The Probert Encyclopaedia of Music

ARRANGER

In music, an arranger is a person who adapts or assists in orchestrating the music of another composer at the composer's request. The use of an arranger became established in Hollywood; Rachmaninov, George Gershwin, and Leonard Bernstein, among others, composed concert works employing such assistance. Arrangers were also common in jazz: the more notable examples include Gil Evans, who arranged music for Miles Davis and others; and Billy Strayhorn who arranged for Duke Ellington. Composers of unauthorised arrangements include Johann Sebastian Bach (who arranged Vivaldi), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (who arranged Handel's Messiah), and Stravinsky (who arranged Tchaikovsky and Pergolesi).
Research Arranger