Aaron Copland Essay Research Paper Aaron CoplandAaron

Aaron Copland Essay, Research Paper

Aaron Copland

Aaron Warner

Aaron Copland was the incarnation of what a composer can trust to go.

Copland was really much in touch non merely with himself and his feelings, but with

the audience he intended to make. Very few composers have a concrete thought of

what & # 8220 ; types & # 8221 ; of people they wish their music to make. Copland was one of these

few. The & # 8220 ; Common Man & # 8221 ; was the cardinal portion of much of his volumes of music

strived to make. Copland felt that, & # 8220 ; . .everyone should hold a opportunity to see

things through this music. Restricting who can understand it merely limits your

usefulness & # 8221 ; Throughout his 75+ old ages as a composer and music director, he touched

the lives and Black Marias of as many people as he could.

Copland was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1900 to reasonably flush

parents. Because of his household & # 8217 ; s fiscal position, he started officially developing

as a adolescent, and moved to Paris where he became the first American pupil of

Nadia Boulanger. It was here that Copland developed much of his neo-classical

manner. Although he enjoyed the precise construction that Boulanger had taught him,

Copland & # 8217 ; s bosom was genuinely in making music that people other than instrumentalists

could appreciate. It was upon his return to America in 1924 that he decided that

he would compose & # 8220 ; . . .truly American music. & # 8221 ; He traveled throughout America,

acquiring a gustatory sensation of what the & # 8220 ; common adult male & # 8221 ; was listening to. During these travels

he strayed into Mexico, and wrote the extremely successful El Salon Mexico. A quotation mark

from the autumn of 1932 amounts up his purposes in composing this piece: & # 8220 ; Any

composer who goes outside his native land wants to return bearing musical

souvenirs. & # 8221 ; This is precisely what he did. The piece is a lively version of

French republics Toor & # 8217 ; s Cancionero Mexicano, with a really loose pacing, and heavy usage of

the horn subdivision.

It was after the success of El Salon Mexico that Copland proceeded to

bring forth what is now considered the prototype of & # 8220 ; American & # 8221 ; music. He combined his

neo-classical schooling with jazz-like syncope and a new, more & # 8220 ; unfastened & # 8221 ; usage of

old chordal patterned advances. He created Billy The Kid in 1938, bring forthing the

foremost & # 8220 ; Western & # 8221 ; musical. The mark achieved a singular balance between

straight-out wit and poignancy, and frequently bordered on tragic. It was this base

apprehension of humanity that made Copland & # 8217 ; s music what it is. Many texts besides

refer to a certain built in sy

mpathy that Copland may hold had for the chief

character, mentioning his homosexualism as a cause for his deep apprehension of

what it is to be looked down upon by society.

Another bully musical followed, entitled Rodeo. This piece was comprised

of a similar loanblend of popular western subjects, and used as a narrative line the

universally known as & # 8220 ; The Ugly Duckling & # 8221 ; . Rodeo had it & # 8217 ; s premiere in 1942 at

the Metropolitan Opera House, and was judged as an unqualified success.

Copland was clearly interrupting down barriers with his & # 8220 ; common & # 8221 ; music. The

Metropolitan Opera was known at this clip for it & # 8217 ; s airless renderings of Verdi

and Puccini & # 8217 ; s operas, and non for the joyful gaiety of such a work.

The warm exuberance of Copland & # 8217 ; s music attracted Martha Graham in 1943.

She commissioned him to compose a mark for her concert dance entitled Appalachian Spring,

which is impossible non to advert. ( despite the fact that we heard it in category )

Appalachian spring brought nil but good luck to Copland, guaranting him an

ageless topographic point in classical music. It was after the widespread success of Spring

that he produced his most fecund piece, and possibly the best summing up of his

attitude towards classical music, & # 8220 ; Fanfare for the Common Man & # 8221 ; Finished in 1942,

this was one of 18 pieces commissioned by Eugene Goossens for the Cincinnati

Symphony Orchestra. The horns and the kettle play a major function, bring forthing a

strong and bold urgency. This provides an interesting paradox: & # 8220 ; Common Man & # 8221 ;

seems to be as & # 8220 ; American & # 8221 ; as a piece could acquire. It is strong, bold, to the point

and unquestioning. Interestingly plenty, Copland was passing much of his clip

with an utmost left-of-center group of friends who made dramas about the unfairness and

lip service that existed in society during the 1940 & # 8217 ; s.

Copland was non merely known for his fecund manner and unquestionable

compositional linguistic communication. He was besides a great protagonist of other instrumentalists,

patronizing event after event, and get downing the calling of the now universe renowned

Leonard Bernstein. He spoke and taught at infinite Universities across the

state, and gave to the American people a manner of music that they could claim

as their ain. All of this is an illustration of the lovingness and humanity that was both

the basis and the hallmark of his music. Although he died in 1990, his

music will populate on in the Black Marias and heads of the American people every bit long as

there is a topographic point called & # 8220 ; America. & # 8221 ;