Aaron Copland

Conductor

• Born: November 14, 1900
• Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York
• Died: December 2, 1990
• Place of death: North Tarrytown, New York

Composer and conductor

As a composer, teacher, critic, and writer, Copland played a primary role in creating a distinctively American music.

Area of achievement: Music

Early Life

Aaron Copland (EHR-ehn KOHP-land) was born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 14, 1900, into a Jewish immigrant family. His father had immigrated from Lithuania and his mother from Poland. Copland was their fifth and last child. The family owned a neighborhood store in Brooklyn and lived above the establishment, a common practice at the time. They attended religious services at Congregation Baith Israel Anshei Emes. Copland attended public school in Brooklyn. When he was eleven, he took his first piano lessons from his older sister, Laurine. Three years later, he began studying piano with Ludwig Wolfsohn, a professional teacher. In 1917, he played the piano for the first time in a public performance. After graduating from Boys High School in Brooklyn, he continued his musical training, studying harmony and counterpoint with Rubin Goldmark and piano with Victor Wiggenstein and Clarence Adler. Fascinated by the jazz sound, Copland also played in a number of dance bands.

In 1921, Copland went to Paris to study at the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau. He studied with Paul Vidal and took a class in harmony with the famous pedagogue Nadia Boulanger. Later he became Boulanger’s composition student, and he continued to study with her for three years. Boulanger was the primary influence on Copland’s career. Under her tutelage he developed the talent and skill in musical composition that would enable him to create an American music. In 1922, he wrote Four Motets, a work for chorus, his first composition for her. In addition, the prestigious French publisher Durand published his first work, Le Chat et le Souris, written the previous year. In 1923, Boulanger introduced him to Serge Koussevitzky, who played an important role in bringing Copland and his music to American audiences. Koussevitzky had just been named conductor of the Boston Symphony, when Boulanger, also an organist, was asked to perform with his orchestra. At Koussevitzky’s request, Copland wrote Symphony for Organ and Orchestra (1924). Its performance by Boulanger and the Boston Symphony of his modernist work introduced Copland to the American music world.

Life’s Work

After returning to the United States from France, Copland continued to develop his skill as a composer and to experiment with innovations in music. In 1925 and 1926, he received Guggenheim Fellowships. He taught, gave recitals, lectured, wrote musical criticism, and composed. During this time, his interest in jazz decreased and he concentrated more fully on developing an American classical music. He was a founding member of the Young Composers Group and worked with other composers to promote a modernist classical music. In 1927, Copland played his Piano Solo in a premiere performance with the Boston Symphony, with Koussevitzky conducting. From 1928 to 1931, Copland and Roger Sessions presented a series of concerts, called “Copland-Sessions Concerts,” in New York City as part of their efforts to bring new music by American composers to public attention. In 1932, Copland organized a festival of music by American composers at Yaddo, an artists’ retreat in Saratoga Springs, New York. In 1933, he organized a second festival.

During the late 1930’s and the 1940’s, Copland enjoyed enormous success and established himself as one of the foremost American composers. In 1935, he introduced his El Salón Mexico to the public; this was the beginning of Copland’s efforts to produce works that combined elements of symphonic and popular music. This desire to increase the audience for his music also led him to compose music for films and ballets. In 1939, he composed the sound track for Of Mice and Men and in 1940 the music for Our Town. His music for The Heiress won the 1949 Academy Award for Best Score. From 1938 to 1944, Copland composed the music for three American ballets: 1938’s Billy the Kid (choreographer Eugene Loring), 1942’s Rodeo (choreographer Agnes De Mille), and 1944’s Appalachian Spring (choreographer Martha Graham). In these ballet scores, Copland included traditional songs of distinctly American groups—cowboys, Shakers, and pioneers. The ballets were highly successful, and Copland received a Pulitzer Prize for Appalachian Spring in 1945.

During the 1940’s, Copland also composed classical and patriotic music. In 1942, he produced his highly acclaimed and popular A Lincoln Portrait for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. In 1944, he wrote Symphony No. 3, which included the popular Fanfare for the Common Man. In 1947, he wrote In the Beginning, setting thirty-eight verses of Genesis to music.

In the 1950’s, Copland continued to compose and added new fields of music composition to his endeavors. He also began conducting. From 1952 to 1954, he composed an opera, The Tender Land, which tells the story of a Midwestern girl preparing to leave home. Two songs from the opera, “The Promise of Living” and “Stomp Your Foot,” both traditionally American in theme, are widely performed by choral groups. In 1955, he wrote Canticle of Freedom and in 1957 Piano Fantasy, in which he explored elements of the abstract in music. By 1970, Copland stopped writing new compositions and concentrated on conducting. In 1983, he conducted his last symphony. Throughout his life, he continued teaching at major music centers, such as Tanglewood in Massachusetts, writing and working to increase the prestige of American music. He died of respiratory failure in North Tarrytown, New York, on December 2, 1990.

Significance

Copland was a significant contributor to the development of an American music. He incorporated elements of jazz, folk, and other traditional American music styles into his musical compositions. He composed music for many different types of artistic performance, including orchestra, band, ballet, film, opera, chorus, and narrative pieces. Along with creating an American music, Copland played an important role in producing an American ballet through his collaboration with De Mille and Graham. He is celebrated for his popular American patriotic works, Fanfare for the Common Man and A Lincoln Portrait. As a composer, teacher, critic, conductor, and lecturer, he worked fervently to introduce American music worldwide and to gain its acceptance and appreciation. As a teacher and mentor to young composers and musicians, Copland exercised a strong influence on the evolution of American music.

Bibliography

Copland, Aaron, and Vivian Perlis. Copland: 1900-1942. New York: St. Martin’s/Marek, 1984. Detailed autobiography enhanced by reminiscences by Leonard Bernstein, Boulanger, and others. Includes letters, photographs, and music scores. Documentation and footnotes by Perlis.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Copland: Since 1943. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999. Continuation of the autobiography, with documentation by Perlis.

Crist, Elizabeth Bergman. Music for the Common Man: Aaron Copland During the Depression and the War. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Study of Copland’s compositions from the 1930’s and the 1940’s emphasizes his political beliefs and ideas regarding social justice and their effect on his music. A different approach to some of his best-known works.

Daniel, Peggy. Tanglewood: A Group Memoir. Milwaukee: Amadeus Press, 2008. Excellent source for understanding Copland’s importance to Tanglewood. Includes letters, interviews, newspaper accounts, and photographs.

Kostelanetz, Richard, ed. Aaron Copland: A Reader—Selected Writings, 1933-1972. New York: Routledge, 2004. Includes a wide variety of Copland’s writings on music, composers, and social issues, and his letters and journal notes.

Pollack, Howard. Aaron Copland: The Life and Work of an Uncommon Man. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2000. In-depth study of Copland’s music, his dedication to creating an American music, and his contributions as a composer and teacher.