Anderson, Leroy, 1908-1975

Composer Leroy Anderson’s Swedish parents recognized his musical ability at an early age – he wrote his first composition at the age of 12 -- and enrolled him at the New England Conservatory of Music. Having been born and grown up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he attended Harvard University, receiving his B.A. in 1929 (magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa) and an M.A in music in 1930. He began work for a Ph.D. at Harvard in German and Scandinavian languages, intending to become a teacher of languages (he was fluent in more than 9), a career he thought would be more secure than that of a musician. While pursuing his studies, he worked as a church organist and choirmaster as well as the leader of the Harvard Band in which he played the trombone, one of several instruments he played. He had caught the attention of Arthur Fiedler, conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, and in 1938 the Pops first played one of his compositions, Jazz Pizzicata. When World War II intervened and he married Eleanor Jane Firke in 1942 just before shipping off to Iceland for the U.S. Counter Intelligence Corps as a translator and interpreter (Icelandic was one of his many languages). The following year he was sent to officer’s candidate school, and in 1945 he was reassigned to the Pentagon as chief of the Scandinavian Desk of Military Intelligence. He and his wife and new baby daughter moved to Arlington, Virginia; with the end of the war, in 1946 they moved to New York City, then later to Woodbury, Connecticut, where he spent the rest of his life at his “Grassy Hill” property. Having scored his first hit in 1951 with “Blue Tango,” he landed a contract with Decca Records; his works were a big commercial success throughout the 1950s. From 1946 to 1975, he conducted more than 70 concerts. In 1972, the Boston Pops devoted a concert to him as a tribute. For his contribution to the recording business, he has a “star” on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and he was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame in 1988. The Harvard Band named its new headquarters after him in 1995: the Leroy Anderson Band Center. The town of Cambridge named a square after him in 2003.