The contribution of Frank Saddler to the art of orchestration for the American musical theatre

Frank Saddler was the first great orchestrator for the Broadway stage. Once referred to by George Gershwin as “the father of modern arranging,” Saddler was the most sought-after orchestrator for the commercial theatre in New York from 1909 until his death in 1921. During that time, it has been documented that he scored more than sixty shows—an unprecedented accomplishment that has never been repeated—and the anecdotal record suggests that he may have been involved in creating orchestrations for many more productions. Born and raised in western Pennsylvania, Saddler learned to play several instruments at a young age and became an active performer and composer in the local Pittsburgh music scene during the 1880s. After spending four years in Munich studying composition, orchestration, and conducting, he embarked on a career as a music director for touring musical shows that lasted several years. Beginning in 1898, he settled in close proximity to New York City and devoted himself exclusively to a career as a musical arranger, at first working primarily as a freelance orchestrator for musical publishers. By 1909, he had established himself as one of the top orchestrators for musical productions on Broadway and would go on to work for many important producers, including Lew Fields, Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr., the Shuberts, Elizabeth Marbury, Charles Dillingham, and George M. Cohan. Beginning in 1912, Saddler scored almost all of Jerome Kern’s music for the stage, more than twenty shows that together laid the foundation for the musicals of the so-called Golden Age of Broadway. At the same time, he was a highly regarded musical arranger, who was entrusted with creating the musical settings and accompaniments for many of the composers he worked with, including Kern. His orchestration techniques were grounded in traditional European scoring practices while also being highly innovative, idiosyncratic, and characteristic of American musical idioms in the Ragtime Era. Along with Kern’s music, Saddler’s orchestrations were a key element in the transition of the American musical from an imported style based upon nineteenth-century European comic opera to the form of musical play that became standard on Broadway in the mid-twentieth century, from Show Boat to Oklahoma! to My Fair Lady.