Master of short

Blue Tango: Symphonic Pops; Cologne Radio Orchestra; Pinchas Steinberg, conducting; Leroy Anderson, composer

I have a friend, E.S., who makes the claim that Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky isn’t all that great a composer. In fact, he frequently proselytizes on the premise that Leroy Anderson can put more music into his two and a half minute vignettes than Mr. Tchaikovsky can put into an entire symphony. While I don’t necessarily share that supposition with my friend E.S., we do have in common an admiration for the creative compositions of Mr. Leroy Anderson.

If you haven’t heard of the plainly named Leroy Anderson, you have heard his music. “Sleigh Ride” put the composer on the map in 1948. He hadn’t intended for this piece of music to land in the Holiday Music repertoire. But that’s where it landed. Mitchell Parish, the man who wrote the lyrics to Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust”, penned words to “Sleigh Ride” in 1950. Nowhere do the lyrics specifically mention Christmas. In fact, the mention of pumpkin pie could imply Thanksgiving.

The SDSU Symphonic Band always performed for spring semester graduation ceremonies. Dr. W. frequently chose “Bugler’s Holiday” as a feature number at this event. A set of triplets in South Dakota, all three of them young women, studied trumpet with Mr. C. at SDSU in the 1990’s. Sooner or later, probably sooner, the math dictated that these young women would play this piece. They did; frequently and expertly.

I heard a snippet of “The Waltzing Cat” for the first time on a Sylvester and Tweety cartoon. “The Syncopated Clock” served as the opening and closing music for a South Dakota Public Broadcasting program that we watched in elementary school. Mom bought the sheet music to “Trumpeter’s Lullaby” and it sat on the piano for a number of years. “Forgotten Dreams” provided musical backdrop for a series of photographic scenes that Sesame Street would use for filler on their broadcasts. On the Delta Queen, drummer P.B. often told me that “The Belle Of The Ball” was his favorite Leroy Anderson selection. I associate “The Typewriter” with Jerry Lewis.

It surprises people when they discover that Mr. Anderson composed as a hobby. A well-paying hobby, I am sure. He studied at Harvard University, working towards a PhD in Germanic and Scandinavian languages. He grew up speaking English and Swedish, but through his studies developed fluency in Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, German, French, Italian and Portuguese. When he joined the Army in 1942, they assigned him to Iceland as a translator and interpreter. In 1945, he took on responsibilities at the Pentagon as Chief of the Scandinavian Desk of Military Intelligence. During this entire time, he composed tirelessly, initiating a relationship with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops as early as 1938 with “Jazz Pizzicato”. When he passed away from cancer in 1975, he had composed and orchestrated nothing less than one hundred compositions.

The structural integrity and musical virtue of these fantastic little gems are solid and sound. There will always be a need for something light on a classical concert. A Leroy Anderson piece will always make an excellent and timeless choice. Although, in a few years, we may have to explain what a typewriter is.

Credits: To the Boston Pops. Thank you for your friendship with this magnificent American treasure.