Robert Sanders (2)

Robert L. Sanders, was a conductor, composer and pianist who had been chairman of the music department of Brooklyn College from 1947 until his retirement in 1972, He died in Delray Beach, Florida in 1974. He was 68 years old and had homes in Delray Beach and Boothbay Harbor, Me. Dr. Sanders, who was also a professor of music, teaching theory, composition, harmony and counterpoint, had been a solo pianist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as a child. Between 1917-25, Sanders studied piano and organ, first at the Bush Conservatory in Chicago, and then at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome under Ottorino Respighi on a scholarship awarded for his second place at the Rome Prize in 1924. In his second year in Rome, 1926, he married Austrian Marie Hiebl. Sanders then studied further in Paris before returning to Chicago in 1933, where he became a lecturer, and later a professor at assistant conductor of the Chicago Civic Orchestra. He also became known as a composer, and worked as organist and conductor at the First Unitarian Church in Chicago. In 1938, he was appointed dean of the School of Music at Indiana University in Bloomington. During this time Sanders became known for teaching in composition, counterpoint, orchestral and opera music. From 1947 to 1972 he was head of the School of Music at the Brooklyn College. In 1934-35 Sanders composed Scenes of Poverty and Toil as a “choreographic suite for orchestra”. The work was compiled of sketches for a ballet, which was never performed. It premiered as That Tragic Muse, Five Impressions in 1936 by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Eric DeLamarter, to whom the work is also dedicated. For the 1936 Olympic Games it was renamed as Olympia with the subtitles: 1. Fate, 2. The agonizing struggle, 3. The defeated, 4. Relaxation and 5. March. As such, the work was premiered by the Illinois Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer in 1937. His music was released on record labels Louisville First Edition and American recording Society, both dedicated to promoting living composers.