Leroy Anderson Essay
American composer Leroy Anderson was an early childhood musical prodigy. With his parents help, Leroy learned piano, and later music composition, and became famous around the world for his works. In his time, he was most famed for Blue Tango, but today is most famous for his Christmas carol “Sleigh Ride.”
Leroy Anderson started music at a very young age, with his mother Anna, a church organist, teaching him piano “as soon as his feet could reach the petals.” By the age of twelve, Leroy had composed his first piece. By age eleven, Leroy was taking music lessons at The New England Conservatory of Music. His first composition was A Minuet for String Quarter and received a year’s scholarship to study harmony with his piano instructor, Floyd Dean. …show more content…
These pieces began to spark interest among the music community in the 1930’s and eventually gained the interest of Arthur Fiedler, the Director of the Boston Pops Orchestra. Leroy immediately began composing pieces for the Boston Pops, such as the arrangement of Harvard Fantasy and Jazz Pizzicato.
In 1942 Leroy Anderson joined the U.S. Army. This did not stop him from composing pieces. While in Iceland, and later the pentagon, as a translator, he wrote The Syncopated Clock and Blue Tango, Blue tango was his first his and received a golden disc and the no 1 spot on the billboard charts. His fame continued in the fifties, where his compositions were really taking off. Blue Tango was his first instrumental recording to sell one million copies.
Leroy’s pieces began growing fame across the globe. Going from the US to Canada, and eventually Europe. The music itself remained unchanged, but translations of lyrics were made to songs such as Sleigh Ride in French, Italian, Dutch, German, Swedish, and Finnish. Orchestra’s all over the world such as Geneva, Belgium, and Japan began to perform Sleigh Ride and A Christmas Festival each winter. Many believe this is why Sleigh Ride outlasted many of his other
Leroy Anderson started music at a very young age, with his mother Anna, a church organist, teaching him piano “as soon as his feet could reach the petals.” By the age of twelve, Leroy had composed his first piece. By age eleven, Leroy was taking music lessons at The New England Conservatory of Music. His first composition was A Minuet for String Quarter and received a year’s scholarship to study harmony with his piano instructor, Floyd Dean. …show more content…
These pieces began to spark interest among the music community in the 1930’s and eventually gained the interest of Arthur Fiedler, the Director of the Boston Pops Orchestra. Leroy immediately began composing pieces for the Boston Pops, such as the arrangement of Harvard Fantasy and Jazz Pizzicato.
In 1942 Leroy Anderson joined the U.S. Army. This did not stop him from composing pieces. While in Iceland, and later the pentagon, as a translator, he wrote The Syncopated Clock and Blue Tango, Blue tango was his first his and received a golden disc and the no 1 spot on the billboard charts. His fame continued in the fifties, where his compositions were really taking off. Blue Tango was his first instrumental recording to sell one million copies.
Leroy’s pieces began growing fame across the globe. Going from the US to Canada, and eventually Europe. The music itself remained unchanged, but translations of lyrics were made to songs such as Sleigh Ride in French, Italian, Dutch, German, Swedish, and Finnish. Orchestra’s all over the world such as Geneva, Belgium, and Japan began to perform Sleigh Ride and A Christmas Festival each winter. Many believe this is why Sleigh Ride outlasted many of his other