Music Director
Leroy Anderson (1908-1975)
Clarinet Candy and Bugler's Holiday
Leroy Anderson was born just over one hundred years ago (June 29, 1908) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was the son of Swedish immigrants, and he first studied piano and music theory at the New England Conservatory. He also attended Harvard University, where he studied harmony, counterpoint, and orchestration. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in music there in 1929 and a Master of Arts degree in 1930. He played trombone in the Harvard University Band, which he directed between 1931 and 1935.
In 1936, Anderson arranged and conducted Harvard Fantasy, a medley of Harvard songs for Arthur Fiedler's Boston Pops Orchestra. In 1938, the Boston Pops premiered Anderson's Jazz Pizzicato.
Anderson conducted the Pops in his works Promenade and Syncopated Clock in 1945. He served as orchestrator and arranger for the Boston Pops from 1946-1950, and he conducted many of the recorded performances of his works
In the early 1950s Anderson's fame spread when WCBS-New York selected Syncopated Clock (1945) as the theme song for 'The Late Show.' In 1951 his recording of Blue Tango was the first recording ever to sell over a million copies. A 1953 study indicated that he was the American composer most frequently performed by native orchestras. In that same year he composed the Concerto in C for piano and orchestra, his only extended orchestral work. Anderson composed Bugler's Holiday in 1954 and Clarinet Candy in 1962.
Notes by Beth Bergman Fisher