Robert Russell Bennett(1894-1981)
- Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Composer, arranger, musician and conductor Robert Russell Bennett
studied piano with his mother and other instruments with his bandmaster
father, and also with Carl Busch and
Nadia Boulanger (honorary DHL, Franklin
& Marshall College and Guggenheim fellowships). He began conducting at
11, was organist at a Kansas City theatre and a violinist and violist
with string ensembles. He came to New York in 1916 and joined G.
Schirmer. In World War I he conducted army bands, and in 1922 he became
an arranger for Broadway musicals; his productions included
"Rose-Marie", "Sunny", "The Band Wagon", "Of Thee I Sing", "The Cat and
the Fiddle", "Face the Music", "Show Boat", "Oklahoma!", "Kiss Me,
Kate", "South Pacific", "The King and I", "The Sound of Music", "My
Fair Lady", and "Camelot". He was affiliated with NBC's
Project Twenty (1954) since 1954. He
joined ASCAP in 1935 and was the former president of the NAACC. His
compositions include "Abraham Lincoln, Sights and Sounds (RCA Victor
awards)", the opera "Maria Malibran", "Hollywood (on a League of
Composers commission)", "8 Etudes for Symphony Orchestra (on a CBS
commission)", "Charleston Rhapsody", "Concerto Grosso", "Stephen
Foster", "Armed Forces Salute", "Symphonic Songs for Band", "Suite of
Old American Dances", "Song Sonata for Violin, Piano", "Organ Sonata",
"Hexapoda", "4 Freedoms Symphony", "Celebration", "Symphonic Story of
Jerome Kern", "He is Risen (Emmy award)", "The Enchanted Kiss" and "An
Hour of Delusion (1-act operas)", "Suite for Band Track Meet", and
"Commemmoration Symphony".
