Aaron Copland is generally considered America\u2019s greatest composer. That is, it is he, through his compositions and through his essays, books, lectures, and other thoughts on music, who has done more than any other individual to establish a corpus of \u201cserious\u201d music in this country that has largely defined an \u201cAmerican Sound.\u201d He lived a long life; influenced generations of young composers; advanced the cause of art music in this country; and composed music that has delighted millions in the audiences of ballet, chamber music, symphonic music, radio, television, and the movies. The son of Jewish immigrants, he lived for most of his life in New York City\u2014or close by\u2014but assimilated so much of the disparate elements of our culture that he came to be considered as representative of all of it. In his music one finds jazz, ethnic, western, folk, intellectual, and populist elements and references\u2014and much more: Cuban, Mexican, and European Continental. But his wide-ranging intellect easily synthesized it all into an inimitable style (or small group of stylistic voices) with which his music spoke with a clear and unified expression. <\/p>\n
His greatest musical influence was undoubtedly the grande dame<\/em> of teachers, Mme. Nadia Boulanger, with whom he studied in Paris during the early 1920s. Teacher of generations of distinguished performers and composers, she counted Copland as her greatest pupil. Of course, while spending those years in Paris\u2014along with the so-called \u201clost\u201d generation (Copland was assuredly not<\/u> part of it)\u2014he was exposed to a wealth of musical styles and composers. Of them, Stravinsky was the other great influence upon Copland. <\/p>\n Upon his return to the USA his early dalliance with jazz and \u201csymphonic jazz\u201d was more or less replaced by a severe, often dissonant style\u2014one not often associated with Copland by much of today\u2019s audiences, but definitely a life-long option for him in his compositions. But during the 1930s his interest in socialist perspectives crystallized for him and he turned to a more accessible, populist style that has come to be his hallmark for mainstream America. His ballets, Billy the Kid<\/em>, Rodeo<\/em>, and Appalachian Spring<\/em>, as well as his music for the films, Of Mice and Men<\/em> and Our Town<\/em> and other works all endeared him to a wide audience and made his reputation as composer of \u201cAmerican\u201d music. He continued that trend with music for the film adaptation of Steinbeck\u2019s Red Pony<\/em>, and even wrote a clarinet concerto for the great Benny Goodman. How mainstream American can you get? <\/p>\n The advent of World War II wrought massive changes to American society, and its existential threat to the country stimulated an understandable surge in patriotism. And those of the classical music establishment then\u2014unlike much of it today\u2014rushed to participate in celebrating our country\u2019s history and values. We all thrill to Copland\u2019s Fanfare for the Common Man<\/em>; it was the result of a 1942 commission of eighteen of America\u2019s leading composers for fanfares to honor and celebrate those fighting in the war effort.<\/p>\n A similar inspiration led to Copland\u2019s A Lincoln Portrait. <\/em>For the 1942-43 symphonic season, the conductor, Andr\u00e9 Kostelanetz commissioned Virgil Thompson, Jerome Kern, and Copland each to compose a portrait of the \u201cmagnificent spirit of our country.\u201d For his contribution Copland had initially chosen the words of Walt Whitman, but he wisely acceded to Kostelanetz\u2019s urging to turn to the magnificent, timeless rhetoric of Lincoln, instead. Those words, combined with Copland\u2019s populist \u201cAmerican Style,\u201d produced a profound work. <\/p>\n Those whose know and love Copland\u2019s music from that time will immediately find familiar the musical \u201cportrait.\u201d Copland wove together the simple elements of that style with his own melodies, but also incorporated two traditional American folk tunes, as well. One\u2014easily heard\u2014is \u201cCamptown Races,\u201d which the composer chose because it had been used as one of Lincoln\u2019s campaign songs.<\/p>\n A Lincoln Portrait<\/em> is basically in two broad sections: The first is composed of three contrasting musical vignettes of Lincoln and his times. The second introduces the narration of Lincoln\u2019s words, accompanied by stirring recitative-like accompaniment from the orchestra. The opening is tranquil, but ominous in its evocation of the constant dangers to our country\u2014then and now. Copland said that he \u201c. . . hoped to suggest something of the mysterious sense of fatality that surrounds Lincoln\u2019s personality.\u201d That he manifestly did. The music slowly grows in intensity, informed by a simple, three-note motive so typical of the composer. As it swells in power and dignity, it seems to validate all to come. The second of the musical vignettes begins with the solo clarinet, and is infused with much of the plain charm of Copland\u2019s opera, The Tender Land.<\/em> Finally, the first section ends with upbeat folk dances that gradually are eclipsed by a broad, powerful countermelody that leads us inexorably to the serious matter of Lincoln\u2019s text in the second part. A dramatic smash on the gong and brass figures reminiscent of the Fanfare for the Common Man<\/em> sets the tone for the words that follow.<\/p>\n Lincoln\u2019s words include excerpts from the Gettysburg Address, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and one of his State of the Union speeches. Copland artfully crafts the accompaniment to the text: bold or quiet, dramatic or serene, wistful or triumphal\u2014accordingly. In the best tradition of music and words, they mutually enhance each other, and the union is a work that never fails to engender both pride and reflection regarding our great experiment in democracy.<\/p>\n The work truly was an inspiration for the difficult times of the war, but about 1950 both Copland\u2019s musical style and his popular place in society took a distinct turn. His earlier support of socialist causes (he supported the American Communist Party in the election of 1936) made him a target of Red Hysteria and Senator McCarthy. The Republican Party cancelled a performance of his Lincoln Portrait<\/em> for Ike\u2019s inauguration, and other indignities followed him for a few years. <\/p>\n His music began\u2014but not completely\u2014to return to the severe and dissonant basis that characterized his early work, and he disappointed those who commissioned works thinking they were going to get another Appalachian Spring<\/em>. By 1972, in his own words, it was \u201cas if someone had simply turned off a faucet,\u201d and he gave up composition completely. He died in 1990 of Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n –Wm. E. Runyan<\/p>\n \u00a92023 William E. 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