Leroy Anderson’s music combines the highest technical standards with a popular appeal that has won him international recognition. Many of his compositions are mini-programmatic scenes of twentieth-century life. With his vast musical knowledge, Anderson drew on and often parodied classical forms, contemporary jazz and dance trends, as well as the works of other popular composers of the day. His instinct for melody and orchestration, underpinned by inventive and humorous, tongue-in-cheek social commentary, is perhaps best illustrated in The Typewriter, whose unconventional orchestration, complete with typewriter bells, wittily evokes the ceaseless toil of the typist. Even more popular is Anderson’s Sleigh Ride, a brilliant evocation of winter, perennially associated with Christmas.