![]() ![]() They are works of great imagination, humor and beauty, and they are rarely, if ever, heard in our concert halls. Recently, I had the opportunity to record the "other" symphonies by Copland by that, I mean those other than his well-known Symphony No. Throughout my conducting career, I have been fascinated by composers' lesser-known sides - especially those of American composers like Copland, Barber, Bernstein and even Gershwin. When I made my subscription debut with the New York Philharmonic in 2000, it happened to coincide with the Copland centenary, and I was able to conduct Connotations, the piece I had heard so many years ago in that Bernstein rehearsal. I became fascinated with his non-American-sounding works, like Orchestral Variations, Connotations and some of his early compositions, which pre-date his interest in folk music and that signature Copland style that we know from his Appalachian Spring. That was a defining moment for me, because it opened my mind and ears to the multidimensionality of Copland as a composer and artist. The avant-garde sounds were from Copland's Connotations, and all at once, my preconceptions about Copland flew out the window. So imagine my shock when I sneaked into a New York Philharmonic rehearsal as a teenager to discover Leonard Bernstein conducting an angular, atonal, but gripping piece by none other than Aaron Copland. Like most everyone, when I hear Copland's music, I see the majesty of the Grand Canyon: I feel my breathing expand and relax with the open skies of Colorado and Montana I sense the calm of a clear river running through the mountains. In 1964, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon Johnson for his extraordinary patriotic works.Aaron Copland's music can be divided into the brash early pieces and the bucolic later ones. He also won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1945 for his ballet compositions. He won an Academy Award for ‘The Heiress’ in 1950, whilst his other film scores were all nominated for such. In his name, there exists the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, and the Aaron Copland School of Music at CUNY. Having earned great success with film scores for ‘The Heiress’ and ‘The Red Pony’ as well as ballet scores such as ‘Rodeo’ and ‘Appalachian Spring’, Copland took to conducting towards the end of his career.Īaron Copland died of Alzheimer’s disease in 1990. A decade long collaboration with the Japanese Tōru Takemitsu and a close friendship with the Mexican Carlos Chávez were instrumental in his education of the twelve-tone method of composition. During his career, Copland also travelled extensively thanks to which he collaborated with various foreign artists. Arguably, his greatest success came in 1942 when he wrote the highly famous ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’ and ‘Lincoln Portrait’, the latter of which was a patriotic wartime effort. He also wrote thematic pieces based on World War II. He caught a big financial break when he wrote scores for two Hollywood movies, ‘Of Mice and Men’ and ‘Our Town’. He then went on to compose scores for several radio broadcasts and theatre performances. The commando unit’s music was later on based on the German Idea of ‘music for use’, which was exemplified by theatre music which sought to describe the American way of life. An inspired Copland then went on to form the famous ‘Commando Unit’ with Roger Sessions, Roy Harris, Virgil Thomson and Walter Piston, with whom he composed various pieces during the Great Depression, of these, the Young Pioneers, the Second Hurricane and the Short Symphony were most notable. Soon, Copland met with Modern Art Promoter Alfred Stieglitz, who influenced Copland along with many other artists of his time to try and demonstrate the idea of American Democracy in their art. Copland also formed the Young Composer’s Group in hopes to repel the idea that music was only accessible to the elites of their time. Upon his return, he was involved in writing, teaching, and lecture recitals. Having completed his education, Copland returned to the United States in 1925. He was then admitted to the famous Fountainebleau School of Music in Paris, where he further studied the highly coveted Germanic-European style of music. ![]() By this time, Copland had decided that he wanted to be a composer. Copland then took courses in music theory from Rubin Goldmark. He then took piano lessons with his neighborhood piano teacher Leopold Wolfsohn. The result of this was that at age eleven, Copland wrote his own musical piece of seven bars. She also brought home opera music writings (libretti) for him. Copland, being the youngest of his siblings, also received guidance from his sister, who taught him how to play the piano. ![]() Copland’s mother was an esteemed vocalist and pianist, who arranged for music lessons for all of her children. Aaron Copland was born in Brooklyn, New York on November 14th 1900. ![]()
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