note the spelling Willson ... www.last.fm/music/Meredith+Willson
Born Robert Meredith Reiniger in Mason City, Iowa, Willson attended Damrosch Institute (later The Juilliard School) in New York City. A flute and piccolo player, Willson was a member of John Philip Sousa's band (1921 - 1923) and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini (1924 - 1929). Willson then moved to San Francisco, California as the concert director for KFRC, and then as a musical director for the NBC radio network in Hollywood.
His work for films included the music for Charlie Chaplin's 1940 film The Great Dictator, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. During World War II, he worked for the United States' Armed Forces Radio Service. His work with the AFRS teamed him with George Burns, Gracie Allen and Bill Goodwin. (He would work with all three as the bandleader, and a regular character, on the Burns and Allen radio program.) Returning to network radio after WWII, he created the Talking People, a choral group which spoke in unison while delivering radio commercials.
Willson's most famous work, The Music Man, premiered on Broadway in 1957 and was adapted twice for film (in 1962 and 2003). He referred to the play as "an Iowan's attempt to pay tribute to his home state." It took Willson some eight years and thirty revisions to complete the musical, for which he wrote more than forty songs. The cast recording of The Music Man won the very first Grammy award ever issued.
His second musical, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, ran on Broadway for 532 performances from 1960 to 1962 and was made into a 1964 motion picture starring Debbie Reynolds.
His third (and apparently last) musical was an adaptation of the film Miracle On 34th Street, called Here's Love! (1963).
His Symphony No. 1 In F Minor, A Symphony Of San Francisco, and Symphony No. 2 In E Minor, Missions Of California, were recorded in 1999 by William T. Stromberg conducting the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra.
Willson penned a number of very well-known songs, such as "Seventy-Six Trombones," "Gary Indiana," "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas," and even "Till There Was You," which was a hit for the Beatles in 1963. He also wrote the University of Iowa's fight song.
In general, it was recognized that Willson wrote surprisingly well-crafted, complex, and subtle music that classical music fans could appreciate, with intricate and sometimes startling counterpoint, well-crafted melody, and subtle orchestration, all while still appealing to mass audiences.
Willson and his wife lived for years in the Mandeville Canyon section of Brentwood, California. In the 1960s, Willson was fondly remembered by friends and neighbors as a warm and gregarious host who loved nothing more than to play the piano and sing at numerous parties. Willson often gave out autographed copies of his record album, Meredith Willson Sings Songs from The Music Man.
76 Trombones
Meredith Wilson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Seventy-six trombones led the big parade
With a hundred and ten cornets close at hand.
They were followed by rows and rows of the finest virtuo-
Sos, the cream of ev'ry famous band.
Seventy-six trombones caught the morning sun
With a hundred and ten cornets right behind
Springing up like weeds
There were horns of ev'ry shape and kind.
There were copper bottom tympani in horse platoons
Thundering, thundering all along the way.
Double bell euphoniums and big bassoons,
Each bassoon having it's big, fat say!
There were fifty mounted cannon in the battery
Thundering, thundering louder than before
Clarinets of ev'ry size
And trumpeters who'd improvise
A full octave higher than the score!
In Meredith Willson's song "Seventy-six Trombones," the singer Harold describes a parade with seventy-six trombones leading the way, followed by a hundred and ten cornets and rows of virtuosos. The procession also includes more than a thousand reeds and horns, such as copper bottom tympani, double bell euphoniums, and big bassoons, each making their distinct sound. The parade is also accompanied by fifty mounted cannons in the battery, thundering along the way, and clarinets of every size. The trumpeters even improvise and play a full octave higher than the score.
The song is an ode to the joy of music and the power of a marching band, capturing the excitement and grandeur of a parade. The lyrics paint a vivid picture of the instruments involved and the passion of the musicians playing them. It celebrates the beauty of music and how it can bring people together in a shared experience.
Line by Line Meaning
Seventy-six trombones led the big parade
The parade was lead by seventy-six trombones
With a hundred and ten cornets close at hand.
There were 110 cornets right behind the trombones
They were followed by rows and rows of the finest virtuosos, the cream of ev'ry famous band.
The virtuosos were of the highest quality, hailing from the best bands
Seventy-six trombones caught the morning sun
The morning sun shone brightly on the seventy-six trombones
With a hundred and ten cornets right behind
The cornets followed close behind the trombones
There were more than a thousand reeds Springing up like weeds
There were many reeds, appearing everywhere like weeds
There were horns of ev'ry shape and kind.
There were many different types of horns
There were copper bottom tympani in horse platoons Thundering, thundering all along the way.
The horse platoons had copper bottom tympani that made a deafening sound throughout the parade
Double bell euphoniums and big bassoons, Each bassoon having it's big, fat say!
Double bell euphoniums and big bassoons made an appearance, with each bassoon having its moment to shine
There were fifty mounted cannon in the battery Thundering, thundering louder than before
Fifty mounted cannons were part of the battery, and their sound grew louder as they marched on
Clarinets of ev'ry size And trumpeters who'd improvise A full octave higher than the score!
Clarinets of different sizes were played, and trumpeters improvised by playing a full octave higher than written in the score
Contributed by Eliana W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.