Brief synopsis' of the most popular
classical music
compositions by
Aaron Copland...
Brooklyn, NY 14 NOV 1900 ~ North Tarrytown, NY 2 DEC
1990
Stage Works, Film Works, Orchestral Works,
Vocal Works, Chamber Works, Piano Pieces
Copland
Appalachian
Spring Ballet Suite
Composed in 1944 on commission from the Elizabeth Sprague Cooledge
Foundation for choreographer Martha Graham. The ballet was FP in 1944.
An orchestral version dates from from the same year. It received the
Pulitzer Prize in Music. The Shaker anthologies describe the tune 'Simple
Gifts' as having many
repeated notes which were smoothed out by Copland for the main theme of
his 'Appalachian Spring'. First we imagine the first light of day over the
valleys and slopes of the Appalachian Mountains. The characters appear,
one by one to attend to their chores of the day. Copland borrowed the title
from a poem by Hart Crane. The scenario was developed by Martha Graham,
portraying pioneer Pennsylvania newlyweds meeting neighbors and starting
their family.
Copland Billy
The Kid
Copland stopped composing in the last decade of his life which ended in
December, 1990 a month after his 90th birthday.
Many scores followed his popular 'El Salon Mexico'(1932). Scores for
American
ballets built upon American folk themes and western songs. 'Rodeo' and
'Billy The Kid'. The later based on the exploits of the life of the
western outlaw. The work paraphrases a few authentic cowboy songs.
Copland 'Clarinet Concerto'
This concerto was commissioned in 1947 by famous American Swing Band
leader Benny
Goodman, who was also classically trained
. Copland finished it in 1948. It incorporated the Goodman style with
contemporary form. Goodman recorded the work with Copland conducting the
Columbia Symphony Orchestra. (COL MS 6497).
Copland Connotations for Orch
Copland Danzon Cubano
Copland El Salon Mexico Copland composed this work after a brief trip to Mexico in 1932. It is
named after a dance hall he visited in Mexico City and inspired by the
music he heard there. He borrows from a few classic Mexican melodies.
Copland Lincoln Portrait
Copland Music for the
Theater
Copland
Rodeo
Choreographed by Agnes De Mille, 'Rodeo' was FP in 1942 by the Ballet
Russe de Monte Carlo. It is a lighthearted story of the battle of the
sexes- sort of a Taming of the Schrew on the ranch. With cowboy songs as
inspiration Coplands Suite titles are 'Buckaroo Holiday', 'Corral
Nocturne', 'Saturday Night Waltz', and 'Hoedown'.
Copland Short Symphony
(Sym No 2) Composed in 1939 as incidental music for a play by Irwin Shaw.
The work
was reset by Copland in 1940 in his edition specifically for English Horn,
Trumpet and chamber ensemble.
Copland Four Piano
Blues
These blues were written over many years and form a musical portrait of
Copland's style from these periods. The jazz of the 20's to the simplicity
of his music of the 1940's.
Copland PC
Composed at the suggestion of Serge Koussevitsky in 1926. FP January 28,
1927.
Copland The Red Pony
Music for the film based on John Steinbeck's 1938 novel. Ten weeks work
for Republic Pictures at $1500 per week including composition,
orchestration and conducting the studio orchestra at the soundstage in the
San Fernando Valley between February and April, 1948. Myrna Loy and
Robert Mitchum starred in the film about a young boy and his love
for his red pony.
Copland Statements for Orchestra
Copland Symphony
No. 1 (1928) For organ.
Copland Sym
No. 2 Short Symphony (1932)
Copland Sym
No. 3
Composed on a commission from the BSO and finished in 1946 and FP in
Boston in October. It incorporates the Fanfare for the Common man, which
he composed for the Cincinnati Sym Orch in 1942.
Copland The Tender Land
Commissioned to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the League of Composers in 1953.
To be a TV opera but FP by NY Opera in April of 1954 under Thomas Schippers. Based
on James Agee's "Let us Now Praise Famous Men" The libretto by Horace Everett (aka
Erik Johns). A Young girl falls for a drifter, it's a midwestern pastoral folktale. Copland made an orchestral suite which was FP by the Chicago SO under Fritz Reiner in April of 1958.
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