eleanor Anderson gave birth to their first child, Jane, who was born while the Andersons lived in Arlington, Virginia.

Leroy was offered the position of U. This work came to the attention of Arthur Fiedler, who in hired Anderson to arrange traditional and popular music for the Boston Pops, as well as write original compositions, commissioning Anderson to write Jazz Legato in and Jazz Stacatto in In , Anderson joined the U.

Army , as a translator and intelligence officer, working at the Pentagon on Scandinavian intelligence matters during World War II. But his duties did not prevent him from composing, and in Anderson wrote his first hit, The Syncopated Clock , earning a Golden Disc and the No. His pieces, and his recordings during the fifties directing a studio orchestra, were immense commercial successes.

Blue Tango was the first instrumental recording ever to sell a million copies. His most famous pieces are probably Sleigh Ride and The Syncopated Clock, both of which are instantly recognizable to millions of people. Mitchell Parish added words to Clock , and later did for many other Anderson tunes. According to a study, Anderson was the American composer most performed by American orchestras.

Anderson's musical style, heavily influenced by George Gershwin and folk music of various lands, employs creative instrumental effects and occasionally items not traditionally used as musical instruments, such as typewriters and sandpaper. Krzysztof Penderecki has also a typewriter in his orchestral music, in Fluorescences , but with a decidedly less humorous effect.

Anderson wrote his Piano Concerto in C in , but withdrew it feeling that it had weak spots. In Erich Kunzel and the Rochester Pops Orchestra released the first recording of this work; some structural weaknesses are evident, but the fact that other recordings have since been released shows that it is more than a curiosity.

In , Anderson orchestrated Meredith Willson 's 76 Trombones , inspiring him to write his own musical the following year, Goldilocks , which earned a Tony but not much commercial success. Anderson never wrote another musical, preferring instead to continue writing orchestral miniatures.

Leroy Anderson was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame in and his music continues to be a staple of 'pops' orchestra repertoire. Some of his pieces, particularly 'The Typewriter' and 'Bugler's Holiday', are also performed by many high school bands. Artists Anderson Biography. Biographies Letter A Anderson biography. Leroy Anderson Biography Leroy Anderson June 29, — May 18, was best known as a composer of short, light concert music pieces, many of which were introduced by the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Arthur Fiedler.

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