Musical elements depict old neighborhoods, country fiddlers and square dancing, and various emotions. The bride and her farmer-husband build a farmhouse in the Pennsylvania hill country they look ahead to their new life together with hope, joy, and fear. It tells the story of a young pioneer couple in the early 19 th Century. He was also one of the first composers to take advantage of the new technologies of the 20th century, which includ e d radio broadcasts, recordings, and film.Ĭopland died of respiratory failure in North Tarrytown, New York (now Sleepy Hollow), on December 2, 1990.Īppalachian Spring is music for a ballet that Copland wrote in 1944. He was also active in several organizations that encouraged young composers by offering performances of their music as well as financial grants allowing them to focus more time on composing. Copland was never shown to be a member of the Communist Party.Ĭopland was active throughout his later life as a teacher and writer on the subject of music. The investigations ceased in 1955, and were closed in 1975. Outraged by the accusations, many members of the musical community, held up Copland's music as a banner of his patriotism. That same year, Copland was called before Congress of the United States where he testified that he was never a communist. The political climate of that era caused A Lincoln Portrait to be withdrawn from the 1953 inaugural concert for President Eisenhower. Having defended the Communist Party USA during the 1936 presidential election, Copland was investigated by the FBI during the red scare of the 1950s, and found himself blacklisted. Virtually every composer who scored for western movies, particularly between 19, was shaped by the style Copland developed. It is difficult to overestimate the influence Copland has had on film music. Posthumously, his music was used for Spike Lee's 1998 film, He Got Game, which featured a neighborhood basketball set to the music of "Hoe-Down". He also composed music for several other important films during that time. His score for William Wyler's 1949 film, The Heiress won an Academy Award. Copland was later awarded the Pulitzer Prize for music for his composition.Ĭopland was one of the first composers to write music for film, and became an important contributor to the genre. Graham created a ballet she called Appalachian Spring, which was an instant success, and the music acquired the same name. Copland titled the piece "Music for Martha", having no idea of how she would use it on stage. The commission for Appalachian Spring came from Martha Graham, who had requested of Copland merely "music for an American ballet". He was commissioned to write a ballet, Appalachian Spring, which he later arranged as a popular orchestral suite. The same year Copland wrote A Lincoln Portrait, which became popular with a wider audience, leading to a strengthening in his association with American music. It would later be used to open many Democratic National Conventions. Fanfare for the Common Man, perhaps Copland's most famous work, scored for brass and percussion, was written in 1942. His most famous works were written during this time, beginning in 1936 with Billy the Kid. He also began incorporating American folk melodies into his music. However, this jazz-inspired period was brief, as his style evolved toward the goal of writing more accessible works.ĭuring the 1930's, Copland came to believe that a composer should not limit himself by just composing for serious concert performances. When he returned to America is 1924, he decided that he wanted to write works that were "American in character" and thus he chose jazz as the American idiom. His teacher was Nadia Boulanger, who later became famous because many of her students became successful composers. Although his parents never encouraged or directly exposed him to music, at the age of fifteen he had already taken an interest in the subject and aspired to be a composer.Īfter high school, Copland was accepted at a music school for American students in Paris. Before emigrating to the United States Copland's father had anglicized his surname " Kaplan " to " Copland " while in England. Copland was born in Brooklyn, New York, of Lithuanian Jewish descent.
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