Transcript Aaron Copland

AARON COPLAND
AARON COPLAND
Born November 14, 1900
In Brookyln, New York
Died December 2, 1990
AKA
Premier American composer who helped bring American music to the
forefront. He was also a conductor, a teacher and a writer who wrote
books about music as well as his autobiography "Copland: 1900
Through 1942" and "Copland: Since 1943.'
EDUCATION
He studied composition with Rubin Goldmark in 1917.
He began to study composition and orchestration with Nadia Boulanger in
the fall of 1921 and remained her student until 1924.
He was her first full-time student.
January 11, 1925: his Symphony for Organ and Orchestra (1924) was
performed by the New York Philharmonic, with Nadia Boulanger as
soloist and Walter Damrosch as conductor.
COMPOSER
He composed chamber and choral music, orchestral and band music,
operas, ballets and film scores.
The 1930’s and 1940’s established Copland’s popularity.
He realized that a new public for contemporary music was being created by
the radio and film scores.
“It made no sense to ignore the audience and to continue writing as if they
did not exist.”
WORKS
January 28, 1927: performed his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1926)
with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Serge Koussevitzky.
Wrote music for the "Theatre" suite, a jazzy, modified attempt to create a
distinctly 'American' sound.
In 1928 he wrote his first significant chamber work, Vitebsk, a piano trio
based on Hebraic subject matter.
1928-1931: With composer Roger Sessions, sponsored the CoplandSessions Concerts, a series of new music performances in New York.
MAJOR WORKS
El Salon Mexico
(1936)
Part 1:
http://www.youtub
e.com/watch?v=N
Mn6EU3yjcc
Part 2:
http://www.youtub
e.com/watch?v=7x
dzG0VloOU
Billy the Kid (1938)
http://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=Mm
4YKSbLR-Y
APPALACHIAN SPRING (1944)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJYVH_kZkOk
“Subtle, as he evokes his sources by distilling their essence into original
materials.”
Captures the essence of an ideal America, one of open fields and endless
possibilities
Rhythm: very slow, changing meter is faint.
Harmony: overlapping of chords produces dissonance.
THE RED PONY (1948)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFhuTTJqFkY
Film score.
(6) "Happy Ending," which, like "Morning on the Ranch," uses material from
the beginning and ending of the film.
In collaboration with producer-director Lewis Milestone, with whom Copland
had worked on other film scores.
AWARDS
1950: Won an Academy Award; published the Piano Quartet and a song
cycle based on the poems of Emily Dickinson.
1951: Became the first composer to be honored with the Norton Professor
of Poetics at Harvard
1956: Won the Gold Medal of the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
1986: Wins the Congressional Medal of Honor and the National Medal of
Arts.
THE AARON COPLAND FUND FOR MUSIC
In keeping with his lifelong devotion to contemporary music, Aaron Copland
created the Fund and bestowed to it a large part of his estate. The Fund
was officially announced to the public in 1992. The Fund’s purpose is to
encourage and improve public knowledge and appreciation of
contemporary American music.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Enjoyment of Music – 11th edition by Kristine Forney & Joseph Machlis
New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
http://www.allmusic.com/composition/the-red-pony-suite-for-orchestramc0002658304
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4162273
http://musiced.about.com/od/20thcentury/p/copland.htm
http://coplandfund.org/