American percussionist, composer, and conductor Warren Benson (1924 - 2005) was a graduate of the University of Michigan. He received four Fulbright grants and was the author and director of the first pilot project of the Ford Foundation’s Contemporary Music Project, whose aim was to create new music for schools. Following his time as percussionist for the Detroit Symphony, Benson was the Professor of Percussion and Composition for fourteen years at Ithaca College in New York. In 1967 he became Professor of Composition at the Eastman School of Music. He served as Meadows Distinguished Visiting Professor of Composition at Southern Methodist University from 1986-1988 and then returned to Eastman retiring in 1993.

Aeolian Song (1953) began as a recital piece for alto saxophone and piano. Inspired by an encore performance by Sigurd Raschèr, Benson wrote Aeolian Song to highlight a melodic line unobscured by any substantial accompaniment. From the beginning, Benson planned to incorporate this recital work as part of a concerto for alto saxophone. In 1955 Benson set it as the second movement of Concertino for Alto Saxophone and Band Instruments. Both of these pieces are dedicated to Sigurd Raschèr. Aeolian Song also exists in an arrangement for orchestra. In 1960, Benson composed a duo dedicated to Sigurd & Carina Raschèr, Invocation and Dance. Following the successful of work, he was inspired to add an obbligato part to the well-established Aeolian Song which the Raschèrs premiered on the 3rd of March, 1966 with the Portland State College Symphony in Oregon.

“Warren Benson was a family friend who often visited us with his entire family at our homestead in upstate New York, where precious memories were made. There was lots of music making, lots of swimming in the pond, and water melon seed spitting contests! I had met Warren Benson already much earlier at such events as the New York State Summer Music Camp on Otter Lake in upstate New York (August 1951), or at the Summer Semesters at Eastman School of Music, (from 1959 to 1965), and Ithaca College, (16. March 1959), where we performed the Quantz and Jephthah, conducted by Warren Benson.” - CMR