Leroy Anderson
and Cambridge MA
Woodbury CT Connecticut Cambridge MA
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By Jane Anderson Vercelli While the entertaining music of Leroy Anderson is heard all over the world today, the composer who wrote Sleigh Ride was born, grew up and was educated in Cambridge, thanks to his Swedish parents, who had immigrated as children to the United States and ultimately chose to make Cambridge their home. During his lifetime, Anderson arranged, conducted and composed largely instrumental music, including the whimsical Syncopated Clock, Waltzing Cat, and The Typewriter; the rousing Bugler's Holiday; the lilting Trumpeter's Lullaby and the nostalgic Forgotten Dreams. Sleigh Ride is the exception. So many people know lyricist Mitchell Parish's opening words, "Just hear those sleigh bells jingle-ing," that they often refer to the song as "Sleigh Bells." The centennial of Anderson's birth in 1908 is being celebrated in concerts around the country and the world. The Boston Landmarks Orchestra, under the direction of conductor Charles Ansbacher, will dedicate part of its Sept. 3 concert titled Red Sox and Apple Pie to Anderson's music at the Hatch Shell in Boston. Cambridge, Massachusetts
Leroy was born and raised in Cambridge because his parents were both living there when they first met and later married. Leroy's father, Bror Anton Anderson, the seventh of eight children, was born in Övarp near Kristianstad in southern Sweden and immigrated with his family to Chicago in March 1882. (The family name was changed from Andersson to Anderson in the USA.) A graduate of North Park College in the 1890's, he moved to Philadelphia and then to Cambridge, where he worked for the post office his entire life. As a young man, he played mandolin and banjo. Leroy's mother, Anna Margareta Anderson, was born in Stockholm, the youngest of four daughters of Bengt Jonsson (later Johnson) and Maria Lovisa Horling. The family immigrated in 1887 to Worcester, and then to Cambridge. Bengt, a fine woodworker, built Victorian piano cases for the Ivers and Pond Company of Boston. The most musically gifted of the four daughters, Anna played piano, organ, and guitar, and was excused from doing housework to protect her hands. Anna and Bror, whose nickname was Ed, met and married in October 1904, when both were 25. They lived with Anna's parents and two unmarried sisters in the family house at 269 Norfolk Street, where Leroy was born on June 29, 1908. In 1909, Anna and Ed bought land at 12 Chatham Street. The next year, they took out a mortgage to build a three-decker house, which still stands. By all accounts, their home was filled with music. Anna played piano and taught Leroy to play as soon as he could reach the keys. Once Leroy could play piano, he accompanied Anna on guitar. In time, Leroy also learned to play organ, tuba, accordion, and double bass. Leroy Anderson's childhood home Edith Anderson Nelson, Leroy Anderson's cousin, vividly recalled those early 20th century years in Cambridge: " Church youth groups in Cambridge would rent sleds used for commercial deliveries and then sell tickets for sleigh rides. Nobody cleared off the streets in those days, and the snow was packed because everything was delivered in pungs (sleds) during the winter: milk, coal or whatever. So you could go just about anywhere on a sleigh ride. " Edith recalls Ed's asking Anna, "Remember those sleigh rides we took?" --to which Anna's response was, "Shhhhhh!" Harvard University's Widener Library After graduating from Cambridge Grammar School in 1921 and Cambridge High and Latin School in 1925, Leroy Anderson entered Harvard College as a member of the class of 1929. At Harvard, Leroy arranged and composed music for the Harvard University Band, played trombone, and eventually became the director. In 1936, the manager of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, George Judd, also a Harvard alumnus, asked Leroy to arrange Harvard songs for the Boston Pops, beginning a collaboration with its director, Arthur Fiedler, that lasted for the rest of his life. Although Leroy Anderson did not live in Cambridge after World War II, his ties to his hometown remained strong through his relationship with the Pops. Through the years, Fiedler premiered pieces that Anderson composed and asked him to arrange music for the Pops to play, including selections from Gershwin's Girl Crazy, which Anderson completed shortly before he died on May 18, 1975 at his home in Woodbury, Connecticut. His widow, Eleanor Anderson, whom he married in 1942, continues to live in Woodbury, promoting her husband's legacy. "Leroy Anderson Square" at intersection of Chatham and Crawford Streets, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dedicated May 2003. Leroy Andersons 100 Jubileum Concert Among the concerts featuring Anderson's music and celebrating the centennial of his birth, the largest of all, consisting of 750 musicians and singers, was held on April 26, 2008 in Kristianstad, Sweden near the small village of Övarp where Leroy's father Bror had been born. The Boston Pops and Keith Lockhart scheduled two performances of an Anderson tribute - June 3 and June 4, 2008 - which included Leroy Anderson's Piano Concerto in C, Fiddle-Faddle, The First Day of Spring, The Typewriter and Clarinet Candy. [Jane Anderson Vercelli, a Connecticut journalist, is Leroy Anderson's daughter.] Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts Keith Lockhart conducting the Boston Pops Leroy Anderson Exhibit Fall 2008, Cambridge City Hall Annex at An extensive and authoritative exhibit depicting the life and music of Leroy Anderson, created specially for the Leroy Anderson Centennial. Leroy Anderson Tribute |
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