Transcript Copland - Composer - Natasha Sloan

Born: November 14, 1900
Died: December 2, 1990
Aaron Copland was born on
November 14, 1900, in Brooklyn,
New York, the youngest of five
children born to Harris Morris
Copland and Sarah Mittenthal
Copland, who were Jewish
immigrants from Lithuania. The
family lived above a department
store, which they owned. One of
Copland's sisters showed him
how to play piano when he was
eleven years old.
Early studies
After his sister taught him he began taking lessons
from a teacher in the neighborhood. At age 15 he
decided he wanted to be a composer. At age 16 he
went to Manhattan to study with Rubin Goldmark.
He found he was attracted to the classical history
and musicians of Europe. At age 20, he left New
York for the Summer School of Music for American
Students at Fountainebleau, France. There his main
teacher was the French composer Nadia Boulanger.
His Time in France:
In France, Copland sold his first
composition to Durand and Sons. It was
the most respected music publisher in
France. He found he liked the music of
Scriabin, Debussy, and Ravel. The time in
Paris gave him a chance to take in and hear
all the trends in European music, like the
works of Stravinsky, Bartók, Schoenberg
and Koussevitsky
The 20’s
After Copland completed his studies in 1924, he
returned to America and composed his first
major works: Symphony for Organ and
Orchestra.
He followed this with “Music for the Theater”
(1925) and “Piano Concerto” (1926), both had
jazz influences. For Copland, jazz was the first
American major musical movement and wanted
to get inspiration from it. In the late 1920s he
moved away from jazz and turned to popular
music of other countries.
20’s & 30’s
In the 1920s and 1930s there wasn’t a audience for the new
music. Copland, trying to change that, was in organizations
for performance and sponsorship, like:
The League of Composers, The Copland-Sessions Concerts,
and The American Composers' Alliance.
He began the Copland-Sessions concerts, with his friend
Roger Sessions.
30’s – 50’s
Beginning in the mid-1930s - 1950, Copland
tried to change his style. He started composing
music for theater, ballet, films, and for concerts.
And in the 50’s, Copland began to try
conducting. He done it for the next 20 years.
Ballets: Billy the Kid (1938), and Appalachian
Spring (1944)
Films: Of Mice and Men(1939)
Near the end…
During the 70’s he had stopped writing music.
And in 1983 Copland conducted his last
symphony. His books gave him devoted fans, and
on December 2, 1990, Aaron Copland died in
North Tarrytown, New York. In his lifetime, he
received a Pulitzer Prize, an Academy Award, and
a Congressional Medal for patriotism.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiLTwtuBi-o
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episo
des/aaron-copland/about-the-composer/475/
http://www.notablebiographies.com/CoDa/Copland-Aaron.html
PICTURE:
http://www.centerwest.org/projects/past/listening/co
pland.html
Song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiLTwtuBi-o