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Anniversaries
A celebration of American composers from the past.
This page includes information about composer anniversaries and recorded tributes.
Send any questions or comments to:
100th Anniversary Tribute
to
Leroy Anderson
(Photo courtesy of MCA Classics)
Leroy Anderson was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on 19 June 1908. After his graduation from Harvard University, he became acquainted with Arthur Fiedler of the Boston Pops and that led to a series of light classical pieces, including: "Jazz Pizzicato" (Anderson's first published piece in 1939), "The Last Rose of Summer" (1947), and "Bugler's Holiday" (1954). He also composed a series of delightful evocative "sound" pieces, such as:, "The Syncopated Clock" (1945), "The Typewriter" (1950), and "Sandpaper Ballet" (1954).
His biggest hit was "Blue Tango" (1951), for which he received a gold record for sales over a million copies.
Some of his pieces also had lyrics written for them, especially the still popular Christmas song, "Sleigh Ride" (1948).
Author Edward Jablonski, perhaps described his music best when he wrote:
The miracle is that, for all the painstaking labor, each composition by Leroy Anderson invariable sounds as if it had sprung spontaneously to life at the moment we hear it -- fresh, ever new and enchanting.
-- CD notes for The Leroy Anderson Collection
Anderson made a series of successful recordings for Decca between 1950 and 1962. These recordings were first released on a Double LP album set and are now available on 2 CDs as:
The Leroy Anderson Collection (MCA Classics)
In 1968, Anderson made this honest statement about composing:
It is important to keep in mind the fact that music should be truely different and unique
so that a contribution to musical literature is being made when it is written.--Purdue Esponet, 13 February 1968
Leroy Anderson died at Waterbury, Connecticut on 18 May 1975.
He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York in 1988.
In addition to his songwriting talents, he should be remembered also as a classical composer who brought light-hearted music to millions of concert goers and listeners.
He developed a unique style of composing delightful little pieces often lasting three minutes or less.
He championed this type of music and treated it as seriously as composing a concerto or a symphony.
He also demonstrated his skill as a conductor and made many recordings, as well as those by the Boston Pops, under Arthur Fiedler's direction.
On this centennial of his birth, it is appropriate to pay tribute to Leroy Anderson,
a highly accomplished composer known for his many"Memorable Miniatures."
-- Roger Hall, June 2008
Links:
Leroy Anderson (Official Website)
Leroy Anderson (Wikipedia entry)
Leroy Anderson (Classical Composers Database)
Leroy Anderson: Master of the Miniature (NPR tribute)
150th Anniversary Tribute
to
George Templeton Strong
(Photo courtesy of Naxos)
George Templeton Strong was born in New York, NY on
26 May 1856.He died in Geneva Switzerland on 27 June 1948 at the age of 92.
He was an American Romantic composer whose music was championed by Ansermet, Szigeti, Iturbi, Toscanini, and more recently by Adriano.
While living in Wiesbaden, Germany in the 1880s, he met and became a friend of another important American composer, Edward MacDowell. Strong dedicated his Three Symphonic Idylls for Two Pianos, Op. 29 to MacDowell.
Some of Strong's most accomplished works have been recorded on the Naxos label in the "American Classics" series, performed by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Adriano:
Symphony No. 2 in G minor, Op. 50 ("Sintram")(1887-8 ). This symphony is subtitled: Der Kampf das Menschen gegen die bosen Machte (The Struggle of Mankind Against the Powers of Evil).
It is in four movements:
I. Ziemlisch langsam, Rasch (19:17)
II. Langsam (10:43)
III. Die drei entsetzlichen Gefahrten (The Three Terrible Companions: Death, the Devil and Insanity, 11:12)
IV. Kamp und Sieg (The Victorious Struggle, 18:12).Also on this CD is one of Strong's most profoundly moving works, Chorale on a Theme by Hans Leo Hassler, from 1929 (7:09). This work also was recorded by Howard Hanson with the Eastman Rochester Orchestra. Hanson commented that he found Strong's "flowing counterpoint beautiful." Jose Iturbi conducted it often and said it was a "musical sermon, where the listeners were moved by the composer's utterance." One year it was played on a Boston public radio station on Good Friday and received favorable response from the listeners.
His massive symphonic poem titled, Le Roi Arthur (King Arthur) (1916) (Total time = 40:56) with his homage to Richard Strauss and is three movements: I. Non troppo allegro-Andante-Allegro/ II. Adago-Andante/ III. Allegro-Solennemente e funebre. The other work on this CD is a suite titled: Die Nacht, and subtitled: Four Little Symphonic Poems ( 1913) ( Total time = 26:10).
His symphonic poem titled, Ondine (1882-3/revised, 1939)(25:23), and a work titled: From a Notebook of Sketches. This consists of three suites: Suite No. 1 (4 movements, 15:14)/ Suite No. 2 "Athens" (3 movements, 10:49)/ Suite No. 3 (3 movements, 15:56).
Naxos CD 8.559078
Recorded Tributes
These CD-Rs are for educational, non-commercial use only.
Most of the music selections were recorded in live concert performances and feature rare American music from the past.
Two of them (Nos. 3-4) have been prepared for the Top 40 list in the New England Music Archive
List of Recordings:
No. 1: Best of William Billings, 1746-1800
No. 2: Music by Four New England Composers
No. 3: American Choral Sampler
No. 4: New England Song Treasury
No. 5: Memorial Music for Three American Composers
No. 6: A Conversation with Aaron Copland
No. 7: An Interview with Virgil Thomson
No. 8: "Celestial Praises" - Interviews with Shakers and Aaron Copland
No. 9: E.A. Jones -- His Life and Music
For details about these CD-Rs, go to:
American Music Recordings Collection [AMRC]
American Music Resources
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Tunemaker Hall of Fame
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Each year there are ten American composers and songwriters added to a Hall of Fame.
To read the names listed for each year, click on this link:
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