Robert Russell Bennett
Encyclopedia
Robert Russell Bennett
was an American
composer
and arranger
, best known for his orchestration of many well-known Broadway
and Hollywood musicals by other composers such as Irving Berlin
, George Gershwin
, Jerome Kern
, Cole Porter
, and Richard Rodgers
. In 1957 and 2008, Bennett received Tony Awards recognizing his orchestrations for Broadway shows. Early in his career he was often billed as Russell Bennett.
. His father, George Bennett, played violin
in the Kansas City Symphony
and trumpet
at the Grand Opera House, while his mother, May, worked as a pianist
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. By that time, he had demonstrated his aptitude for music and his remarkable ear by picking out the finale of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14
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
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
.
, 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
and harmony
until 1916, when Bennett took his savings and moved to New York City
. He eventually found a job as a copyist
with G. Schirmer
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
swept through the post in 1918. Upon his discharge several months later, he returned to New York. His relationship with Winifred Edgerton Merrill
, a society matron who had been the first woman to receive a doctorate from Columbia University
, 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
1926-1929.
.
Although Bennett would work with several of the top names on Broadway and in film including George Gershwin
, Cole Porter
, and Kurt Weill
, his collaborations with Jerome Kern
and Richard Rodgers
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." Through this, he kept his commercial arrangements simple and straightforward, with a careful ear for balance and color.
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
(1952–3). 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. Rodgers himself wrote, “I give him [the credit] without 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 massive film ballet score for Shall We Dance (1937 film), oftentimes 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 Gershwin in Hollywood.
Bennett once spoke of the most valuable lessons to be learned by any orchestrator, but these words apply equally well to his work as a composer. “The first thing you study, to become a famous music arranger, is to do without sleep…The second [is]: Learn to do without regular food.”
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
("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).
Bennett died of liver cancer
in 1981. His memory 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.” Robert Russell Bennett is also known to have mentored Broadway and concert arranger William David Brohn
; they first worked together on the 1966 Lincoln Center revival of Show Boat.
, and was edited and published later (1999) in the book The Broadway Sound ISBN 1-58046-022-4. George Ferencz, the world expert on Bennett and professor of music at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
, who edited The Broadway Sound, has also written a thoroughly researched bio-bibliography about the composer.
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 South Pacific, and the 1956 film version of The King and I.
He conducted Rodgers' "Victory at Sea" 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.
He also orchestrated the score for the original television broadcast of Rodgers and Hammerstein
's Cinderella
, in 1957.
under the supervision of conductor Fritz Reiner
, using melodies from George Gershwin
's now-celebrated opera
. 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
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
.
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.
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 Oklahoma! film, a 1962 Emmy award, television's Christopher Award
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 in 1965.
Bennett was the first president of the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers (ASMAC).
was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and arranger
Arranger
In investment banking, an arranger is a provider of funds in the syndication of a debt. They are entitled to syndicate the loan or bond issue, and may be referred to as the "lead underwriter". This is because this entity bears the risk of being able to sell the underlying securities/debt or the...
, best known for his orchestration of many well-known Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
and Hollywood musicals by other composers such as Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
, George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
, Jerome Kern
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern 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 over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
, Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
, and Richard Rodgers
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...
. In 1957 and 2008, Bennett received Tony Awards recognizing his orchestrations for Broadway shows. Early in his career he was often billed as Russell Bennett.
Early life
Robert Russell Bennett was born in 1894 to a very musical family in Kansas City, MissouriKansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
. His father, George Bennett, played violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
in the Kansas City Symphony
Kansas City Symphony
The Kansas City Symphony is a United States symphony orchestra based in Kansas City, Missouri. The current music director is conductor Michael Stern. The current home of the Symphony is the Lyric Theatre, located in Downtown Kansas City on 11th Street between Wyandotte and Central Streets...
and trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
at the Grand Opera House, while his mother, May, worked as a pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
and teacher. She taught Bennett piano, while his father taught him violin and trumpet.
The Bennett family moved to a farm in Freeman, Missouri
Freeman, Missouri
Freeman is a city in Cass County, Missouri, United States. The population was 521 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Freeman is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land....
, when Bennett was four, to speed his recovery from polio. By that time, he had demonstrated his aptitude for music and his remarkable ear by picking out the finale of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14
Piano Sonata No. 14 (Beethoven)
The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor "Quasi una fantasia", Op. 27, No. 2, by Ludwig van Beethoven, popularly known as the Moonlight Sonata , was completed in 1801...
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
Ragtime is an original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published...
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
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
.
Early career
After completing his secondary educationSecondary education
Secondary education is the stage of education following primary education. Secondary education includes the final stage of compulsory education and in many countries it is entirely compulsory. The next stage of education is usually college or university...
, 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
Counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
and harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
until 1916, when Bennett took his savings and moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He eventually found a job as a copyist
Copyist
A copyist is a person who makes written copies. In ancient times, a scrivener was also called a calligraphus . The term's modern use is almost entirely confined to music copyists, who are employed by the music industry to produce neat copies from a composer or arranger's manuscript.-Music...
with G. Schirmer
G. Schirmer
G. Schirmer Inc. is an American classical music publishing company based in New York City, founded in 1861. It publishes sheet music for sale and rental, and represents some well-known European music publishers in North America, such as the Italian Ricordi, Music Sales Affiliates ChesterNovello,...
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
Draft board
Draft Board was a part of the Selective Service Act which registered and selected men of military age for conscription in the United States-Local 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
Camp Funston
Camp Funston is located on Fort Riley, and is located southwest of Manhattan, Kansas. The camp was named for Brigadier General Frederick Funston . Camp Funston was one of sixteen Divisional Cantonment Training Camps established at the outbreak of World War I...
, Kansas. He valiantly attempted to improve the “disgraceful” musical standards of the unit, but found his efforts thwarted when the Spanish flu
Spanish flu
The 1918 flu pandemic was an influenza pandemic, and the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus . It was an unusually severe and deadly pandemic that spread across the world. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin...
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 Merrill
Winifred Edgerton, was born in Ripon, Wisconsin, was the first American woman to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics. She earned her B.A. degree from Wellesley College in 1883. She attended Columbia University in New York after a short stay at Harvard...
, a society matron who had been the first woman to receive a doctorate from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, 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
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
in Paris with Nadia Boulanger
Nadia Boulanger
Nadia Boulanger was a French composer, conductor and teacher who taught many composers and performers of the 20th century.From a musical family, she achieved early honours as a student at the Paris Conservatoire, but believing that her talent as a composer was inferior to that of her younger...
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 Jerome KernJerome Kern
Jerome David Kern 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 over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
.
Although Bennett would work with several of the top names on Broadway and in film including George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
, Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
, and Kurt Weill
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
, his collaborations with Jerome Kern
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern 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 over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
and Richard Rodgers
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...
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." Through this, he kept his commercial arrangements simple and straightforward, with a careful ear for balance and color.
With Jerome Kern
Kern's working relationship with Bennett serves as a clear illustration of this point. For example, when orchestrating Show Boat
Show Boat
Show Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...
, 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!
Oklahoma!
Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
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
Victory at Sea is a documentary television series about naval warfare during World War II that was originally broadcast by NBC in the USA in 1952–1953. It was condensed into a film in 1954. The music soundtrack, by Richard Rodgers and Robert Russell Bennett, was re-recorded and sold as record albums...
(1952–3). 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. Rodgers himself wrote, “I give him [the credit] without 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 massive film ballet score for Shall We Dance (1937 film), oftentimes 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
Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture
Arranged by Gershwin's good friend and sometimes assistant Robert Russell Bennett in 1942, Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture includes most of the best-known songs from the Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess, although not exactly in the order of their appearance...
and Gershwin in Hollywood.
Bennett once spoke of the most valuable lessons to be learned by any orchestrator, but these words apply equally well to his work as a composer. “The first thing you study, to become a famous music arranger, is to do without sleep…The second [is]: Learn to do without regular food.”
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 EnsembleEastman Wind Ensemble
The Eastman Wind Ensemble is an American concert band founded by Frederick Fennell at the Eastman School of Music in 1952. It is often credited with helping popularize wind music. Through the group, Fennell redefined wind ensemble to refer to a specific kind of wind band with only one player per...
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
1939 New York World's Fair
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people...
, CBS radio
CBS Radio
CBS Radio, Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, third behind main rival Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media. CBS Radio owns around 130 radio stations across the country...
("Hollywood" for orchestra), and the League of Composers
League of Composers
The League of Composers/International Society for Contemporary Music is a society whose stated mission is "to produce the highest quality performances of new music, to champion American composers in the United States and abroad, and to introduce American audiences to the best new music from around...
("Mademoiselle" for the Goldman Band
Goldman Band
The Goldman Band was formed by American musician and composer Edwin Franko Goldman in 1918 from the earlier New York Military Band. Goldman had organized the New York Military Band in 1911...
) 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 church in Florida, for which he accepted only a modest fee.Bennett died of liver cancer
Liver cancer
Liver tumors or hepatic tumors are tumors or growths on or in the liver . Several distinct types of tumors can develop in the liver because the liver is made up of various cell types. These growths can be benign or malignant...
in 1981. His memory 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
Robert Shaw (conductor)
Robert Shaw was an American conductor most famous for his work with his namesake Chorale, with the Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Shaw received 14 Grammy awards, four ASCAP awards for service to contemporary music, the first Guggenheim Fellowship...
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.” Robert Russell Bennett is also known to have mentored Broadway and concert arranger William David Brohn
William David Brohn
William David Brohn is an American arranger and orchestrator, best known for his theatre scores of musicals such as Miss Saigon, Ragtime and Wicked...
; they first worked together on the 1966 Lincoln Center revival of Show Boat.
Books
Bennett's book Instrumentally Speaking was published in 1975 by Belwin-Mills, but is now out of print. His autobiography, Nor Is Not Moved—A Music Arranger's Story, was nearly complete at the time of his death in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and was edited and published later (1999) in the book The Broadway Sound ISBN 1-58046-022-4. George Ferencz, the world expert on Bennett and professor of music at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
The University of Wisconsin–Whitewater is part of the University of Wisconsin System, located in Whitewater, Wisconsin. It became Wisconsin's second public college on April 21, 1868 when it opened its doors to 39 students taught by nine faculty members...
, who edited The Broadway Sound, has also written a thoroughly researched bio-bibliography about the composer.
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 for a “demo” LP)
- Antique Suite for Clarinet and Orchestra (1941; dedicated to Benny Goodman)
- Charleston Rhapsody [small orchestra] (1926, rev. 1933)
- Classic Serenade for Strings [Portraits of Three Friends] (1941)
- A Commemoration Symphony: Stephen Collins Foster [SATB 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 [Sketches from an American Theatre] (1932)
- Concert Variations on a Crooner’s Theme [violin and orchestra] (1949)
- A Dry Weather Legend [flute and orchestra] (1946)
- An Early American Ballade on Melodies of Stephen Foster [small orchestra] (1932)
- Eight Etudes For Symphony Orchestra (1938)
- “The Four Freedoms”—A Symphony after Four Paintings by Norman Rockwell (1943)
- Hollywood [Introduction and Scherzo] (1936)
- Kansas City Album [Seven Songs for Orchestra] (1949)
- March for Two Pianos and Orchestra (1930)
- Nocturne and Appassionata [piano and orchestra] (1941)
- Orchestral Fragments from the American Opera “Maria Malibran” (1934)
- Overture To An Imaginary Drama [dedicated to Fritz Mahler] (1946)
- Overture to the Mississippi (1950)
- Paysage [Landscape] (1927 or 1928)
- Piano Concerto in B Minor (1947)
- Sights and Sounds [an Orchestral Entertainment] (1929)
- Six Variations in Fox-Trot Time on a Theme by Jerome Kern [chamber orchestra] (1933)
- Suite of Old American Dances (1950 orchestration of his 1949 original for concert band)
- Symphony [#1] (1926)
- Symphony [dedicated 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 [pantomime ballet w/theater orchestra] (1916)
- Crystal [opera] (1972)
- The Enchanted Kiss [opera] (1944 or 1945)
- Endimion [operetta-ballet] (1926 or 1927)
- Hold Your Horses [musical comedy; words and music by Russell Bennett, Robert A. Simon and Owen Murphy] (1933)
- An Hour of Delusion [one-act opera] (1928)
- Maria Malibran [opera; libretto by Robert A. Simon] (1934)
- Princess CharmingPrincess CharmingPrincess Charming is a Filipino television drama series aired on GMA Network from January 29, 2007 to April 27, 2007 and was part of GMA’s afternoon programming block called Drama Rama sa Hapon.. The series was directed by Argel Joseph...
[musical 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 [play by Edwin Justus Mayer; music by Bennett and Maurice Nitke] (1924)
- Hamlet [starring John Barrymore] (1922)
- Macbeth [starring Lionel Barrymore] (1921)
- Rome and Juliet [starring Ethel Barrymore] (1922)
Concert Band or Wind Orchestra
- Autobiography [Part One, Part Two] (1976 or 1977)
- Christmas Overture (1980 or 1981)
- Concerto Grosso for Wind Quintet and Wind Orchestra (1957)
- Fanfare for the American Wind Symphony (1981)
- Fountain Lake Fanfare [March] (1939; for the New York World’s Fair)
- Four Preludes for Band (1974)
- Mademoiselle (1952)
- Ohio River Suite (1959)
- Overture to Ty, Tris and Willie (1961)
- Rose Variations [cornet/trumpet and band] (1955)
- Suite of Old American Dances (1949)
- Symphonic Songs for Band (1957)
- 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 [narrator 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”) [20 etudes in miniature, from the 20 arrondissements of Paris] (1929)
Broadway arrangements and orchestrations (a selection)
- Friml, Hammerstein and Harbach: Rose-MarieRose-MarieRose-Marie is an operetta-style musical with music by Rudolf Friml and Herbert Stothart, and book and lyrics by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II. The story takes place in the Canadian Rockies and concerns Rose-Marie La Flemme, a French Canadian girl who loves miner Jim Kenyon...
(1924) - Gershwin: Oh, Kay!Oh, Kay!Oh, Kay! is a musical with music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and a book by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse. It is based on the play La Presidente by Maurice Hanniquin and Pierre Veber. The plot revolves around the adventures of the Duke of Durham and his sister, Lady Kay, English...
(1926) - Kern and Hammerstein: Show BoatShow BoatShow Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...
(1927) (new orchestrations 1946 and 1966) - Gershwin: Girl CrazyGirl CrazyGirl Crazy is a 1930 musical with music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and book by Guy Bolton and John McGowan. Ethel Merman made her stage debut in this musical production....
(1930) - Gershwin: Of Thee I SingOf Thee I SingOf Thee I Sing is a musical with a score by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and a book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind. The musical lampoons American politics; the story concerns John P. Wintergreen, who runs for President of the United States on the "love" platform...
(1931) - Kern and Harbach: The Cat and the Fiddle (1931) (shared with Jerome Kern, who, as always was credited for the music, but not for the orchestrations)
- Kern and Hammerstein: Music in the AirMusic in the AirMusic in the Air is a musical written by Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern . It introduced songs such as "The Song Is You", "In Egern on the Tegern See" and "I've Told Ev'ry Little Star"...
(1932) - Porter: Anything GoesAnything GoesAnything Goes is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, heavily revised by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap antics aboard an ocean liner bound from New York to London...
(1934)(with Hans Spialek) - Porter: JubileeJubilee (musical)Jubilee is a musical comedy with a book by Moss Hart and music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It premiered on Broadway in 1935 to rapturous reviews. Inspired by the recent silver jubilee of King George V of Great Britain, the story is of the royal family of a fictional European country...
(1935) - Rodgers and Hammerstein: Oklahoma!Oklahoma!Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
(1943) - Bizet, Hammerstein: Carmen JonesCarmen JonesCarmen Jones is a 1943 Broadway musical starring Muriel Smith in the title role, later made into a 1954 musical film; the play also ran for a season in 1991 at London's Old Vic and most recently in London's Royal Festival Hall in the Southbank Centre in 2007. It is an updating of the Georges Bizet...
(1943) (shared with Georges BizetGeorges BizetGeorges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
, composer of the 1875 opera Carmen) - Irving Berlin: Annie Get Your GunAnnie Get Your Gun (musical)Annie Get Your Gun is a musical with lyrics and music written by Irving Berlin and a book by Herbert Fields and his sister Dorothy Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley , who was a sharpshooter from Ohio, and her husband, Frank Butler.The 1946 Broadway production...
(1946) - Harburg and Lane: Finian's RainbowFinian's RainbowFinian's Rainbow is a musical with a book by E.Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy, lyrics by Harburg, and music by Burton Lane. The 1947 Broadway production ran for 725 performances. Several revivals and a 1968 film version followed. A Broadway revival ran from October 8, 2009 until January 17, 2010...
(1947) (shared with Don WalkerDon Walker (orchestrator)Don Walker was a prolific Broadway orchestrator, who also composed music for musicals and one film and worked as a conductor in television.-Biography:...
) - Rodgers and Hammerstein: AllegroAllegro (musical)Allegro is a musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II , their third collaboration for the stage. Opening on Broadway on October 10, 1947, the musical centers on the life of Joseph Taylor, Jr.—Joe follows in the footsteps of his father as a doctor, but is tempted by fortune and fame at...
(1947) - Porter: Kiss Me, KateKiss Me, KateKiss Me, Kate is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It is structured as a play within a play, where the interior play is a musical version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The original production starred Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang.Kiss...
(1948) - Rodgers and Hammerstein: South PacificSouth Pacific (musical)South Pacific is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its...
(1949) - Rodgers and Hammerstein: The King and IThe King and IThe King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...
(1951) - Lerner and Loewe: My Fair LadyMy Fair LadyMy Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
(1956)(shared with Philip J. Lang) - Styne, Comden, and Green: Bells Are RingingBells Are Ringing (musical)Bells Are Ringing is a musical with a book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne. The story revolves around Ella, who works at an answering service and the characters that she meets there. The main character was based on Mary Printz, who worked for Green's answering...
(1956) - Rodgers and Hammerstein: Flower Drum SongFlower Drum SongFlower Drum Song was the eighth stage musical by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. It was based on the 1957 novel, The Flower Drum Song, by Chinese-American author C. Y. Lee. The piece opened in 1958 on Broadway and was afterwards presented in the West End and on tour...
(1958) - Rodgers and Hammerstein: The Sound of MusicThe Sound of MusicThe Sound of Music is a musical by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers...
(1959) - Lerner and Loewe: CamelotCamelot (musical)Camelot is a musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe . It is based on the King Arthur legend as adapted from the T. H. White tetralogy novel The Once and Future King....
(1960) (shared with Philip J. Lang) - Lerner and Lane: On a Clear Day You Can See ForeverOn a Clear Day You Can See ForeverOn a Clear Day You Can See Forever is a musical with music by Burton Lane and a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner based loosely on Berkeley Square, written in 1929 by John L. Balderston. It concerns a woman who has ESP and has been reincarnated...
(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 South Pacific, and the 1956 film version of The King and I.
He conducted Rodgers' "Victory at Sea" 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.
He also orchestrated the score for the original television broadcast of Rodgers and Hammerstein
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
's Cinderella
Cinderella (TV)
Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella is a musical written for television, with music by Richard Rodgers and a book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based upon the fairy tale Cinderella, particularly the French version Cendrillon, ou la Petite Pantoufle de Vair, by Charles Perrault...
, in 1957.
Concert Arrangements
In 1942, Bennett arranged Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic PicturePorgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture
Arranged by Gershwin's good friend and sometimes assistant Robert Russell Bennett in 1942, Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture includes most of the best-known songs from the Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess, although not exactly in the order of their appearance...
under the supervision of conductor Fritz Reiner
Fritz Reiner
Frederick Martin “Fritz” Reiner was a prominent conductor of opera and symphonic music in the twentieth century.-Biography:...
, using melodies from George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
's now-celebrated opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
. Bennett's arrangements were largely based on Gershwin's original orchestrations for the opera.
Bennett was also responsible for The Many Moods of Christmas
The Many Moods of Christmas
The Many Moods of Christmas is an album of eighteen Christmas carols conducted by Robert Shaw, grouped into four medleys. The carols were arranged for chorus and orchestra by famed Broadway orchestrator Robert Russell Bennett....
, a 1963 48-minute medley of Christmas carol
Christmas carol
A Christmas carol is a carol whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas or the winter season in general and which are traditionally sung in the period before Christmas.-History:...
s , arranged especially for the Robert Shaw Chorale
Robert Shaw Chorale
The Robert Shaw Chorale was a professional chorus founded in New York City in 1948 by Robert Shaw, a Californian who had been drafted out of college a decade earlier by Fred Waring to conduct his Glee Club in radio broadcasts...
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
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Robert Spano has been its music director since 2001...
.
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 AwardSpecial Tony Award
The Special Tony Award category includes the Lifetime Achievement Award and Special Tony Award. These are non-competitive awards, and the titles have changed over the years...
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 Oklahoma! film, a 1962 Emmy award, television's Christopher Award
Christopher Award
The Christopher Award is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, motion pictures and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit"...
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 in 1965.
Bennett was the first president of the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers (ASMAC).