January 30 - Mitch Leigh; Thomas Tallis (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for January 30th are here: Johann Joachim Quantz; Thomas Tallis (2020), Johann Joachim Quantz (2021), Thomas Tallis; Harold Prince (2022), Thomas Tallis (2023), Johann Joachim Quantz (2024), and Charles Haubiel (2025)

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Mitch Leigh (30 January 1928 – 16 March 2014) was an American composer and theatrical producer,  best known for the musical Man of La Mancha.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everybody Doesn't Like Something 

He [Mitch Leigh] never apologized for working in advertising, and he did not give it up just because he had a couple of Tonys on his mantel. – NYT obituary

Mitch Leigh's television music included the commercial jingle "Nobody Doesn't Like Sara Lee," and the Benson & Hedges theme "The Dis-Advantages of You." –  adapted from Wikipedia

Mitch Leigh who composed the empowering theme

For the Man of La Mancha's "Impossible Dream,"

Was never ashamed of his gig on the side,

In fact, writing jingles had filled him with pride,

And there's art in these jingles (as heard on TV),

For Benson & Hedges, and sweet Sara Lee!

 

 

♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪  

 

Thomas Tallis (c. 1505 – 23 November 1585) was an extremely important English composer. We do not, in fact, know when he was born, but some sources cite tentative evidence pointing to 30 January, so... why not?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Man, a Plan: The Writing of "Spem in alium" 

When Thomas Tallis filled his pen to start

   Writing

His famous feast of mesmerizing part-

   Writing

He had a careful plan for off-the-chart

   Writing,

And thus avoided horse-before-the-cart

   Writing.

 

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