Aaron Copland (jan 1, 1900 – jun 1, 1990)

Description:

an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music.

In Search of the “Real” America: Americans in Paris
1. During the 1920s, American composers sought to define an American style in classical
music.
2. Copland traveled to Paris to study and spent time under the tutelage of Nadia Boulanger.
3. Copland was drawn to jazz after hearing a performance in Vienna in 1923.
4. Copland eventually turned from specific associations with popular music.

Copland and Others in the American Mid-Century
A. Copland and Politics
1. One of the composers who absorbed elements of the folk revivals was Copland.
2. Silvestre Revueltas, a Mexican composer who worked in both Mexico and the United States, also combined European Modernism, neoprimitivism, and neoclassicism with indigenous elements.

B. American Patriotic Works
1. In response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Copland received a commission that resulted in his Lincoln Portrait.
2. Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man dates from the same period and was commissioned by the conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra to open concerts during the war period.
3. Aspects of Copland’s folk song style—their novelty and originality—and not literal authenticity mark them as national emblems.
4. Because of connections with Communist ideology, Copland was forced to make a political stand that separated from him from his earlier affiliations and moved him to broader nationalist aims.

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