Meredith Willson

Meredith Willson ( born May 18, 1902 in Mason City, Iowa, † June 15, 1984 in Santa Monica, California ) was an American musical composer and pop. He gained particular notoriety through his musical Music Man in 1957, to which he wrote not only the music, but also book and lyrics.

Life

Meredith Willson Robert Meredith was actually cleaner. Playing the piano he learned from his mother. He later received a professional education at New York Institute of Music Art, which became known as the Juilliard School later.

From 1921 to 1923 he was already first flutist in the John Philip Sousa - band. From 1924 to 1929 he played under Arturo Toscanini with the New York Philharmonic.

In 1929 he was musical director of the broadcasting company ABC in the subdivision north-west district, the station was called KFRC. In the early 30s he gained a certain notoriety as the music director of the NBC in San Francisco. In the late 30s he moved to Hollywood and was music director for many of the then-popular radio broadcasts.

In the 1940s he composed film music for Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator and William Wyler's The Little Foxes, for which he was nominated both times for an Academy Award. In 1941 he wrote his first hit " You and I". During the Second World War, he served as a major in the U.S. Army and was a member of the Armed Forces Radio Service.

But he experienced his greatest success in 1957 with his first musical The Music Man, to which he was inspired by the musical composer Frank Loesser. Less well known is that the Beatles' " Till There Was You " from 1963 comes from this musical.

Two later musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown from 1960 and Here 's Love 1963 failed to match the success of the Music Man.