Robert Russell Bennett (June 15, 1894 – August 18, 1981) was an American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

and arranger, best known for his orchestration of many well-known Broadway and Hollywood musicals by other composers such as Irving Berlin,

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...

Jerome Kern Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in ove ...

Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film. Born to ...

, and

Richard Rodgers Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers was one of the most well-known American ...

.Profile
ibdb.com; accessed May 1, 2008. In 1957 and 2008, Bennett received

Tony Awards The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

recognizing his orchestrations for Broadway shows. Early in his career, he was often billed as Russell Bennett.

Life and career

Early life

Robert Russell Bennett was born in 1894 to a musical family in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the List of United States cities by populat ...

. His father, George Bennett, played

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

in the

Kansas City Symphony The Kansas City Symphony (KCS) is a United States symphony orchestra based in Kansas City, Missouri. The current music director is conductor Michael Stern. The Symphony performs at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, located at 1601 Bro ...

and

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

at the Grand Opera House, while his mother, May, worked as a

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and teacher. She taught Bennett piano, while his father taught him violin and trumpet. The Bennett family moved to a farm in Freeman, Missouri, when Bennett was four, to speed his recovery from

polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe sy ...

. He graduated as the Valedictorian of Freeman High School. By that time, he had demonstrated his aptitude for music and his remarkable ear by picking out the finale of Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata on the white keys of the piano. By his early adolescence, his father often called upon him to play any given instrument as a utility member or substitute player within Bennett's Band in Freeman. In his autobiography, Bennett recalled finding a

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott J ...

tune on the piano at age ten and being informed by his mother that such music was trash—this lesson taught him to be, as he called it, a “life-long musical snob.” His mother also taught his academic lessons until he was twelve due to health concerns; his health remained an obstacle when Bennett later decided to join the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Early career

After completing his

secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final ph ...

, Bennett moved to Kansas City to be a freelance musician, performing throughout the city as well as with the symphony. He also began his first musical training outside of a home environment with Danish composer-conductor Dr. Carl Busch. Busch taught him

counterpoint In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tra ...

and harmony until 1916, when Bennett took his savings and moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He eventually found a job as a copyist with

G. Schirmer G. Schirmer, Inc. is an American classical music publishing company based in New York City, founded in 1861. The oldest active music publisher in the United States, Schirmer publishes sheet music for sale and rental, and represents some well-know ...

while continuing to freelance and to build a network of contacts, particularly with the New York Flute Club. In 1917 he volunteered for the Army. Although he yearned for an active role, his youthful health woes caused the draft board to mark him for limited service. However, he successfully appealed this classification and became the director of the 70th Infantry Band at Camp Funston, Kansas. He valiantly attempted to improve the "disgraceful" musical standards of the unit, but found his efforts thwarted when the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case wa ...

swept through the post in 1918. Upon his discharge several months later, he returned to New York. His relationship with

Winifred Edgerton Merrill Winifred Edgerton (September 24, 1862 – September 6, 1951) was born in Ripon, Wisconsin. She was the first woman to receive a degree from Columbia University and the first American woman to receive a PhD in mathematics.Kelly, S. E. and ...

, a society matron who had been the first woman to receive a doctorate from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, led to rewards both financial and emotional—she had been one of his first employers in the city, and she introduced him to her daughter Louise, whom he married on December 26, 1919. Their daughter, Jean, was born a year later. Bennett later studied composition in Paris with

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist. From a ...

1926-1929.

Broadway arranger

His career as an arranger began to blossom in 1919 while he was employed by T.B. Harms, a prominent publishing firm for Broadway and Tin Pan Alley. Dependable yet creative within the confines of formulaic arranging, Bennett soon branched out as an orchestrator and arranger for Broadway productions, collaborating particularly with

. Although Bennett would work with several of the top names on Broadway and in film including

, and

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...

, his collaborations with

and

stand out both for sheer volume and for highlighting different facets of an arranger's relationship with a composer. Bennett described his own philosophy: "The perfect arrangement is one that manages to be most ‘becoming’ to the melody at all points." ;With Jerome Kern Kern's working relationship with Bennett serves as a clear illustration of this point. For example, when orchestrating '' Show Boat'', Bennett would work from sketches laid out quite specifically by Kern, which included melodies, rough parts, and harmonies. The original sketches appear remarkably close to Bennett's completed scores; as one scholar puts it, "Bennett didn't have much to make up." ;With Richard Rodgers In contrast, Rodgers allowed Bennett a greater degree of autonomy. The pair had first collaborated in 1927, but the majority of their partnership occurred in the 1940s and 1950s. While scoring '' Oklahoma!'' in 1943, Bennett proved himself invaluable by reworking an elaborate and possibly out-of-place selection into the title song. His most legendary contribution to the partnership, however, occurred during the scoring of the television series ''

Victory at Sea ''Victory at Sea'' is a documentary television series about warfare in general during World War II, and naval warfare in particular, as well as the use of industry in warfare. It was originally broadcast by NBC in the United States in 1952–19 ...

'' (1952–53). Richard Rodgers contributed twelve basic themes for the series, with three earmarked for the first episode, but those who worked on the series attribute its eleven-and-a-half hours worth of music principally to Bennett. An examination of Rodgers' manuscripts for ''Victory at Sea'' reveals only seventeen pages of sheet music, so it is apparent that Bennett contributed most of the musical score. Rodgers wrote, “I give him he creditwithout undue modesty, for making my music sound better than it was.” ;With George Gershwin With Gershwin and his Broadway musical scores, Bennett would work from annotated short scores (dual folios for piano with general suggestions for which instruments would play what.) He worked very closely as Gershwin's assistant during the period in which Gershwin composed his score for the 1937 Fred Astaire- Ginger Rogers film, ''

Shall We Dance Shall We Dance may refer to: Films * ''Shall We Dance'' (1937 film), a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical * ''Shall We Dance?'' (1996 film), a Japanese film about ballroom dancing * ''Shall We Dance?'' (2004 film), an American remake of the ...

'', often spending late nights with Gershwin rushing to complete orchestrations for deadlines. The next year Gershwin died. Later Bennett would be turned to yet again as a definitive orchestrator of Gershwin's other works, both on Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture and the orchestral medley, "Gershwin in Hollywood".

Other commissions

Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...

was engaged in writing a 2-piano reduction of his Piano Concerto No. 4, containing his final revisions, when death overtook him. Robert Russell Bennett completed the reduction at the request of Rachmaninoff's widow.

Musical profile

Schooled by his mother to disdain popular music, Robert Russell Bennett found the dichotomy between his serious compositions and his arranging work to be a lifelong struggle. In spite of his prolific output, which included the opera ''Maria Malibran'', more than seven symphonies, a large variety of chamber works, and at least five concertos, his reputation today as a classical composer rests primarily on two oft-recorded pieces, the Suite of Old American Dances and Symphonic Songs for Band. This may be attributed both to the modesty so characteristic of Bennett and to the Eastman Wind Ensemble recordings which popularized them. In his composing, Bennett brought to bear his considerable talent for orchestration as well as a gift for conceiving melodies and harmonic structure in his head; longtime Bennett copyist Adele Combattente (of Chappell Music) confirmed his ability to write parts in score order, as opposed to filling in leftover parts and doublings as he completed primary melodic lines. He nearly always scored directly in ink, rather than pencil. Many of Bennett's original works came about through direct commission; the 1939 World's Fair,

CBS radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broad ...

("Hollywood" for orchestra), and the League of Composers ("Mademoiselle" for the Goldman Band) provide prominent examples. A significant number of commissions were initiated by Robert Austin Boudreau, a former member of the Goldman Band, and his American Wind Symphony. The AWS traveled via American rivers and waterways, inspiring several works with nautical themes, including the Ohio River Suite and West Virginia Epic. Boudreau would provide a basic concept to Bennett, who would complete the new work rapidly and who would always attend the premiere. Boudreau recalls, “We never offered him a lot of money for those commissions...He was an elegant person. He was always more interested in music than in dollars.” Many works were written for his musical acquaintances, including ''Hexapoda'' and a concerto for violinist Louis Kaufman, ''Tema Sporca con Variazoni'' for duo-pianists Appleton and Field, Suite for Flute and B flat Clarinet for Frances Blaisdell and Alex Williams, and the Rondo Capriccioso for Georges Barrére (Bennett's friendship with flutists William Kincaid and John Wummer prompted other chamber works).

Later years and legacy

In later years, Bennett again developed major health problems. “He never talked about it, but always showed joy,” Boudreau states. “It wasn't just a business relationship we had, it was more than just music. We were pals, and he would treat me as a son.” Bennett did not slow his output, creating original works for the nation's bicentennial celebrations and accepting commissions from a variety of sources, including a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their n ...

church in Florida, for which he accepted only a modest fee.

Death

Bennett died of

liver cancer Liver cancer (also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy) is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary (starts in liver) or secondary (meaning cancer which has spread from elsewhere to th ...

in 1981, aged 87. His legacy rests largely on the popular arrangements which so conflicted the composer, but those who knew him also remember him as a close friend and gracious mentor. Robert Shaw wrote, “And it is just as certainly because of his kindness, honesty, humor, and wisdom that our hearts are warmed to see Robert Russell Bennett without peer in his field.” Bennett mentored Broadway and concert arranger

William David Brohn William David "Bill" Brohn (March 30, 1933 – May 11, 2017) was an American arranger and orchestrator, best known for his scores of musicals such as ''Miss Saigon'', ''Ragtime'' and ''Wicked''. He won the Tony Award for Best Orchestrations for '' ...

; they first worked together on the 1966 Lincoln Center revival of ''Show Boat''.

List of works (incomplete)

Books

#The Broadway Sound: The Autobiography and Selected Essays of Robert Russell Bennett, ed. Ferencz (1999) #Bennett's book ''Instrumentally Speaking'' was published in 1975 by Belwin-Mills, but is now out of print.

Original compositions (selected)

Orchestra

#Abraham Lincoln: A Likeness in Symphony Form ��Abraham Lincoln” Symphony(1929) #Adagio Eroico (To The Memory of a Soldier) (c. 1932) #An Adventure in High Fidelity (1954; commissioned by RCA Victor for a demonstration LP) #Antique Suite for Clarinet and Orchestra (1941; dedicated to Benny Goodman) #Charleston Rhapsody mall orchestra(1926, rev. 1933) #Classic Serenade for Strings ortraits of Three Friends(1941) #A Commemoration Symphony: Stephen Collins Foster ATB Chorus, vocal soloists, and orchestra(1959) #Concerto for Harmonica and Orchestra (1971 or 1972) #Concerto for Viola, Harp and Orchestra (1940 or 1941; revised c. 1960 for cello, harp and orchestra) #Concerto for Violin in A Major (1941) #Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra (1958 or 1959) #Concerto Grosso for Dance Band and Orchestra ketches from an American Theatre(1932) #Concert Variations on a Crooner's Theme iolin and orchestra(1949) #A Dry Weather Legend lute and orchestra(1946) #An Early American Ballade on Melodies of Stephen Foster mall orchestra(1932) #Eight Etudes For Symphony Orchestra (1938) #“The Four Freedoms”—A Symphony after Four Paintings by Norman Rockwell (1943) #Hollywood ntroduction and Scherzo(1936) #Kansas City Album even Songs for Orchestra(1949) #March for Two Pianos and Orchestra (1930) #Nocturne and Appassionata iano and orchestra(1941) #Orchestral Fragments from the American Opera “Maria Malibran” (1934) #Overture To An Imaginary Drama edicated to Fritz Mahler(1946) #Overture to the Mississippi (1950) #Paysage

andscape ''Andscape'', formerly ''The Undefeated'', is a sports and pop culture website owned and operated by ESPN. Officially launched May 17, 2016, the site describes itself as “the premier platform for exploring the intersections of race, sports and ...

(1927 or 1928) #Piano Concerto in B Minor (1947) #Sights and Sounds n Orchestral Entertainment(1929) #Six Variations in Fox-Trot Time on a Theme by Jerome Kern hamber orchestra(1933) # Suite of Old American Dances (1950 orchestration of his 1949 original for concert band) #Symphony 1(1926) #Symphony edicated to Fritz Reiner(1962) #Symphony in D for the Dodgers (1941; a WOR radio commission, with narrator “Red” Barber in the final movement)

Stage works

#Columbine antomime ballet w/theater orchestra(1916) #Crystal

pera Pera may refer to: Places * Pera (Beyoğlu), a district in Istanbul formerly called Pera, now called Beyoğlu ** Galata, a neighbourhood of Beyoğlu, often referred to as Pera in the past * Pêra (Caparica), a Portuguese locality in the district ...

(1972) #The Enchanted Kiss

(1944 or 1945) #Endimion peretta-ballet(1926 or 1927) #Hold Your Horses usical comedy; words and music by Russell Bennett, Robert A. Simon and Owen Murphy(1933) #An Hour of Delusion ne-act opera(1928) #Maria Malibran pera; libretto by Robert A. Simon(1934) # Princess Charming usical play; music and lyrics mostly by Albert Sirmay and Harry Ruby, with add’l songs by Russell Bennett and Jack Waller(1926)

Incidental music

#The Firebrand lay by Edwin Justus Mayer; music by Bennett and Maurice Nitke(1924) #Hamlet tarring John Barrymore(1922) #Macbeth tarring Lionel Barrymore(1921) #Romeo and Juliet tarring Ethel Barrymore(1922)

Concert band or wind orchestra

#Autobiography (1977) #Christmas Overture (1980 or 1981) #Concerto Grosso for Wind Quintet and Wind Orchestra (1957) #Down to the Sea in Ships (1969, from the NBC TV Film "Project 20") #Fanfare for the American Wind Symphony (1981) #Fountain Lake Fanfare

arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vau ...

(1939; for the New York World's Fair) #Four Preludes for Band (1974) #Mademoiselle (1952) #Ohio River Suite (1959) #Overture to The Pickle Suite (1969) #Overture to Ty, Tris and Willie (1961) #Rose Variations ornet/trumpet and band(1955) # Suite of Old American Dances (1949) # Symphonic Songs for Band (1957) #The Pickle (poem by Sara Henderson Hay) (1969) #Three Humoresques (c. 1961) #A TNT Cocktail (1939; for the New York World's Fair) #Tone Poems for Band (1939; for the New York World's Fair) #Track Meet (1960) #West Virginia Epic (1960) #Zimmer's American Greeting arrator and wind orchestra(1974)

Chamber music

#Allemande (violin and piano, 1947 or 1948) #Arabesque (brass quintet, 1978) #Clarinet Quartet (late 1920s?) #Dance (flute and piano, 1928) #Dance Scherzo (wind quintet, 1937) #Five Improvisations on Exotic Scales (flute, cello, piano, 1947) #Five Tune Cartoons (violin and piano, 1948) #Four Dances for Piano Trio (1953 or 1954) #Hexapoda ��five studies in Jitteroptera”(violin and piano, 1940) #Nocturne (flute and piano, 1928) #Rondo Capriccioso (four flutes, 1916) #Six Souvenirs (two flutes and piano, 1948) #Sonata (violin and piano, 1927) #Sonatine (soprano and harp, 1947) #A Song Sonata (violin and piano, 1947) #String Quartet (1956) #Suite for Flute and B flat Clarinet (c. 1958; published 1973) #Tema Sporca (two pianos, four hands, 1946) #Toy Symphony (wind quintet, 1928) #Trio (flute, cello, piano, 1950 or 1951) #Trio (harp, cello, flute, c. 1960) #Water Music (string quartet, 1937)

Keyboard works

#Four Nocturnes (accordion, 1959) #Seven Fox Trots in Concert Form (piano, 1928) #Sonata in G (organ, 1929) #Sonatina (piano, c. 1941) #Second Sonatina (piano, c. 1944) #VU (“Seen in Paris”) 0 etudes in miniature, from the 20 arrondissements of Paris(1929)

Broadway arrangements and orchestrations (a selection)

# Hirsch: '' Mary'' (1920) # Friml, Hammerstein and Harbach: '' Rose-Marie'' (1924) # Gershwin: '' Oh, Kay!'' (1926) # Kern and Hammerstein: '' Show Boat'' (1927) (new orchestrations 1946 and 1966) # Gershwin: '' Girl Crazy'' (1930) # Gershwin: '' Of Thee I Sing'' (1931) # Kern and Harbach: ''The Cat and the Fiddle'' (1931) # Kern and Hammerstein: '' Music in the Air'' (1932)"Orchestrator on His Own"
– ''Time Magazine (Monday, Dec. 12, 1932)'' (Retrieved on May 1, 2008) # Porter: '' Anything Goes'' (1934) (with Hans Spialek) # Porter: '' Jubilee'' (1935) # Rodgers and Hammerstein: '' Oklahoma!'' (1943) # Bizet, Hammerstein: '' Carmen Jones'' (1943) (shared with

Georges Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', whi ...

, composer of the 1875 opera ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the ...

'') # Irving Berlin: '' Annie Get Your Gun'' (1946) # Harburg and Lane: ''

Finian's Rainbow ''Finian's Rainbow'' is a musical with a book by E. Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy, lyrics by Harburg, and music by Burton Lane, produced by Lee Sabinson. The original 1947 Broadway production ran for 725 performances, while a film version was r ...

'' (1947) (shared with Don Walker) # Rodgers and Hammerstein: ''

Allegro Allegro may refer to: Common meanings * Allegro (music), a tempo marking indicate to play fast, quickly and bright * Allegro (ballet), brisk and lively movement Artistic works * L'Allegro (1645), a poem by John Milton * ''Allegro'' (Satie), an ...

'' (1947) # Porter: '' Kiss Me, Kate'' (1948) # Rodgers and Hammerstein: ''

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

'' (1949) # Rodgers and Hammerstein: ''

The King and I ''The King and I'' is the fifth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on Margaret Landon's novel '' Anna and the King of Siam'' (1944), which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the chil ...

'' (1951) # Rodgers and Hammerstein: '' Pipe Dream'' (1955) # Lerner and Loewe: '' My Fair Lady'' (1956) (shared with Philip J. Lang) # Styne, Comden, and Green: '' Bells Are Ringing'' (1956) # Rodgers and Hammerstein: '' Flower Drum Song'' (1958) # Rodgers and Hammerstein: '' The Sound of Music'' (1959) # Lerner and Loewe: ''

Camelot Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as th ...

'' (1960) (shared with Philip J. Lang) # Lerner and Lane: '' On a Clear Day You Can See Forever'' (1965) Bennett also did the orchestrations for the 1936 film version of ''Show Boat'', and for the 1955 film version of ''Oklahoma!'' Some of his stage orchestrations were used in the 1958 film version of ''

'', and the 1956 film version of ''The King and I''. He conducted Rodgers' ''

'' which was the soundtrack for the early 1950s TV miniseries of the same name; it was one of the first of its kind and billed as one most ambitious. RCA Victor released 5 volumes of music from the Rodgers' ''Victory at Sea'' score, all conducted by Robert Russell Bennett with cover art by Victor Kalin. (Vol. 1 - LM-2335; Vol. 2 - LM-2226; Vol.3 - ANL 1-1432; Three Suites; Video Disk) He also orchestrated the score for the original television broadcast of Rodgers and Hammerstein's '' Cinderella'' in 1957.

Concert arrangements

In 1942, Bennett arranged '' Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture'' under the supervision of conductor Fritz Reiner, using melodies from

's now-celebrated

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

. Bennett's arrangements were largely based on Gershwin's original orchestrations for the opera. Bennett was also responsible for '' The Many Moods of Christmas'', a 1963 48-minute medley of

Christmas carol A Christmas carol is a carol (a song or hymn) on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French or ...

s, arranged especially for the Robert Shaw Chorale and Orchestra. They recorded it that year, and in 1983, Robert Shaw re-recorded it with the Atlanta Symphony Chorus and the

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) is an American orchestra based in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, USA. The ASO's main concert venue is Atlanta Symphony Hall in the Woodruff Arts Center. History Though earlier organizations bearing ...

. Among his published orchestra medleys for Broadway shows (including some for which others had done the original pit orchestrations) are those for ''Oklahoma!'', ''Carousel'', ''Allegro'', ''Finian's Rainbow'', ''Brigadoon'', ''Lady in the Dark'', ''Kiss Me, Kate'', ''South Pacific'', ''Roberta'', ''The King and I'', ''Me and Juliet'', ''My Fair Lady'', ''Gigi'', ''Flower Drum Song'', ''The Sound of Music'', ''Camelot'', ''On a Clear Day You Can See Forever'', and ''Funny Girl'', as well as extended “symphonic picture” settings of ''The Sound of Music'' and ''My Fair Lady''. His concert band medleys include those of ''Porgy and Bess'', ''The King and I'', ''Carousel Waltzes'', ''Me and Juliet'', ''Silk Stockings'', ''My Fair Lady'', ''Gigi'', ''The Sound of Music'', ''Funny Girl'', and ''Do I Hear a Waltz?'' The 40-minute ''Porgy and Bess: Concert Version'' for soprano and baritone soloists, chorus and orchestra was prepared in 1956. It is based very closely on Gershwin's original instrumental and vocal scoring, the principal recasting being the use of standard concert-orchestra instrumentation, and eliminating the clarinet-saxophone doubling specified in Gershwin's 1935 orchestration.

Awards and honors

The Tony Award for orchestrations has only existed since 1997; Bennett was given a Special Tony Award in 1957 and again in 2008 "in recognition of his historic contribution to American musical theatre in the field of orchestrations, as represented on Broadway this season by Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific." Other honors have included his Oscar for the film '' Oklahoma!'', a 1962 Emmy award, television's

Christopher Award The Christopher Award (established 1949) is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, films and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit". It is given by The Christophers, a Christian organizatio ...

in 1960, the City of New York's Handel Medallion in 1967, Los Angeles's honorary Scroll in 1979, and an honorary doctorate from

Franklin and Marshall College Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) is a private liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It employs 175 full-time faculty members and has a student body of approximately 2,400 full-time students. It was founded upon the merger of Frankli ...

in 1965. Bennett was the first president of the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers (ASMAC).

References

External links

* *
Robert Russell Bennett biography at Naxos.comRoy Benton Hawkins' dissertation on the life and work of Robert Russell Bennett
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Robert Russell 1894 births 1981 deaths 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century classical composers American classical composers American film score composers American male classical composers American male film score composers Best Original Music Score Academy Award winners Classical musicians from Missouri Composers for harmonica Concert band composers Deaths from liver cancer Distinguished Service to Music Medal recipients George Gershwin RCA Victor artists Special Tony Award recipients United States Army Band musicians