Aaron Copland.pdf

8/11/2019 Aaron Copland.pdf

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Aaron Copland, 1900-1990: His Music Taught

Americans About Themselves

Photo: loc.gov

Aaron Copland at home in his library

TO DOWNLOAD the MP3 of this story, click on the MP3 link in the upper right corner

of the page. Double-click any word to find the definition in the Merriam-Webster

Learner's Dictionary

STEVE EMBER: Im Steve Ember.

BARBARA KLEIN: And Im Barbara Klein with People in America in VOA Special

English. Today we tell about Aaron Copland, one of Americas best modern music

composers.

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: Aaron Copland wrote many kinds of music. He wrote music for the

orchestra, piano, and voice. He wrote music for plays, movies and dance. Copland also

was a conductor, pianist, speaker, teacher and author.

Music critics say Copland taught Americans about themselves through his music. He

used parts of many old traditional American folk songs in his work. He was influenced to

do this after studying music in France. He said that composers there had a very French

way of writing music. He said Americans had nothing like that in this country. So he

decided to compose music that was truly American.


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loc.gov

Aaron always dreamt of becoming a composer

BARBARA KLEIN: Aaron Copland was born in nineteen hundred in Brooklyn, New

York. He was the youngest of five children. His parents had come to the United States

from eastern Europe. They owned a store in Brooklyn. Aaron began playing the piano

when he was a young child. He wrote his first song for his mother when he was eight

years old. His dreams of becoming a composer began when he was young.

When he was sixteen, he urged his parents to let him study composing with Rubin

Goldmark. Goldmark had taught the composer George Gershwin.

STEVE EMBER: When he was in his early twenties, Copland went to Paris where he

studied music with Nadia Boulanger. She was one of the most important music teachersof the time. He returned to New York in nineteen twenty-four.

The famous conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Serge Koussevitzky, learned

about Copland's music. Koussevitzky led the orchestra for the first performance of

Copland's early work, "Music for the Theater," in nineteen twenty-five. Koussevitzky

also conducted Copland's "Concerto for Piano and Orchestra" in nineteen twenty-seven.

This work was unusual because Copland used ideas from jazz music in his concerto.

BARBARA KLEIN: Copland later wrote the music for two ballets about the American

West. One was about the life of a famous gunfighter called Billy the Kid. Copland used

music from American cowboy songs in this work. This piece from "Billy the Kid: BalletSuite" is called "Street in a Frontier Town."

(MUSIC)


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loc.gov

The famous composer began playing the piano as a child

STEVE EMBER: In nineteen forty-two, the conductor Andre Kostelanetz asked Copland

to write music about a great American, Abraham Lincoln. Copland wrote "Lincoln

Portrait" to honor America's sixteenth president. Copland's music included parts of

American folk songs and songs popular during the American Civil War. He added words

from President Lincoln's speeches and letters.

"A Lincoln Portrait" has been performed many times in America. Many famous people

have done the speaking part. Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of President Franklin Roosevelt,

was one of them. Here, actor James Earl Jones performs in Copland's "A Lincoln

Portrait."

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN: Also in nineteen forty-two, the music director of the Cincinnati

Symphony Orchestra asked eighteen composers to write music expressing love for

America. For the competition, Copland composed "Fanfare for the Common Man." This

music is played in America during many national events, including some presidential

inaugurations.

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: Experts say "Fanfare for the Common Man" was an example ofCopland's change in direction during the nineteen forties. He began writing music that

was more easily understood and more popular. Copland wrote about this in nineteen

forty-one in his book, Our New Music. He wrote that a whole new public for music had

developed as a result of the popularity of the radio and record player. He said that there

was no reason to continue writing music as if these devices did not exist. So he decided to

write music in a simpler way.


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BARBARA KLEIN: Copland spread his ideas about music in other ways. He taught at

the New School for Social Research in New York City and at Harvard University in

Cambridge, Massachusetts. One of the many awards he received was the Pulitzer Prize.

He won it in nineteen forty-five for his famous music for a ballet called "Appalachian

Spring." It is one of his most popular works. The last part of the ballet is based on a

traditional song, "A Gift to be Simple."

(MUSIC)

loc.gov

Aaron Copland was one of Americas best modern music composers

STEVE EMBER: Copland also wrote music for several major motion pictures. He won

an Academy Award in nineteen fifty for composing the music for the film, "The Heiress."Then, he began experimenting with what is called a twelve-tone system of composing.

His music no longer was as easy to understand, or as popular.

Copland stopped composing at the end of the nineteen sixties. Yet he continued to be

active as a conductor and speaker. In nineteen eighty-two, Queens College of the City

University of New York established the Aaron Copland School of Music.

BARBARA KLEIN: Copland was a strong supporter of liberal ideas. In the early

nineteen- fifties, he and other famous writers, actors and intellectuals were accused of

supporting communism. Public opinion changed, though. In nineteen sixty-four,

President Lyndon Johnson presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It isAmerica's highest award to civilians. Aaron Copland died in nineteen ninety at the age of

ninety. But his music lives on.

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: This Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. It was

produced by Lawan Davis. Im Steve Ember.


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