Scope and Contents
The Leroy Anderson Papers document Anderson's life and career as a composer chiefly through his music, both published and in manuscript. The Papers also contain scrapbooks and other items.
Dates
- 1933-1988 (inclusive)
Creator
Language of Materials
Materials chiefly in English.
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open to researchers by appointment. There are no restricted materials in the collection. Please contact the Special Collections staff to schedule an appointment. Some of the materials may be stored at the Library's off-campus shelving facility, so researchers should allow at least two business days to have the appropriate boxes paged.
Conditions Governing Use
The Leroy Anderson Papers are the physical property of the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library of Yale University. Certain materials, currently on deposit, remain the physical property of Eleanor Anderson. Copyrights belong to the composers and authors, or their legal heirs and assigns.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The Leroy Anderson Papers were established in the Music Library of Yale University by Eleanor Anderson in 1987.
Arrangement
In 2 series as follows: I. Music. II. Miscellaneous.
Extent
16 Linear Feet (33 boxes)
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Overview
Music, scrapbooks, and additional materials by and about the American composer Leroy Anderson (1908-1975)
Biographical / Historical
Leroy Anderson was born on June 29, 1908 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His family was musical, and as a boy he studied double bass, organ, and trombone. He continued his musical education at Harvard, where his teachers included Walter Piston and Georges Enesco; he graduated from college in 1929, and earned the M.A. in 1930. In the early 1930s he did additional graduate work in Scandinavian languages at Harvard; he also directed the Harvard Band and held numerous other musical jobs.
In 1936 Anderson arranged a medley of Harvard songs for Harvard Night at the Boston Pops. In the ensuing decades, he would become famous largely for the many pieces he composed or arranged for Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, including Jazz Pizzicato (1938), The Syncopated Clock (1945), Sleigh Ride (1948), The Typewriter (1950), and Blue Tango (1951). By the early 1950s, Anderson's music had become extraordinarily popular; his recordings sold in the millions, and American orchestras performed his works more frequently than those of any other American composer.
Anderson later turned several of his most popular orchestral works into songs, with lyrics by Mitchell Parish; of these, Sleigh Ride has had the most lasting success. Anderson also composed a piano concerto (1953), as well as Goldilocks (1958), a Broadway musical with words by Walter and Jean Kerr and Joan Ford.
In 1942 Anderson married Eleanor Jane Firke; they had a daughter and three sons. In 1949 the family settled in Woodbury, Connecticut. Leroy Anderson died in Woodbury on May 18, 1975.
In 1936 Anderson arranged a medley of Harvard songs for Harvard Night at the Boston Pops. In the ensuing decades, he would become famous largely for the many pieces he composed or arranged for Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, including Jazz Pizzicato (1938), The Syncopated Clock (1945), Sleigh Ride (1948), The Typewriter (1950), and Blue Tango (1951). By the early 1950s, Anderson's music had become extraordinarily popular; his recordings sold in the millions, and American orchestras performed his works more frequently than those of any other American composer.
Anderson later turned several of his most popular orchestral works into songs, with lyrics by Mitchell Parish; of these, Sleigh Ride has had the most lasting success. Anderson also composed a piano concerto (1953), as well as Goldilocks (1958), a Broadway musical with words by Walter and Jean Kerr and Joan Ford.
In 1942 Anderson married Eleanor Jane Firke; they had a daughter and three sons. In 1949 the family settled in Woodbury, Connecticut. Leroy Anderson died in Woodbury on May 18, 1975.
- Title
- Register to The Leroy Anderson Papers
- Status
- Edited Full Draft
- Author
- Based on the accession inventory compiled by David Gier
- Date
- 1996-2007
- Description rules
- Finding Aid Prepared According To Local Music Library Descriptive Practices
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Gilmore Music Library Repository
Contact:
120 High Street
PO Box 208240
New Haven CT 06520 US
(203) 432-0497
musicspecialcollections@yale.edu
120 High Street
PO Box 208240
New Haven CT 06520 US
(203) 432-0497
musicspecialcollections@yale.edu