Leroy Anderson Sleigh Ride for Easy Orchestra

Sleigh Ride by Leroy Anderson:   official website, complete reference

Leroy Anderson (1950)

Composition: Sleigh Ride
Composer: Leroy Anderson
Copyright:
Sleigh Ride (instrumental)
© 1948 Woodbury Music Company LLC
Sleigh Ride (vocal)
© 1950 Woodbury Music Company LLC
Completed: Feb ten, 1948
Instrumentation: Symphony Orchestra
First Performed: May 4, 1948, Boston Pops Orchestra, Arthur Fiedler, conductor
Start Recording: Apr 25, 1949, Boston Pops Orchestra, Arthur Fiedler, usher [analog monaural]
Recorded by Leroy Anderson: September 11, 1950 [analog monaural] Decca Records
Length: iii:00
Get-go Stereo Recording: May 26, 1959, Leroy Anderson, Decca Records
Transcriptions by Leroy Anderson: Concert Band; Piano
Lyrics: 1950; Mitchell Parish
First Vocal Recording: 1950, The Andrews Sisters

Composer quotes:

"Sleigh Ride" was one of the first things I wrote when I got out of the Regular army and moved up here to Woodbury, Connecticut. Actually, I first came hither in 1946; y'all may remember in that location was a housing shortage then, and my mother-in-constabulary was living upwardly hither, had a cottage that was vacant, and so since we had no other place to go, nosotros packed our 14-calendar month old girl, plus the upright pianoforte, and came on up here to Woodbury, and during that get-go summer that we were here, I started "Fiddle-Faddle", I didn't finish that until the post-obit winter, and "Sleigh Ride" and "Serenata". And "Sleigh Ride", I remember, was just an thought because, it was just a pictorial thing, it wasn't necessarily Christmas music, and it was written during the heat wave."

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Structure:

After the introduction which features the horns, the starting time role or "A-section" of "Sleigh Ride" starts out with the steady rhythm of sleigh bells set in B♭.  The main theme is established by Anderson with a melody that can but be described as cheerful.

The 2nd part or "B-department" changes from B♭ to G.  Temple blocks create the audio of the horse's hooves through this middle office, which was the music Anderson originally came up with in the summertime of 1946.  Realizing that information technology was not potent enough to serve every bit a beginning, Anderson made this the centre function to "Sleigh Ride" and created the stronger melodic themes that "bracket" the middle section.  The eye section is where the whipcrack is introduced.

Next Anderson repeats the theme of the first office or "A-section" and introduces a signature "jazz chemical element" featuring the trumpets and trombones.  Trombonists who have played in a schoolhouse football "pep" band recognize Anderson'due south nod at about "two:twoscore" to his days arranging for the Harvard Band.

The whipcrack and equus caballus whinny bring the piece to an end.  While some orchestral versions omit the whipcrack, possibly because their percussionist does non have i, the horse whinny has go a technique that every educatee of the trumpet must learn.  The horse whinny is also occasionally omitted in some performances and recordings which suffer from the omission.

Every bit many times as "Sleigh Ride" is performed, audiences never tire of it.  After they receive the downbeat to start together, almost orchestras can play "Sleigh Ride" perfectly without a usher.

Lyrics

Information technology was suggested to Leroy that a lyricist be hired to write lyrics for "Sleigh Ride".  The thought was that lyrics would help to brand the piece more popular.  Mitchell Parish had written the lyrics for "Stardust" and other songs.  He had a reputation for existence able to write very skilful lyrics for an existing composition.  Commonly a lyricist would collaborate with the composer and oft would choose the title.  Non in this case.

Leroy was impressed with Mitchell Parish and was satisfied that the lyrics that Parish had written were good.  Parish wrote lyrics to numerous other Anderson compositions. The two men became friends in the process.  Parish's lyrics certainly contributed to the popularity of "Sleigh Ride".  The vocal version has always been much more pop than the instrumental version.  Notation that Sleigh Ride is not just a vocal.  At that place is much more to Sleigh Ride than a strong melody, sleigh bells, whip cracks and a horse whinny.  It is a sophisticated limerick which is based on classical musical forms.

Sleigh Ride Copyright:

  Copyright to Sleigh Ride (instrumental / 1948) and other music past Leroy Anderson was assigned to Woodbury Music Company LLC in the Extended Renewal Term.   Copyright to Sleigh Ride (vocal / 1950) is held equally by Woodbury Music Visitor LLC (ASCAP) and Sony Music Publishing (ASCAP) in the Extended Renewal Term.

Comparison betwixt the original symphonic score and all vocal versions

 The differences between the original instrumental version and all song versions are significant.  Leroy Anderson scored "Sleigh Ride" for full orchestra.  The complication of the original composition does non exit room for lyrics.  There is "too much music".  In vocal versions, the vocalization(s) sing the melody.  Rather than having the vocalist compete with the string instruments, their role is diminished in vocal editions.  One time you lot arrange "Sleigh Ride" for fewer instruments, the composition becomes even more than simplistic in structure.  You may yet dearest the piece, but the listening experience is not at all the same.  The result is that all song versions of "Sleigh Ride" are musically simplistic

The same is truthful of arrangements for smaller ensembles, no matter how well scored or well performed they may exist.  "Sleigh Ride" has been bundled for band, marching ring, concert band, jazz ensemble, piano, piano duet, organ, string quartet, dance orchestra, brass quintet, tuba quartet, handbell choir, flute choir, accordion, ukulele choir, and percussion ensemble, and more,

Translations of Sleigh Ride lyrics

Lyrics were deputed past Mills Music to be written in French ("Promenade en traîneau"), Spanish ("Passeo en trineo"), Italian ("Corsa in slitta"), Dutch ("Slee Rit"), Swedish ("Slädfärd på två"), Norwegian ("Sledtur"), Finnish ("Rekiretki") and Estonian ("Saanisõit").  Since then even more sets of lyrics have been written in Swedish, Finnish and Italian which are not always "literal" translations but which demonstrate respectfully and tastefully the incredible versatility of the composition.

Significant recording

Leroy Anderson conducted a studio orchestra in his May 26, 1959 Stereo recording of "Sleigh Ride" for Decca Records.  53 musicians, many of whom were the Principals of their respective orchestra sections, came to perform for the recording.  They were chosen from the New York Philharmonic, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the NBC Symphony, the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Goldman Band and the Beaux Arts Trio.

The studio orchestra included 18 violins, 6 violas, 5 celli, ii basses, two flutes, ane piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, iii trombones, and three drummers.  These superb musicians assembled to create the recording of "Sleigh Ride" confronting which all other recordings are compared.  Decca Records (US) was caused by MCA (Music Corporation of America) which is now office of UMG (Universal Music Publishing Group).  This 1959 Decca recording can exist heard on the MCA disc titled "The Best of Leroy Anderson: Sleigh Ride" (MCAD-11710].

Popularity:

ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, named Sleigh Ride the about popular piece of Christmas music in the USA in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 [Sleigh-Ride-is-About-Popular-Holiday-Song-2012.pdf], 2015 [Sleigh-Ride-is-Most-Popular-Holiday-Song-2015.pdf] and again in 2021. [The Top 25 ASCAP Holiday Songs of 2021.pdf].

Leroy Anderson's original recording of "Sleigh Ride" was the version about often played in 2010 based on performance data tracked past airplay monitoring service, Mediaguide, from over two,500 radio stations nationwide.  "Sleigh Ride" was aired 174,758 times in 2010, making information technology the near-played holiday song on radio for the second year in a row.  "Sleigh Ride" was played 118,918 times during the same fourth dimension catamenia in 2009.

74 years afterwards Leroy Anderson created Sleigh Ride (1948), the composition is withal ranked as ane of the 10 most popular pieces of Christmas music worldwide.  This is in spite of the fact that the discussion "Christmas" is never mentioned in the lyrics which Mitchell Parish wrote 2 years later on Anderson finished the composition.

Worldwide Recordings of Sleigh Ride of all Musical Styles:

Over 8,000 (viii thousand) individual recordings of Sleigh Ride have been fabricated worldwide in all styles of music since 1948.^{world wide web.discogs.com}

Notable Classical Recordings:

Boston Pops Orchestra	Arthur Fiedler	1949	Naxos 8120649
Pops Concert Orchestra	Leroy Anderson	1950	Decca
Boston Pops Orchestra	Arthur Fiedler	1952	RCA Victor Red Seal 7" 45rpm #ERA-63
Eastman-Rochester Pops	Frederick Fennell	1956	Mercury 432013
Pops Concert Orchestra	Leroy Anderson	1959	Decca "The All-time of Leroy Anderson: Sleigh Ride" (MCAD-11710]
Boston Pops Orchestra	Arthur Fiedler	1959	RCA 144665, RCA 61237, RCA 61685, RCA 6428 (1990)
New York Philharmonic	Skitch Henderson	1962	Columbia MS6381
Utah Symphony Orchestra	Maurice Abravanel	1967	Vanguard 1043
Philadelphia Orchestra	Eugene Ormandy	1972	RCA 38128
Boston Pops Orchestra	Arthur Fiedler	1976	DG 419414
Rochester Pops Orchestra	Erich Kunzel	1986	Pro Arte 454
Cincinnati Pops Orchestra	Erich Kunzel	1990	Telarc 80226
Boston Pops Orchestra	John Williams	1992	Sony 48232
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra	Leonard Slatkin	1995	RCA 68048
Lahti Symphony Orchestra	Osmo Vänskä	1998	BIS CD 947
Dallas Symphony Orchestra	Andrew Litton	2000	Delos 3267
Hallé Orchestra	Carl Davis	2003	Hallé 7504
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra	Paul Mann	2003	ABC Classics 476-158
Boston Pops Orchestra	Keith Lockhart	2004	Boston Pops Recordings 2
BBC Concert Orchestra	Leonard Slatkin	2007	Naxos 8559621, Naxos 8559357
Royal Scottish National Orchestra	Christopher Bell	2010	Signum Classics 202
Imperial Philharmonic Orchestra	John Rutter	2011	Decca 1609202
Boston Pops Orchestra	Keith Lockhart	2011	BSO Classics1305
Northern Sinfonia	Simon Halsey	2012	Avie 2244
Hallé Orchestra	Mark Elder	2016	Hallé 7545
Linnekvintetten "Linnaeus Quintet" (en)	"Jul med Linnekvintetten"	2015	Swedish Society Discofil CD #1157
Salzedo Harp Duo	"Clair de Noël"	2020	Azica CD #71332
International Theatre Orchestra	Thomas Hascomb	1962	Hurrah LP #H-1011
London Variety Theatre Orchestra	Thomas Hughes	1959	Saga LP #STM 6020

Copyrights to the music of Leroy Anderson
are held by Woodbury Music Visitor LLC.
For information apropos the use
of Leroy Anderson's music,
contact the Leroy Anderson family at:
info[at]woodburymusic[dot]com.

wrightmuchatitily.blogspot.com

Source: http://www.leroyanderson.com/sleigh-ride.php

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