:''"Arabia" and "Arabian" redirect here. For other uses, see Arabia (disambiguation) and Arab (disambiguation).'' The Arabian Peninsula ('' or جزيرة العرب ''''}}) is a land mass situated north-east of Africa. Also known as Arabia or the Arabian subcontinent, it is the world's largest peninsula and covers 3,237,500 km² (1,250,000 mi²). The area is an important part of the Asian continent and plays a critical geopolitical role of the Middle East due to its vast reserves of oil and natural gas.

Geography

The Arabian Peninsula is bounded by (clockwise) the Persian Gulf on the northeast, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman on the east, the Arabian Sea on the southeast and south, the Gulf of Aden on the south, the Bab-el-Mandeb strait on the southwest, and the Red Sea on the southwest and west. The northern portion of the peninsula merges with the Syrian Desert with no clear border line, although the northern boundary of the Arabian Peninsula is generally considered to be the northern borders of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

The most prominent feature of the peninsula is tundra, but in the southwest there are mountain ranges which receive greater rainfall than the rest of the Arabian Peninsula. Harrat ash Shaam is a large volcanic field that extends from the northwestern Arabian Peninsula into Jordan and southern Syria.

Political boundaries

The peninsula's constituent countries are (clockwise north to south) Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the east, Oman on the southeast, Yemen on the south and Saudi Arabia at the center. The island nation of Bahrain lies off the east coast of the peninsula.

Six countries of the list above, excluding Yemen, form the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), mainly known as the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia covers the greater part of the peninsula. The majority of the population of the peninsula live in Saudi Arabia and in Yemen. The peninsula contains the world's largest reserves of oil. The UAE and Saudi Arabia are economically the wealthiest in the region. Qatar, a small peninsula in the Persian Gulf on the larger peninsula, is home of the famous Arabic-language television station Al Jazeera and its English-language subsidiary Al Jazeera English. Kuwait, on the border with Iraq, is an important country strategically, forming one of the main staging grounds for coalition forces mounting the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Population

As of 2000, the estimated population of the Arabian Peninsula is 77,983,936. In the Persian Gulf states there are many residents who are non-nationals: in Saudi Arabia they are 20% of the population, and in the United Arab Emirates they are 89%.

Landscape

Geologically, this region is perhaps more appropriately called the ''Arabian subcontinent'' because it lies on a tectonic plate of its own, the Arabian Plate, which has been moving incrementally away from the rest of Africa (forming the Red Sea) and north, toward Asia, into the Eurasian plate (forming the Zagros mountains). The rocks exposed vary systematically across Arabia, with the oldest rocks exposed in the Arabian-Nubian Shield near the Red Sea, overlain by earlier sediments that become younger towards the Persian Gulf. Perhaps the best-preserved ophiolite on Earth, the Semail ophiolite, lies exposed in the mountains of the UAE and northern Oman.

The peninsula consists of: # a central plateau, the Nejd, with fertile valleys and pastures used for the grazing of sheep and other livestock. # a range of deserts: the Nefud in the north, which is stony; the Rub' Al-Khali or Great Arabian Desert in the south, with sand estimated to extend . below the surface; between them, the Dahna. # stretches of dry or marshy coastland with coral reefs on the Red Sea side (Tihamah). # ranges of mountains, paralleling the Red Sea coast on the west (e.g., Asir province) but also at the southeastern end of the peninsula (Oman). The mountains show a steady increase in altitude westward as they get nearer to Yemen, and the highest peaks and ranges are all located in Yemen. The highest, Jabal Al-Nabi Shu'ayb in Yemen, is 3666 m high.

Arabia has few lakes or permanent rivers. Most are drained by ephemeral watercourses called wadis, which are dry except during the rainy season. Plentiful ancient aquifers exist beneath much of the peninsula, however, and where this water surfaces, oases form (e.g., Al-Hasa and Qatif, two of the worlds largest oases) and permit agriculture, especially palm trees, which allowed the peninsula to produce more dates than any other region in the world. In general, the climate is extremely hot and arid, although there are exceptions. Higher elevations are made temperate by their altitude, and the Arabian Sea coastline can receive surprisingly cool, humid breezes in summer due to cold upwelling offshore. The peninsula has no thick forests, although desert-adapted wildlife is present throughout the region.

A plateau more than high extends across much of the Arabian Peninsula. The plateau slopes eastwards from the massive, rifted escarpment along the coast of the Red Sea, to the shallow waters of the Persian Gulf. The interior is characterised by ''cuestas'' and valleys, drained by a system of ''wadis''. A crescent of sand and gravel deserts lies to the east.

Land and sea

Most of the Arabian Peninsula is unsuited to agriculture, making irrigation and land reclamation projects essential.The narrow coastal plain and isolated oases, amounting to less than 1% of the land area, are used to cultivate grains, coffee and tropical fruits.Goat, sheep, and camel husbandry is widespread elsewhere throughout the rest of the Peninsula. These areas allow for large scale coconut plantations. Much of Yemen has a tropical monsoon rain influenced mountain climate. The plains usually have either a tropical or subtropical arid desert climate or arid steppe climate.The sea surrounding the Arabian Peninsula are generally tropical sea with a very rich tropical sea life and some of the world's largest, undestroyed and most pristine coral reefs. In addition, the organisms living in symbiosis with the Red Sea coral, the protozoa and zooxanthellae, have a unique hot weather adaptation to sudden rise (and fall) in sea water temperature. Hence these coral reefs are not affected by coral bleaching caused by rise in temperature as elsewhere in the indopacific coral sea. The reefs are also unaffected by mass tourism and diving or other large scale human interference. thumb|right|140px|Terraced fields in Yemen.However, some reefs where destroyed in the Persian Gulf, mostly caused by phosphate water pollution and resultant increase in algae growth as well as oil pollution from ships and pipeline leakage.

The fertile soils of Yemen have encouraged settlement of almost all of the land from sea level up to the mountains at . In the higher reaches elaborate terraces have been constructed to facilitate grain, fruit, coffee, ginger and khat cultivation.

Etymology

See also Arab (etymology).

During the Hellenistic period the area was known as ''Arabia'' or ''Aravia'' (in Greek: ''Αραβία''). The Romans named three regions with the prefix "Arabia", encompassing a larger area than the current term "Arabian Peninsula":

Arabia Petraea: for the area that is today southern modern Syria, Jordan, the Sinai Peninsula and northwestern Saudi Arabia. It was the only one that became a province, with Petra as its capital.

Arabia Deserta ("Desert Arabia"): signified the desert interior of the Arabian peninsula. As a name for the region, it remained popular into the 19th and 20th centuries, and was used in Charles M. Doughty's ''Travels in Arabia Deserta'' (1888).

Arabia Felix ("Fortunate Arabia"): was used by geographers to describe what is now modern-day Yemen, which enjoys more rainfall, is much greener than the rest of the peninsula and has long enjoyed much more productive fields.

The Arab inhabitants used a north-south division of Arabia: Al Sham-Al Yaman, or Arabia Deserta-Arabia Felix. Arabia Felix had originally been used for the whole peninsula, and at other times only for the southern region. Because its use became limited to the south, the whole peninsula was simply called Arabia. Arabia Deserta was the entire desert region extending north from Arabia Felix to Palmyra and the Euphrates, including all the area between Pelusium on the Nile and Babylon. This area was also called Arabia and not sharply distinguished from the peninsula.

The Arabs and the Ottoman Empire considered the west of the Arabian Peninsula region where the Arabs lived 'the land of the Arabs' – bilad al-Arab (Arabia or Arabistan), and its major divisions were the bilad al-Sham (Syria), bilad al-Yaman (the Land of the southern Peninsula), and Bilad al-Iraq and modern day Kuwait (the Land of the River Banks). The Ottomans used the term Arabistan in a broad sense for the subcontinent itself starting from Cilicia, where the Euphrates river makes its descent into Syria, through Palestine, and on through the remainder of the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas

''The provinces of Arabia were:'' Al Tih, the Sinai peninsula, Hedjaz, Asir, Yemen, Hadramaut, Mahra and Shilu, Oman, Hasa, Bahrian, Dahna, Nufud, the Hammad, which included the deserts of Syria, Mesopotamia and Babylonia.

History

Ancient history

The Arabian peninsula has long been accepted as the original ''Urheimat'' of the Semitic languages by a majority of scholars.

"Shamir of Dhu-Raydan and Himyar had called in the help of the clans of Habashat for against the kings of Saba; but Ilmuqah granted... the submission of Shamir of Dhu-Raydan and the clans of Habashat."

The historical importance of the Persian Sassanid port, Siraf to ancient trade is only now being realised. Discovered there in past archaeological excavations are ivory objects from east Africa, pieces of stone from India, and lapis from Afghanistan. Sirif dates back to the Parthian era.

Medieval history

The seventh century saw the introduction of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula. The Islamic prophet Muhammad established a new unified polity in the Arabian peninsula which under the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Arab power well beyond the Arabian peninsula in the form of a vast Muslim Arab Empire with an area of influence that stretched from the northwest Indian subcontinent, across Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, southern Italy, and the Iberian Peninsula, to the Pyrenees.

Muhammad began preaching Islam at Mecca before migrating to Medina, from where he united the tribes of Arabia into a singular Arab Muslim religious polity. With Muhammad's death in 632 AD, disagreement broke out over who would succeed him as leader of the Muslim community. Umar ibn al-Khattab, a prominent companion of Muhammad, nominated Abu Bakr, who was Muhammad's intimate friend and collaborator. Others added their support and Abu Bakr was made the first caliph. This choice was disputed by some of Muhammad's companions, who held that Ali ibn Abi Talib, his cousin and son-in-law, had been designated his successor. Abu Bakr's immediate task was to avenge a recent defeat by Byzantine (or Eastern Roman Empire) forces, although he first had to put down a rebellion by Arab tribes in an episode known as the Ridda wars, or "Wars of Apostasy".

His death in 634 resulted in the succession of Umar as the caliph, followed by Uthman ibn al-Affan and Ali ibn Abi Talib. These four are known as ''al-khulafā' ar-rāshidūn'' ("Rightly Guided Caliphs"). Under them, the territory under Muslim rule expanded deeply into Persian and Byzantine territories.

Modern history

The provincial Ottoman Army for Arabia (Arabistan Ordusu) was headquartered in Syria, which included Lebanon, Palestine, and the Transjordan region. It was put in charge of Syria, Cilicia, Iraq, and the remainder of the Arabian Peninsula. It is important to point out that the Ottomans never had any control over central Arabia also known as The Najd region, Oman, or Yemen.

The Damascus Protocol of 1914 provides an illustration of the regional relationships. Arabs living in one of the existing districts of the Arabian peninsula, the Emirate of Hejaz, asked for a British guarantee of independence. Their proposal included all Arab lands south of a line roughly corresponding to the northern frontiers of present-day Syria and Iraqokuwait. They envisioned a new Arab state, or confederation of states, adjoining the southern Arabian Peninsula. It would have comprised Cilicia – İskenderun and Mersin, Iraq with Kuwait, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine.

In the modern era, the term bilad al-Yaman came to refer specifically to the southwestern parts of the peninsula. Arab geographers started to refer to the whole peninsula as 'jazirat al-Arab', or the peninsula of the Arabs.

Late Ottoman rule and the Hejaz Railway

In the beginning of the 20th century, the Ottomans embarked on an ambitious project: the construction of a railway connecting Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire and the seat of the Islamic Caliphate, and Hejaz with its holiest shrines of Islam which are the yearly pilgrimage destination of the Hajj. Another important goal was to improve the economic and political integration of the distant Arabian provinces into the Ottoman state, and to facilitate the transportation of military troops in case of need.

The Hejaz Railway was a narrow gauge railway (1050 mm) that ran from Damascus to Medina, through the Hejaz region of Arabia. It was a part of the Ottoman railway network and was built in order to extend the previously existing line between Istanbul and Damascus (which began from the Haydarpaşa Terminal) all the way to the holy city of Mecca (eventually being able to reach only Medina due to the interruption of the construction works caused by the outbreak of World War I).

The railway was started in 1900 at the behest of the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II and was built largely by the Turks, with German advice and support. A public subscription was opened throughout the Islamic world to fund the construction. The railway was to be a waqf, an inalienable religious endowment or charitable trust.

The Arab Revolt and the unification of Saudi Arabia

The major developments of the early 20th century were the Arab Revolt during World War I and the subsequent collapse and partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. The Arab Revolt (1916–1918) was initiated by the Sherif Hussein ibn Ali with the aim of securing independence from the ruling Ottoman Empire and creating a single unified Arab state spanning from Aleppo in Syria to Aden in Yemen. During World War I, the Sharif Hussein entered into an alliance with the United Kingdom and France against the Ottomans in June 1916.

These events were followed by the unification of Saudi Arabia under King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud. In 1902 Ibn Saud had captured Riyadh. Continuing his conquests, Abdul Aziz subdued Al-Hasa, the rest of Nejd, and the Hejaz between 1913 and 1926, defeating the Sherif Hussein ibn Ali, and founded the modern state of Saudi Arabia. Ibn Saud was not the first Saudi ruler to control much of Arabia. The house of Saud had been ruling parts of Arabia since the 17th century AD. Two Saudi states were formed and controlled much of Arabia before Ibn Saud was even born. Ibn Saud however, established the third Saudi state.

Oil reserves

The second major development has been the discovery of vast reserves of oil in the 1930s. Its production brought great wealth to all countries of the region, with the exception of Yemen.

Civil war in Yemen

The North Yemen Civil War was fought in North Yemen between royalists of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen and factions of the Yemen Arab Republic from 1962 to 1970. The war began with a coup d'etat carried out by the republican leader, Abdullah as-Sallal, which dethroned the newly crowned Imam Al-Badr and declared Yemen a republic under his presidency. The Imam escaped to the Saudi Arabian border and rallied popular support.

The royalist side received support from Saudi Arabia, while the republicans were supported by Egypt and the Soviet Union. Both foreign irregular and conventional forces were also involved. The Egyptian President, Gamal Abdel Nasser, supported the republicans with as many as 70,000 troops. Despite several military moves and peace conferences, the war sank into a stalemate. Egypt's commitment to the war is considered to have been detrimental to its performance in the Six-Day War of June 1967, after which Nasser found it increasingly difficult to maintain his army's involvement and began to pull his forces out of Yemen.

By 1970, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia recognized the republic and a truce was signed. Egyptian military historians refer to the war in Yemen as their Vietnam.

Kuwait and the Gulf War

The British proposed a treaty with the Ottoman Empire in 1913 to establish Kuwait as an autonomous kaza. It was a district of the vilayet of Basra. The treaty was never ratified due to the outbreak of World War I. In 1990 Iraq made claims upon Kuwaiti territory, and insisted that the borders had never been properly delimited by the British in 1951.

The invasion of Kuwait by Iraq forces, led to the 1990–91 Gulf War. Egypt, Qatar, Syria and Saudi Arabia joined a multinational coalition that opposed Iraq. Displays of support for Iraq by Jordan and the Palestinians resulted in strained relations between many of the Arab states. After the war, a so-called "Damascus Declaration" formalized an alliance for future joint Arab defensive actions between Egypt, Syria, and the GCC states.

Transport and industry

The extraction and refining of oil and gas are the major industrial activities in the Arabian Peninsula. The region also has an active construction sector, with many cities reflecting the wealth generated by the oil industry. The service sector is dominated by financial and technical institutions, which, like the construction sector, mainly serve the oil industry. Traditional handicrafts such as carpet-weaving are found in rural areas.

See also

Ancient history of Yemen

Iram of the Pillars

Arab World

Araby

Arab League

European exploration of Arabia

Rub' al Khali (desert)

Arabia Deserta

Arabia Petraea

Arabia Felix

Arabian Desert and East Sahero-Arabian xeric shrublands

Mashreq

Kingdom of Aksum

References

Global Nomads – Multi-media website documenting the current perspective of living in a diverse Oil Company Expatriate Community.

External links

High resolution scan of old map of Arabia

Map showing Arabia from Mersin to Aden

Category:Geography of the Middle East Category:Geography of Western Asia Category:Peninsulas of Asia Category:Regions of Asia Category:Western Asia

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Name	Henry Mancini
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	Enrico Nicola Mancini
Born	April 16, 1924Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Died	June 14, 1994Los Angeles, California, United States
Occupation	Composer, conductor
Instrument	Piano
Genre	Film scores
Spouse	Virginia O'Connor (September 13, 1947 – June 14, 1994) (his death) 3 children }}

Henry Mancini (April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) When Mancini was 12 years old, he began piano lessons. Quinto and Henry played flute together in the Aliquippa Italian immigrant band, "Sons of Italy". After graduating from Aliquippa High School in 1942, Mancini attended the renowned Juilliard School of Music in New York. In 1943, after roughly one year at Juilliard, his studies were interrupted when he was drafted into the United States Army. In 1945, he participated in the liberation of a concentration camp in southern Germany.

Career

Newly discharged, Mancini entered the music industry. Entering 1946, he became a pianist and arranger for the very newly re-formed Glenn Miller Orchestra, led by 'Everyman'Tex Beneke. After World War II, Mancini really broadened his composition, counterpoint, harmony group music and orchestration skills during studies opening with two acclaimed "serious" concert hall composers, Ernst Krenek and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco.

In 1952, Mancini joined the Universal Pictures music department. During the next six years, he contributed music to over 100 movies, most notably ''The Creature from the Black Lagoon'', ''It Came from Outer Space'', ''Tarantula'', ''This Island Earth'', ''The Glenn Miller Story'' (for which he received his first Academy Award nomination), ''The Benny Goodman Story'' and Orson Welles' ''Touch of Evil''. During this time, he also wrote some popular songs. His first hit was a single by Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians titled ''I Won't Let You Out of My Heart''.

Mancini left Universal-International to work as an independent composer/arranger in 1958. Soon after, he scored the television series ''Peter Gunn'' for writer/producer Blake Edwards, the genesis of a relationship which lasted over 35 years and produced nearly 30 films. Together with Alex North, Elmer Bernstein, Leith Stevens and Johnny Mandel, Henry Mancini was one of the pioneers who introduced jazz music into the late romantic orchestral film and TV scores prevalent at the time.

Mancini's scores for Blake Edwards included ''Breakfast at Tiffany's'' (with the standard "Moon River") and ''Days of Wine and Roses'' (with the title song, "Days of Wine and Roses"), as well as ''Experiment in Terror'', ''The Pink Panther'' (and all of its sequels), ''The Great Race'', ''The Party'', and ''Victor Victoria''. Another director with whom Mancini had a longstanding partnership was Stanley Donen (''Charade'', ''Arabesque'', ''Two for the Road''). Mancini also composed for Howard Hawks (''Man's Favorite Sport?'', ''Hatari!'' – which included the well-known "Baby Elephant Walk"), Martin Ritt (''The Molly Maguires''), Vittorio de Sica (''Sunflower''), Norman Jewison (''Gaily, Gaily''), Paul Newman (''Sometimes a Great Notion'', ''The Glass Menagerie)'', Stanley Kramer (''Oklahoma Crude''), George Roy Hill (''The Great Waldo Pepper''), Arthur Hiller (''Silver Streak''), Ted Kotcheff (''Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?''), and others. Mancini's score for the Alfred Hitchcock film ''Frenzy'' (1972) was rejected and replaced by Ron Goodwin's work.

Mancini scored many TV movies, including ''The Thorn Birds'' and ''The Shadow Box''. He wrote many television themes, including ''Mr. Lucky'' (starring John Vivyan and Ross Martin), ''NBC Mystery Movie'', ''What's Happening!!'', ''Tic Tac Dough'' (1990 version) and ''Once Is Not Enough''. In the 1984–85 television season, four series featured original Mancini themes: ''Newhart'', ''Hotel'', ''Remington Steele'', and ''Ripley's Believe It or Not''. Mancini also composed the "Viewer Mail" theme for ''Late Night with David Letterman''. Mancini composed the theme for ''NBC Nightly News'' used beginning in 1975, and a different theme by him, titled ''Salute to the President'' was used by NBC News for its election coverage (including primaries and conventions) from 1976 to 1992. ''Salute to the President'' was only published in a school-band arrangement, although Mancini performed it frequently with symphony orchestras on his concert tours.

Songs with music by Mancini were staples of the easy-listening genre from the 60s to the 80s. Some of the artists who have recorded Mancini songs include Andy Williams, Paul Anka, Pat Boone, Anita Bryant, Jack Jones, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Connie Francis, Eydie Gorme, Steve Lawrence, Trini Lopez, George Maharis, Johnny Mathis, Jerry Vale, Ray Conniff, The Lennon Sisters, The Lettermen, Herb Alpert, Eddie Cano, Frank Chacksfield, Warren Covington, Percy Faith, Ferrante & Teicher, Horst Jankowski, Andre Kostelanetz, Peter Nero, Liberace, Mantovani, Tony Bennett, Julie London, Wayne Newton, Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra, Peggy Lee, Al Martino, Jim Nabors, and Matt Monro. Lawrence Welk held Mancini in very high regard, and frequently featured Mancini's music on ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' (Mancini, at least once, made a guest appearance on the show).

Mancini recorded over 90 albums, in styles ranging from big band to light classical to pop. Eight of these albums were certified gold by The Recording Industry Association of America. He had a 20 year contract with RCA Records, resulting in 60 commercial record albums that made him a household name artists of easy-listening music. Mancini's earliest recordings in the 1950s and early 1960s were of the jazz idiom; with the success of ''Peter Gunn'', ''Mr. Lucky'', and ''Breakfast at Tiffany's'', Mancini shifted to primarily recording his own music in record albums and film soundtracks. (Although relatively little of his music was written for recordings compared to the amount that was written for film and television.) Beginning with his 1969 hit ''A Time for Us'' (Love Theme from ''Romeo and Juliet'') and its accompanying album ''A Warm Shade of Ivory'', Mancini began to function more as a piano soloist and easy-listening artist primarily recording music written by other people. In this period, for two of his best-selling albums he was joined by trumpet virtuoso and ''Tonight Show'' bandleader Doc Severinsen.

Mancini's range also extended to orchestral scores (''Lifeforce'', ''The Great Mouse Detective'', ''Sunflower'', ''Tom and Jerry: The Movie'', ''Molly Maguires'', ''The Hawaiians''), and darker themes (''Experiment in Terror'', ''The White Dawn'', ''Wait Until Dark'', ''The Night Visitor'').

Mancini was also a concert performer, conducting over fifty engagements per year, resulting in over 600 symphony performances during his lifetime. He conducted nearly all of the leading symphonies of the world, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. One of his favorites was the Minnesota Orchestra, where he debuted the ''Thorn Birds Suite'' in June 1983. He appeared in 1966, 1980 and 1984 in command performances for the British Royal Family. He also toured several times with Johnny Mathis and also with Andy Williams, who had each sung many of Mancini's songs; Mathis and Mancini collaborated on the 1986 album ''The Hollywood Musicals''.

Cameos

Mancini had occasional experience with cameo and voice roles.

Shortly before his death in 1994, he made a one-off cameo appearance in the first season of the sitcom series ''Frasier'', as a call-in patient to Dr. Frasier Crane's radio show. Mancini voiced the character Al, who speaks with a melancholy drawl and hates the sound of his own voice, in the episode "Guess Who's Coming to Breakfast?"

Mancini also had an uncredited performance as a pianist in the 1967 movie ''Gunn'', the movie version of the series ''Peter Gunn'', the score of which was originally composed by Mancini himself.

In the 1966 Pink Panther cartoon ''Pink, Plunk, Plink'', the panther commandeered an orchestra and proceeded to conduct Mancini's theme for the series. At the end, the shot switched to rare live action, and Mancini was seen alone applauding in the audience.

Death and legacy

Mancini died of pancreatic cancer in Los Angeles on June 14, 1994. He was working at the time on the Broadway stage version of ''Victor/Victoria'', which he never saw on stage. Mancini was survived by his wife of 43 years, singer Virginia "Ginny" O'Connor, with whom he had three children. They had met while both were members of the Tex Beneke orchestra, just after World War II. In 1948, Ginny was one of the founders of the Society of Singers, a non-profit organization which benefits the health and welfare of professional singers worldwide. Additionally the Society awards scholarships to students pursuing an education in the vocal arts. One of Mancini's twin daughters, Monica Mancini, is a professional singer; her sister Felice runs The Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation (MHOF). His son Christopher is a music publisher and promoter in Los Angeles.

In 1996, the Henry Mancini Institute, an academy for young music professionals, was founded by Jack Elliott in Mancini's honor, and was later under the direction of composer-conductor Patrick Williams. By the mid 2000s, however, the institute could not sustain itself and closed its doors on December 30, 2006. However, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Foundation "Henry Mancini Music Scholarship" has been awarded annually since 2001. While still alive, Henry created a scholarship at UCLA and the bulk of his library and works are archived in the highly esteemed music library at UCLA.

In 2005, the Henry Mancini Arts Academy was opened as a division of the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center. The Center is located in Midland, Pennsylvania, minutes away from Mancini's hometown of Aliquippa. The Henry Mancini Arts Academy is an evening-and-weekend performing arts program for children from pre-K to grade 12, with some classes also available for adults. The program includes dance, voice, musical theater, and instrumental lessons.

The American Film Institute ranked Mancini's score for ''The Pink Panther'' No. 20 on their list of the greatest film scores. His scores for the following films were also nominated for the list:

''Breakfast at Tiffany's'' (1961)

''Charade'' (1963)

''Hatari!'' (1962)

''Touch of Evil'' (1958)

''Wait Until Dark'' (1967)

Awards

Mancini was nominated for an unprecedented 72 Grammys, winning 20. Additionally he was nominated for 18 Academy Awards, winning four. He also won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for two Emmys.

Mancini won a total of four Oscars for his music in the course of his career. He was first nominated for an Academy Award in 1955 for his original score of ''The Glenn Miller Story'', on which he collaborated with Joseph Gershenson. He lost out to Adolph Deutsch and Saul Chaplin's ''Seven Brides for Seven Brothers''. In 1962, he was nominated in the Best Music, Original Song category for "Bachelor in Paradise" from the film of the same name, in collaboration with lyricist Mack David. That song did not win. However, Mancini did receive two Oscars that year: one in the same category, for the song "Moon River" (shared with lyricist Johnny Mercer), and one for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for ''Breakfast at Tiffany's''. The following year, he and Mercer took another Best Song award for "Days of Wine and Roses", another eponymous theme song. His next eleven nominations went for naught, but he finally garnered one last statuette working with lyricist Leslie Bricusse on the score for ''Victor Victoria'', which won the "Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score" award for 1983. All three of the films for which he won were directed by Blake Edwards. His score for ''Victor/Victoria'' was adapted for the 1995 Broadway musical of the same name.

On April 13, 2004, the United States Postal Service honored Mancini with a 37 cent commemorative stamp. The stamp shows Mancini conducting with a list of some of his most famous movies and TV show themes in the background. The stamp is Scott catalog number 3839.

Discography

Hit singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions
		!style="width:4em;font-size:85%;"	!style="width:4em;font-size:85%;"	!style="width:4em;font-size:85%;"	!style="width:4em;font-size:85%;"
1960		21	—	—	—
		90	—	—	—
	11	1	—	44
1962		95	—	—	—
		33	10	—	—
	93	—	—	—
	36	15	—	—
		31	10	—	—
	97	—	—	—
	77	14	—	—
	—	—	—	10
		117	23	—	—
	—	27	—	—
1966		—	6	—	—
		—	17	—	—
	—	4	—	—
		—	21	—	—
	—	36	—	—
		1	1	—	—
	87	15	—	—
	—	39	—	—
		115	17	—	—
	—	26	—	—
		13	2	—	—
	—	14	—	42
		—	38	—	—
	117	—	2	—
1973		—	38	—	—
1974		—	21	—	—
1975		—	45	—	—
		—	40	—	—
	—	38	—	—
1977		45	22	—	—
1980		101	—	—	—
1984		—	—	—	23

Albums

''The Versatile Henry Mancini'', Liberty LRP 3121

''The Mancini Touch'', RCA Victor LSP 2101

''The Blues & the Beat'', RCA Victor LSP-2147

''Mr. Lucky Goes Latin'', RCA Victor LSP-2360

''Our Man in Hollywood'', RCA Victor LSP-2604

''Uniquely Mancini'', RCA Victor LSP-2692

''The Best of Mancini'', RCA Victor LSP-2693

''Mancini Plays Mancini'', RCA Camden CAS-2158

''Everybody's Favorite'', RCA Camden CXS-9034

''Concert Sound of Henry Mancini'', RCA Victor LSP-2897

''Dear Heart and Other Songs'', RCA Victor LSP-2990

''Theme Scene'', RCA Victor LSP-3052

''Debut Conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra'', RCA Victor LSP-3106

''The Best of Vol. 3'', RCA Victor LSP-3347

''The Latin Sound of Henry Mancini'', RCA Victor LSP-3356

''A Merry Mancini Christmas'', RCA Victor LSP-3612

''Pure Gold'', RCA Victor LSP-3667

''Mancini Country'', RCA Victor LSP-3668

''Mancini '67'', RCA Victor LSP-3694

''Music of Hawaii'', RCA Victor LSP-3713

''Brass on Ivory'', RCA Victor LSP-3756

''A Warm Shade of Ivory'', RCA Victor LSP-3757

''Big Latin Band'', RCA Victor LSP-4049

''Six Hours Past Sunset'', RCA Victor LSP-4239

''Theme music from Z & Other Film Music'', RCA Victor LSP-4350

''Big Screen-Little Screen'', RCA Victor LSP-4630

''This Is Henry Mancini'', RCA Victor VPS6029

''Music from the TV Series "The Mancini Generation"'', RCA Victor LSP-4689

''Brass, Ivory & Strings'' (with Doc Severinsen), RCA APL1-0098

''The Theme Scene'', RCA AQLI-3052

''Country Gentleman'', RCA APD1-0270 (Quadraphonic)

''Hangin' Out'', RCA CPL1-0672

''Symphonic Soul'', RCA APD1-1025 (Quadraphonic)

''Mancini's Angels'', RCA CPL1-2290

(with Johnny Mathis), ''The Hollywood Musicals'', Columbia FC 40372

''The Pink Panther Meets Speedy Gonzales'', Koch Schwann CD

''The Legendary Henry Mancini'', BMG Australia 3 CD set

Soundtracks

Many of Mancini's "soundtracks" are actually "Music from ...", which allowed him to arrange the music to be more accessible and to release records without the expense of paying studio orchestra fees.

''The Music from Peter Gunn'', RCA Victor LSP 1956

''More Music from Peter Gunn'', RCA Victor LSP 2040

''Music from Mr. Lucky'', RCA Victor LSP 2198

''Bachelor in Paradise'', Film Score Monthly FSMCD vol. 7 Nr. 18

''Breakfast at Tiffany's: Music from the Motion Picture'', RCA Victor LSP-2362

''A Change of Seasons''

''Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation'', Intrada special collection vol. 11

''Experiment in Terror'', RCA Victor LSP-2442

''Hatari!'', RCA Victor LSP-2559

''Charade'', RCA Victor LSP-2755

''The Pink Panther'', RCA Victor LSP 2795

''The Great Race'', RCA Victor LSP-3402

''Arabesque'', RCA Victor LSP-3623

''What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?'', RCA Victor LSP-3648

''Two for the Road'', RCA Victor LSP-3802

''Gunn'', RCA Victor LSP-3840

''The Party'', RCA Victor LSP-3997

''Me, Natalie'', Columbia OS 3350

''Visions of Eight'', RCA Victor ABL1-0231

''The Great Waldo Pepper'', MCA 2085

''Darling Lili'', RCA LSPX 1000

''Gaily, Gaily'', UAS 5202

''The Glass Menagerie'', MCA MCAD 6222

''The Great Mouse Detective'', Varèse Sarabande VSD 5359

''The Hawaiians'', UAS 5210

''Lifeforce'', BSXCD 8844

''The Molly Maguires'', Bay Cities BCD 3029

''Nightwing''

''Oklahoma Crude'', RCA APL1 0271

''The Pink Panther Strikes Again'', UA-LA 694

''Revenge of the Pink Panther'', EMI 791113-2

''Santa Claus: The Movie'', EMI SJ 17177

''Silver Streak'', Intrada special collection vol. 5

''Sometimes a Great Notion'', Decca DL 79185

''Son of the Pink Panther'', Milan 21-16461-2

''Sunflower'', SLC SLCS 7035

''The Thief Who Came to Dinner'', WB BS 2700

''The Thorn Birds'', Varèse Sarabande 30206 65642 8

''Tom and Jerry – The Movie'', MCA MCD 10721

''Touch of Evil'', Movie Sound MSCD 401

''Victor Victoria'', GNP Crescendo GNPD 8038

''W.C. Fields and Me'', MCA 2092

''Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?'', Epic SE 35692

''Without a Clue''

Filmography

''Breakfast at Tiffany's

''Days of Wine and Roses

''The Pink Panther

''Charade Universal Studios

''A Shot in the Dark

''Frenzy (Rejected Score)

''The White Dawn

''The Return of the Pink Panther

''The Pink Panther Strikes Again

''Revenge of the Pink Panther

''Victor Victoria

''Trail of the Pink Panther

''Curse of the Pink Panther

''The Great Mouse Detective'' – Walt Disney Pictures

''Ghost Dad'' – Universal Studios

''Tom and Jerry: The Movie'' – Turner Pictures

''Son of the Pink Panther

''Blind Date (1987 film)

Bibliography

Mancini, Henry: ''Sounds And Scores: a practical guide to professional orchestration'' (Book on orchestration of popular music, 1962)

Mancini, Henry: ''Did they mention the music?'' (Autobiography, with Gene Lees, 1989)

Thomas, Tony: ''Music For The Movies'' (1973)

Thomas, Tony: ''Film Score'' (1979)

Larson, Randall: 'Henry Mancini: On Scoring Lifeforce and Santa Claus' (interview)(in: ''CinemaScore'', #15, 1987)

Büdinger, Matthias: 'An interview with Henry Mancini' (in: ''Soundtrack'', vol. 7, No. 26, 1988)

Büdinger, Matthias: 'Henry Mancini' (in: ''Soundtrack'', vol. 13, No. 50, 1994)

Büdinger, Matthias: 'Henry Mancini remembered' (in: ''Soundtrack'', vol. 13, No. 51)

Büdinger, Matthias: 'Whistling Away The Dark' In: ''Film Score Monthly'', # 45, p. 7

Büdinger, Matthias: 'Henry Mancini 1924–1994' In: ''Film Score Monthly'', # 46/47, p. 5

Büdinger, Matthias: 'Feeling Fancy Free' (in: ''Film Score Monthly'', vol. 10, No. 2)

Brown, Royal S.: Overtones and undertones – reading film music (1994)

References

External links

Henry Mancini, Space Age Pop

A Henry Mancini discography

Joe Reisman scores, 1945–1986 Music Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Henry Mancini, Soundtrackinfo

Official site on Mancini's 80th anniversary

A Mancini anthology

Memories of Henry Mancini

The story behind the making of the music from Peter Gunn, including interviews with the musicians and sound engineers

Henry Mancini interview recorded 5.9.1968 on the Pop Chronicles

Category:1924 births Category:1994 deaths Category:American conductors (music) Category:American film score composers Category:American military personnel of World War II Category:Best Original Music Score Academy Award winners Category:Best Song Academy Award winning songwriters Category:Big band pianists Category:Cancer deaths in California Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer Category:Easy listening music Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:American jazz musicians of Italian descent Category:Juilliard School alumni Category:Liberty Records artists Category:Light music composers Category:Musicians from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Category:Musicians from Cleveland, Ohio Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:Swing pianists Category:American Roman Catholics Category:The Pink Panther Category:United States Army soldiers

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