Robert Sanders

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexMale
Full nameRobert Levine•Sanders
Used nameRobert•Sanders
Born2 July 1906 in Chicago, Illinois (USA)
Died26 December 1974 in Delray Beach, Florida (USA)
NOC United States

Biography

Robert Sanders was a composer, music teacher, conductor and organist. As a young boy he was trained as a pianist, as he had extremely acute hearing. At the age of nine he started composing for the Methodist Church in Chicago. 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 the local Conservatory. 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, he was head of the School of Music at the Brooklyn College.

Sanders’ 1936 entry was composed in 1934-35 under the original title 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.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1936 Summer Olympics Art Competitions USA Robert Sanders
Music, Compositions For Orchestra, Open (Olympic) AC