Stamp of the Month: May 2025 – Motivgruppe Musik

Leroy Anderson

The American composer Leroy Anderson was born on June 29, 1908, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He died on May 18, 1975, in Woodbury, Connecticut. May 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of his death.

Leroy Anderson received his first musical lessons from his mother, an organist. He studied piano, counterpoint, canon, fugue, orchestration, and composition (with George Enescu, among others) at the New England Conservatory of Music and Harvard University.

Belgium 13.10.2007

Leroy Anderson became known primarily for his short, original concert pieces, which he composed for the Boston Pops Orchestra from 1936 onwards at the suggestion of Arthur Fiedler. The recordings of his works were huge commercial successes. His “Blue Tango” was the first instrumental recording to sell one million copies. The single reached number 1 in the US charts in 1951 and remained in the charts for 38 weeks. Anderson created primarily light classical music with a particular penchant for innovative orchestral effects and unconventional instruments. The best known example is “The Typewriter”, composed for typewriter and orchestra in 1950. It is likely that the designer had this piece in mind when he designed the Belgian postage stamp.

The video shows a scene from the film “Who’s Minding The Store” with Jerry Lewis
and music by Leroy Anderson.