Aaron Copland(1900 — 1990)
Aaron Copland
États-Unis
8 min read
American composer (1900–1990) and a defining figure of 20th-century classical music. He sought to forge a distinctly American musical style by weaving together elements of jazz, folk music, and popular traditions.
Frequently asked questions
Famous Quotes
« The music I love best is the music that surprises me.»
Key Facts
- Born on November 14, 1900, in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish parents who had immigrated from Russia.
- Studied composition in Paris under Nadia Boulanger during the 1920s.
- Composed Appalachian Spring (1944), a ballet written for Martha Graham, which earned him the Pulitzer Prize in 1945.
- Author of Billy the Kid (1938) and Rodeo (1942), iconic ballets celebrating the American West.
- Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964; died on December 2, 1990.
Works & Achievements
An orchestral work inspired by a popular Mexican dance hall and Mexican folk themes. It marks a turning point toward an accessible style rooted in the popular music of the Americas.
A ballet commissioned by the Ballet Caravan, telling the story of the famous outlaw of the American West. Copland incorporates authentic cowboy melodies, launching his great 'Americanist' cycle.
A short fanfare for brass and percussion commissioned during World War II to celebrate the ordinary American. Later incorporated by Leonard Bernstein into his Third Symphony, it has become a musical symbol of the United States.
A ballet choreographed by Agnes de Mille, whose four orchestral excerpts — most notably *Hoe-Down* — rank among the most frequently performed pieces in the American repertoire. It draws on cowboy dances and songs of the West.
A work for narrator and orchestra that weaves excerpts from Abraham Lincoln's speeches together with popular American musical themes. Removed from Eisenhower's inaugural concert in 1953 for political reasons, it became a symbol of freedom of expression.
Copland's masterpiece, composed for choreographer Martha Graham, depicting the life of a young pioneer couple in the Appalachians in the nineteenth century. It won the **Pulitzer Prize** for Music in **1945** and remains the most iconic work in twentieth-century American music.
Commissioned by the Koussevitzky Foundation, this monumental symphony — which incorporates the *Fanfare for the Common Man* in its finale — is regarded by many musicologists as the great American symphony of the twentieth century.
Anecdotes
Aaron Copland grew up in Brooklyn in a family of Russian Jewish immigrants who ran a department store. Nothing in his childhood suggested he would become the greatest American composer of his era: his parents had little interest in classical music, and it was through self-teaching, then private lessons, that he discovered his calling.
In 1920, Copland went to study in Paris under the legendary teacher Nadia Boulanger, the first woman to conduct major American orchestras. Their intellectual relationship was pivotal: it was she who encouraged him to draw from American popular music — jazz, blues, folk songs — to forge an authentically American style.
In January 1953, at the height of the McCarthyite witch hunt, the organizers of President Eisenhower's inaugural concert removed Copland's Lincoln Portrait from the program, on the grounds that the composer had associated with circles deemed 'subversive.' A few weeks later, Copland was called before McCarthy's Senate subcommittee, but no charges were brought against him.
When conductor Eugene Goossens commissioned several American composers to write fanfares for the 1942–1943 season, to boost the morale of a nation at war, Copland composed Fanfare for the Common Man in just a few days. Originally performed as a simple concert prelude, this piece of under four minutes is now one of the best-known American orchestral works in the world.
Appalachian Spring, composed in 1944 for choreographer Martha Graham, is built around the Shaker melody Simple Gifts. Copland had never heard the tune before discovering it in a folk song anthology — proof that his 'Americanism' was as much the product of scholarly research as of spontaneous inspiration. The work earned him the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1945.
Primary Sources
The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, 'Is there a meaning to music?' My answer to that would be, 'Yes.' And 'Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?' My answer to that would be, 'No.'
The gifted composer… has always two choices before him : he may turn his back on the contemporary scene, or he may attempt to find a language that is peculiarly his own — one that reflects the life and times in which he lives.
I am seeking to write music that is recognizably American without being mistaken for raw folklore. It is not simple, but it is the only path that seems honest to me.
Jazz is the result of the energy stored up in America… it is the savage, restless, rhythmically acute expression of a people who know how to take life as they find it.
Key Places
Copland's home neighborhood, where he grew up in an immigrant family and taught himself music. The sounds and cosmopolitan energy of New York would nourish his musical imagination throughout his life.
Copland studied here from 1920 to 1924 at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, then with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. This formative stay gave him the technical and intellectual tools to develop a sophisticated American musical language.
Copland was one of the central figures of the Berkshire Music Center (now the Tanglewood Music Center), where he taught composition for decades and trained several generations of American composers.
Copland visited Mexico in the 1930s and struck up a friendship with composer Carlos Chávez. The festive atmosphere of the *Salón México*, a popular dance hall in Mexico City, directly inspired one of his most celebrated works.
The world premiere of *Appalachian Spring* took place at the Library of Congress in Washington in October 1944, and the federal capital was the setting for several key moments in Copland's career, from official honors to political hearings.
