(THEME)
VOICE ONE:
I’m Dick Rael.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Phoebe Zimmermann with the VOA Special English programPeople in America. Today we tell about Aaron Copland, one ofAmerica’s best modern music composers.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Aaron Copland wrote many kinds ofmusic. He wrote music for the orchestra, piano, and voice. He wrotemusic for plays, movies and dance. Copland also was a conductor,pianist, speaker, teacher and author.
Music critics say Copland taught Americans about themselvesthrough his music. He used parts of many old traditional Americanfolk songs in his work. He was influenced to do this after studyingmusic in France. He said that composers there had a very French wayof writing music. He said Americans had nothing like that in thiscountry. So he decided to compose music that was truly American.
VOICE TWO:
Aaron Copland was born innineteen-hundred in Brooklyn, New York. He was the youngest of fivechildren. His parents had come to the United States from easternEurope. They owned a store in Brooklyn. Aaron began playing thepiano when he was a young child. He wrote his first song for hismother when he was eight years old. His dreams of becoming acomposer began when he was young. When he was sixteen, he urged hisparents to let him study composing with Rubin Goldmark. Goldmark hadtaught the composer George Gershwin.
VOICE ONE:
When he was in his early twenties, Copland went to Paris, France,where he studied music with Nadia Boulanger. She was one of the mostimportant music teachers of the time. He returned to New York innineteen-twenty-four.
The famous conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, SergeKoussevitzky, learned about Copland’s music. Koussevitzky led theorchestra for the first performance of Copland’s early work, “Musicfor the Theater,” in nineteen-twenty-five. Koussevitzky alsoconducted Copland’s “Concerto for Piano and Orchestra” innineteen-twenty-seven. This work was unusual because Copland usedideas from jazz music in his concerto.
VOICE TWO:
Copland later wrote the music fortwo ballets about the American West. One was about the life of afamous gunfighter called Billy the Kid. Copland used music fromAmerican cowboy songs in this work. This piece from “Billy the Kid:Ballet Suite” is called “Street in a Frontier Town. “
(“BILLY THE KID: STREET IN A FRONTIER TOWN”)
VOICE ONE:
In nineteen-forty-two, the conductor Andre Kostelanitz askedCopland to write music about a great American, Abraham Lincoln.Copland wrote “Lincoln Portrait” to honor America’s sixteenthpresident. Copland’s music included parts of American folk songs andsongs popular during the American Civil War. He added words fromPresident Lincoln’s speeches and letters.
“Lincoln Portrait” has been performed many times in America. Manyfamous people have done the speaking part.Eleanor Roosevelt, thewife of President Franklin Roosevelt, was one of them. Here, actorJames Earl Jones performs in Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait.”
(“LINCOLN PORTRAIT”)
VOICE TWO:
Also in nineteen-forty-two, the music director of the CincinnatiSymphony Orchestra asked eighteen composers to write musicexpressing love for America. For the competition, Copland composed”Fanfare for the Common Man. ” This music is played in Americaduring many national events, including some presidentialinaugurations.
(“FANFARE FOR THE COMMON MAN”)
VOICE ONE:
Experts say “Fanfare for the Common Man” was an example ofCopland’s change in direction during the nineteen-forties. He beganwriting music that was more easily understood and more popular.Copland wrote about this in nineteen-forty-one in his book, “Our NewMusic.”
He wrote that a whole new public for music had developed as aresult of the popularity of the radio and record player. He saidthat there was no reason to continue writing music as if thesedevices did not exist. So he decided to write music in a simplerway.
VOICE TWO:
Copland spread his ideas about music in other ways. He taught atthe New School for Social Research in New York City and at HarvardUniversity in Cambridge, Massachusetts. One of the many awards hereceived was the Pulitzer Prize. He won it in nineteen-forty-fivefor his famous music for a ballet called “Appalachian Spring.” It isone of his most popular works.
The last part of the ballet is based on a traditional song, “AGift to be Simple.”
(“APPALACHIAN SPRING”)
VOICE ONE:
Copland also wrote music for several major motion pictures. Hewon an Academy Award in nineteen-fifty for composing the music forthe film, “The Heiress.” Then, he began experimenting with what iscalled a twelve-tone system of composing. His music no longer was aseasy to understand, or as popular.
Copland stopped composing at the end of the nineteen-sixties. Yethe continued to be active as a conductor and speaker. Innineteen-eighty-two, Queens College of the City University of NewYork established the Aaron Copland School of Music.
VOICE TWO:
Copland was a strong supporter of liberal ideas. In the earlynineteen-fifties, he and other famous writers, actors andintellectuals were accused of supporting communism. Public opinionchanged, though. In nineteen-sixty-four, President Lyndon Johnsonpresented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It isAmerica’s highest award to civilians. Aaron Copland died innineteen-ninety at the age of ninety. But his music lives on.
(“SATURDAY NIGHT WALTZ”)
VOICE ONE:
This Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. Itwas produced by Lawan Davis. Our studio engineer was Gary Spizler.I’m Dick Rael.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Phoebe Zimmermann. Join us again next week for anotherPeople in America program on the Voice of America.