Anderson started the work during a heat wave in August 1946. Mitchell Parish added words to "The Syncopated Clock", and later wrote lyrics for other Anderson tunes, including "Sleigh Ride", which was not written as a Christmas piece, but as a work that describes a winter event. In February 1951, WCBS-TV in New York City selected "The Syncopated Clock" as the theme song for The Late Show, the WCBS late-night movie, using Percy Faith's recording. His most famous pieces are probably " Sleigh Ride" and "The Syncopated Clock". "Blue Tango" was the first instrumental recording ever to sell one million copies. His pieces and his recordings during the 1950s conducting a studio orchestra were immense commercial successes. Performed by the Leroy Anderson Pops Orchestra Here on He wrote his first hit, " Blue Tango", in 1951, earning a Golden Disc and the No. Anderson became a reserve officer and was recalled to active duty for the Korean War. His duties did not, however, prevent him from composing, and in 1945 he wrote " The Syncopated Clock" and "Promenade". Counterintelligence Corps as a translator and interpreter, writing as well as monitoring local news media in 1945 he was reassigned to the Pentagon as Chief of the Scandinavian Desk of Military Intelligence. In 1942, Anderson joined the United States Army, and was assigned in Iceland with the U.S. The combined recording went on to become one of Anderson's signature compositions. Fiedler suggested writing a companion piece, and Anderson wrote '"Jazz Legato" later that same year. Anderson's first work was the 1938 "Jazz Pizzicato", but at just over ninety seconds, the piece was too short for a three-minute 78 rpm single of the period. In 1936 his arrangements came to the attention of Arthur Fiedler, who asked to see any original compositions that he could use in his concerts as the 18th conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra at Symphony Hall. He and his brother played in dance orchestras on Scandinavian cruise ships in the summers of 19.Īnderson continued studying at Harvard, working towards a PhD in German and Scandinavian languages Anderson spoke English and Swedish during his youth, and eventually became fluent in Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, German, French, Italian, and Portuguese.Īt the time, he was working as organist and choir director at the East Milton Congregational Church, leading the Harvard University Band, and conducting and arranging for dance bands around Boston. At Harvard University Graduate School, he studied composition with Walter Piston and George Enescu and received a Master of Arts in Music in 1930. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude in 1929 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Hill and Walter Piston, composition, also with Piston, and double bass with Gaston Dufresne. In 1925, Anderson entered Harvard College, where he studied musical harmony with Walter Spalding, counterpoint with Edward Ballantine, canon and fugue with William C. He continued studying piano at the New England Conservatory of Music. John Williams described him as "one of the great American masters of light orchestral music." Early life īorn in Cambridge, Massachusetts to Swedish parents, Anderson was given his first piano lessons by his mother, who was a church organist. Leroy Anderson ( / l ə ˈ r ɔɪ/ lə- ROY) (June 29, 1908 – May 18, 1975) was an American composer of short, light concert pieces, many of which were introduced by the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Arthur Fiedler.
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