Inherited Sound Images Native American Exoticism in Aaron Copland's Duo for Flute And

8/18/2019 Inherited Sound Images Native American Exoticism in Aaron Copland's Duo for Flute And

1/29

Inherited Sound Images: Native American Exoticism in Aaron Copland's Duo for Flute andPianoAuthor(s): Nina PerloveReviewed work(s):Source: American Music, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Spring, 2000), pp. 50-77Published by: University of Illinois PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3052390 .Accessed: 15/09/2012 15:53

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2/29

NINA

PERLOVE

Inher i ted

S o u n d

I m a g e s

N a t i v e A m e r i c a n

Exot i c i sm

n

a r o n

C o p la n d s

u o

o r

F l u t e

n d P i a n o

In

1967 Aaron

Copland

was commissioned to

compose

a flute and

piano piece

in

memory

of William

Kincaid,

former

Principal

Flutist

of the

Philadelphia

Orchestra.

Copland began

the

piece

in

1969,

and

the

finished

work,

Duo

for

Flute and

Piano,

was

premiered

in 1971.1

Copland

described

the Duo

as "a

lyrical piece,

in

a somewhat

pasto-

ral

style... [appropriate

for the

flute's]

songful

nature."2

As

one of

Copland's

last

compositions,

the

Duo in

many ways

represents

a cul-

mination of earlier

stylistic

trends,

and

is

particularly

reminiscent of

his

1940s

"Americana"

style.

Scholars, critics,

and audiences alike

have often commented on the American

quality

in

Copland's output.

Schuyler Chapin

credits the

composer

with

"creating

an authentic

sound for

America,"

and

Wilfrid

Mellers

claims,

"The

American,

and

our,

experience

is

musically

incarnated

in

[Copland's]

life's

work."3

In his

comprehensive survey

of

Copland's

life and

music,

Howard

Pollack identifies this

aspect

of

Copland's style:

In

discussing

what made

Copland's

music

"recognizably

Amer-

ican,"

critics

typically

mentioned the allusions to

and

quotations

of American

popular

and folk

musics,

the

jazzy polyrhythms

and

irregular

meters,

the

vigor

and

angularity

of some

melodies,

the

lean and

bare textures and the favored extremes

of

closely

knit

Nina Perlove is a concert

flutist who has

performed

and

taught throughout

the United States and

Europe.

She

spent

two

years

in Paris

as

a

Fulbright

scholarand holds degrees from the University of Michigan(bachelorof mu-

sic,

1995)

and the

University

of Cincinnati

College-Conservatory

of Music

(master

of

music,

1999).

Her articles have

appeared

in

Perspectives f

New

Music,

Flutist

Quarterly,

lute

Talk,

nd

Windplayer

Magazine.

Currently

she is

pursuing

a doctorate in flute at CCM.

American Music

Spring

2000

?

2000

by

the

Board of Trustees of the

University

of Illinois


3/29

Native

American Exoticism

in

Copland

51

harmonies and

widely spaced

sonorities,

and

the

distinctly

brit-

tle

piano

writing

and

brassy

and

percussive

orchestrations.4

The American

personality

of

Copland's

work has also been

credited

to his musical evocations of

city

and

country-the

American dichot-

omy

of

skyscraper

and

prairie.

However,

Copland's

work

may

also

reflect musical elements

commonly

associated

with

Native

Americans,

an influence that has

not been

previously

examined,

perhaps

because

it

seemingly

contradicts

the

composer's

self-avowed

antagonism

to-

ward Indian musical

subjects.

This

investigation

of

Indian

musical

exoticism as

influencing

the Duo

for

Flute and Piano not

only

contex-

tualizes

Copland's conflicting

attitudes toward Indian

material,

but

also

suggests

an

additional "folk" source for his

signature

American

sound-albeit a "folk" source based

upon public misconceptions

of

Native American music and not

ethnographic

musical sources or re-

search.s

The

first-generation

son of Russian

Jewish

immigrants,

Copland

had a varied "American"

background.

His

mother,

Sarah

Mittenthal,

was

born

in

Russia and

spent

her childhood in Illinois

and

Texas,

an

ironic

setting

for a

woman whose surname

translated

in

English

means "between

valley

and fields."

In

the

American West of the

1860s

and

1870s,

"cowboys

and Indians were a natural

part

of

[Sarah's]

life,"

and in

her father's

dry goods

stores,

"verbal

exchanges

must have

been

a

unique

mix

of

Yiddish,

English,

and Indian."

Sarah's

experi-

ence in the

West

may

have

inspired

her son's interest in

American

sonorities,

as she was

known to

play piano

and

sing

popular songs.6

She

eventually

moved with her

family

to New York

City.

Copland's

father,

Harris Morris

Kaplan,

left Russia for

England

where

his

fami-

ly

name was

transliterated into the more

anglo-sounding

Copland.

After

earning

enough

money

for

passage

to the United

States,

Harris

arrived in New York

City

in

1877.

Eight years

later he

married Sarah

Mittenthal. On

November

14, 1900,

Aaron

Copland

was

born-an

American in

both

citizenship

and name.

As a

boy growing up

in

Brooklyn, Copland

viewed New York

City

as

"a

commercially

minded

environment

that..,

had never

given

a

thought

to art or

to art

expression

as

a

way

of life."7 As

a

young

man,

he (and other

composers

of his

generation)

discovered the

American

character

by living

abroad.8

"All

of us discovered America in

Europe,"

Copland

later

claimed,

speaking

about his

two

years

of

study

in

France

with

Nadia

Boulanger.9

Upon

his return to

the United

States

in

1924,

Copland

was

ready

to

undertake one of the

greatest

challenges facing

American

composers

of his era-to found

an

American school of

composition

that

would

both

reflect this

country's

unique

national character and at

the same


4/29

52

Nina Perlove

time rival the

European

musical tradition that dominated Western

art

music. Friend and

colleague

Arthur

Berger

recalled

Copland's

views

on

his search for a new American

sound

palette: "[Copland]

found

that his American elders provided no suitable example.... It was

necessary

to build from the

ground up,

and

Copland

deliberately

went

about

forging

an

indigenous

idiom."10

In

pursuit

of

this

idiom,

Copland

came to believe

that

cultural and

regional

musical

material

is often

transmitted

subconsciously

to mem-

bers within that

society:

"To a certain

degree,

sound

images

are

im-

posed upon

us from without. We are born

to certain inherited

sounds

and

tend

to

take them for

granted.

Other

peoples,

however,

have an

absorbing

interest in

quite

different kinds of

auditory

materials.""1

In attempting to define and recreate inherent American musical id-

ioms,

Copland

often borrowed from

folk sources. But while he was

strongly

influenced

by jazz

and

folk

songs,

he did not

simply arrange

the material.

Instead,

he transformed it into

music

entirely

his

own.

Copland explained,

"The use of

[folk]

materials

ought

never to be a

mechanical

process.... They

can be

successfully

handled

only by

a

composer

who is able to

identify

himself

with,

and

reexpress

in his

own

terms,

the

underlying

emotional connotation of the

material."12

Arthur

Berger

related

how

Copland employed

this

technique

to

add

new expressive layers to the folk music from which he borrowed:

"One

of

[Copland's] special

devices

in

transforming

a

folksong

is to

make it broad or tender when it has been

slight

or frivolous

original-

ly,

and in this

way

he

brings

out

essences of which

we

were

previ-

ously unaware."'"

Transforming

folk

material

was

a

technique Copland

often

practiced

consciously,

as

in his

adaptation

of the Shaker tune

"Simple

Gifts"

for

Appalachian Spring

(1944).

Yet,

he

also

incorporated

folk

elements

subconsciously.

In

speaking

of his Third

Symphony, Copland

claimed

that "any reference to either folk material or jazz..,. was purely un-

conscious."14 He

acknowledged

that his

compositions

often contain

expressive

layers

that,

although

not

knowingly developed,

are

nev-

ertheless

legitimate:

It is one of the curiosities of the critical creative mind that al-

though

it is

very

much alive to the

component

parts

of the

finished

work,

it cannot know

everything

that the work

may

mean to others....

The

late

Paul

Rosenfeld

once wrote that

he

saw the steel frames of

skyscrapers

in

my

Piano Variations.

I

like

to think that the characterization was

apt,

but I must confess that

the

notion of

skyscrapers

was

not

at

all in

my

mind when I was

composing

the

variations.15

Copland

even admitted that he read reviews of his

works to enrich

his

own

understanding

of

them: "I

admit to

a

certain

curiosity

about


5/29

Native

American

Exoticism in

Copland

53

the

slightest

cue as

to the

meaning

of a

piece

of

mine-a

meaning,

that

is,

other

than

the one I know

to have

put

there."16

Although

Copland

recognized

influences

of

jazz

and

American folk

material in

his work, he did not openly speak about Native Ameri-

can

musical

clich6s as

a

stylistic

ingredient.

In

fact,

he

believed

Indi-

ans

had

had no

significant

impact

upon

American art

music

and

even

criticized the

turn-of-the-century

Indianist

composers:

Despite

the

efforts of Arthur

Farwell and

his

group

of

composer

friends,

and

despite

the Indian

Suite of

Edward

MacDowell,

noth-

ing

really

fructifying

resulted

[from

Native

American

borrowing].

It

is

understandable

that the

first

Americans

would

have a

senti-

mental

attraction

for our

composers....

But our

composers

were

obviously incapable of identifying themselves sufficiently with

such

primitive

source

material

as to make

these

convincing

when

heard

out of

context."17

In

his

own

works,

Copland

sought

to

distance

himself from

Native

American

themes;

while

working

with

Martha

Graham on

Appalachian

Spring, Copland

apparently

insisted

there be

no Indians in

the bal-

let.'8

Despite

his

attempts

to

avoid Native

American

topics

and mu-

sical

material,

Indian

musical

exoticism

may

have indeed

influenced

works such as the Third Symphony, El Salon Mexico, Rodeo, Billy the

Kid,

and

the Duo

for

Flute

and Piano.

This

in-depth

study

of a

single

work,

the

Duo,

is

significant

because

it

examines a late

work

that

draws

heavily

from his

earlier

popular

style.

In

fact,

the

composer

himself

wrote that

some of the

musical

ideas

for the

work

date from

the

forties,

and

specifically

related the

opening

flute

solo to

his Third

Symphony.19

In

this

way,

the

concepts

examined

in

this

"micro"

study

have

"macro"

implications,

perhaps

shedding

as

much

light

upon

Copland's

earlier works

as

they

do

upon

the Duo itself.

The first

movement

of his

Duo is

characterized

by

an

opening

and

closing

monophonic

flute solo

(ex.

1).

I

believe this

unaccompanied

solo

establishes

a

pastoral

quality

because

Copland

felt

that

the flute

inherently

represented

"outdoor"

music,

while the

physically

immo-

bile

piano

was

associated with

indoor

settings.20

The

simple

"econo-

my

of

means"

style

of

the

flute's

solo

theme further

creates an

out-

door

ambiance.

Many

critics

have

suggested

that

Copland's

signature

use

of wide

intervals

and

motionless

rhythms

suggests

the

open

spac-

es and stillness of the

prairie.21

The

Duo's

use of

prairie

sound

images

has subtle

but

significant

links to

popular

mythology

regarding

Native

Americans.

Common

stereotypes

of

the

Indian as

a

"noble

savage"

were

often

inextricably

linked with

idealizations

of

primitive

American

topography.22

This

pastoral

view

of the

Indian

was

created

by

Romantic

writers

who


6/29

54

Nina

Perlove

Example

1.

Aaron

Copland,

Duo

for

Fluteand

Piano,

mvt.

I.

extension

resolves

extension

Flowing

(1

=

84)

*)

"'

f

"

f

"

II

F

i , i

p

freely,

recitative

tyle

semitone

A

moves

down,

not

a

extension

extension

extension

leading

tone

-C

POCO

z-

- ~ ~

c z-

mf

rit.

much slower

(

=

56)

Sp

mf (don't

hurry)

~mfz~

p

mf p

extension

extension

r

octave lower

than measure 1

o,b.

*

f

"tended to

identify

the

Indian with the

grandeur

of nature."23 Such

was the case in

Henry

Wadsworth

Longfellow's

popular

Song of

Hia-

watha (1855), a common subject for late-nineteenth-century American

stage productions,

often

performed

with

original

scores.24

This

asso-

ciation of the

Indian

with

outdoor

scenery

was

echoed

by

Copland

after a

1932

trip

to

Mexico,

where he visited

composer

Carlos Chavez:


7/29

Native American Exoticism in

Copland

55

Mexico offers

something

fresh and

pure

and

wholesome--a

qual-

ity

which is

deeply

unconventionalized.

The source of it is the

Indian blood which is so

prevalent.

I

sensed the

influence of the

Indian background everywhere--even in the landscape[emphasis

mine].

And I

must be

something

of an Indian

myself

or how else

could

I

explain

the

sympathetic

chord it awakens

in

me.25

In

this

context,

Copland's

evocation of outdoor

scenery

in

the Duo to

me

suggests

not

only

the

undeveloped

American

landscape,

but also

the men and women who first

inhabited

that

terrain.

Landscape

im-

agery

alone does not assert the

presence

of Indian

musical exoticism

in

the

Duo, however,

but is

merely

an introduction to a theme that

permeates

the work

in

compositional

forms.

Recently, scholars such as Michael V. Pisani and Tara Colleen

Browner have undertaken

large-scale

studies of musical

Indianisms,

identifying

several

compositional techniques

commonly

associated

with

Native American musical exoticism.

In

labeling

such

techniques,

it must be

emphasized

that it is not the

presence

of each trait alone

that

gives

a work "exotic"

meaning,

but rather the

surrounding

con-

text

and combined

mpact

of the material

(musical, textual,

and/or

dra-

matic).

Some of the


identified

by

Pisani and

Browner,

which became hallmarks of

Native American musical ste-

reotype largely

because of their

presence

in Indian

programmatic

set-

tings,

include:

Open

fifths

Melodies

in

pentatonic

or modal

organization,

often

with

low-

ered

sevenths or

gapped

scales

A

melodic

range primarily

limited to one

octave,

except

after

two or three

phrases,

at

which

point

it ascends

a

third,

or

even a

fifth,

above the

upper

limit

Overall descending phrase contour

Descending grace-note

or

snap-like figures

Repeated

notes

in

heavy

accents,

often

in

groups

of four

(Bah-

bum-bum-bum

patterns)

Imitations of

tongue-wagging

(whooping

sounds).26

Other traits that

commonly

appear

as

Indian musical

stereotypes

in-

clude:

Predominate use of

consonant

intervals,

often in

descending

motion

Meter

changes

(this

may

occur in

conjunction

with

steady

rhythmic

drum

pulses

of continuous

quarter

or

eighth

notes

and

can create an aural

illusion of consistent

meter)


8/29

56

Nina

Perlove

Descending

initial

intervals that often

immediately

return to

the

starting pitch.

Many

of

the

above-listed

traits have

parallels

to

Copland's

popular

style and will be examined through this study of the Duo. In analyz-

ing

these

Indianisms in

Copland's

works,

it is

important

to

remem-

ber

that he was not

reproducing any

"authentic" Native

music. As

Jonathan

Bellman

wrote,

"Exoticism is

not about

the earnest

study

of

foreign

cultures;

it is

about

drama, effect,

and

evocation."27

Copland's

style

may

evoke

the

"Other"-worldliness of

Native

Americans,

but it

does not

quote

from

"authentic" Indian

songs,

Indianist

composers,

or

specific

media

sources in

a "mechanical

process."

Instead,

Copland

may

have

been

influenced

by

general stylistic

traits that

were

widely

accepted as being linked with Indian musical stereotype.

Typical

of

Copland's

compositional

practices

in

incorporating

folk

material,

he

transformed and

reexpressed

the

underlying

emotional

connotation

of the

exotic idioms.

Copland

would

have

become

familiar with Indian

musical

exoti-

cisms

through

the

work of several

cultivated

composers

whose com-

positions

he knew

well. For

example,

one American

composer

who

used such sound

material is

Quinto

Maganini.

In

a 1926

lecture

Cop-

land

identified

Maganini

as a

promising

talent

in

the next

generation

of

composers. Copland

specifically

mentioned in his lecture

Magani-

ni's orchestral

score Tuolumne:A

California Rhapsody,

which

Copland

described as

having

"a

suggestion

of Indian

themes."28

Tuolumne,

"an

Indian word

meaning

'Land of

Many

Waters'"29

a

title that

reinforc-

es the

association of

Native

Americans with

landscape

imagery),

con-

tains

Indianist sound

cliches.

The

trumpet

solo that

opens

and closes

the

work,

which

the

composer

called "an Indian

lament,"30

uses an

initial

descending

interval that

immediately

returns to

the

starting

pitch,

melodies

constructed

around

descending

consonant

intervals

and

phrase

structure

(ending

an octave below the

starting pitch),

fre-

quent

meter

changes,

a

monophonic

texture,

lowered

sevenths that

subvert

leading

tone

motion,

pentatonic

pitch

structure,

and

a

one-

octave

range

that

briefly

extends

beyond

the

upper

parameter

(ex.

2).

Charles

Ives

adopted

similar sound

idioms

in

the

melodic

line to

his

song

"The Indians"

(ex.

3).

Copland

praised

this (and

several oth-

er)

songs by

Ives as "a

unique

and memorable

contribution to

the art

of

song

writing

in

America."31

In this

song

Ives

used a

falling

initial

interval that

immediately

returns

to the

starting pitch,

descending

consonant intervals, mixed meters,

grace

notes, and

descending

phrase

structures

(with

the

exception

of the final

phrase,

which ends

with

an

ascending

minor

third).

In

addition,

Carlos

Chavez,

a

proponent

of the

1920s'

"Aztec Re-


9/29

Native

American Exoticism

in

Copland

57

Example

2.

Quinto

Maganini,

Tuolumne:

CaliforniaRhapsody

or

Orchestra

with

TrumpetObbligato.

Solo C

Tpt.

,

:,

.

,

xtensionI

extensions

r I

- - .

.

3

Example

3. Charles

Ives,

The

Indians,

vocal

line.

initial nterval

descends hen

returns

,-----

desc.

3rd

desc. 3rd

Very slowly

-

.

A-

las

for them their

day

is o'er,... No more,

desc.

4th

cresc.

e pi1i

moto

no

_

more for them

_

the

_

wild

_ deer_

bounds,_

The

plough _

is on their

hunt-ing

*Gracenote

grounds;

The

pale_

man's

axe_

rings through

their

woods,

The

pale

man's sail skims o'er

desc.

3rd

their

floods;__

Be

-

yondthe

moun

-

tains

of__

the

west

desc.

3rd

_

_,_

--

unexpected

resolutione

Their

_

chil-dren

go

to die.

_

naissance,"

may

have

influenced

Copland

with his own studies of

Native music.

In

a 1928 lecture La

Muisica

Azteca,

Chavez described


of

pre-Conquest

Mexico:

The Aztecs showed a

predilection

for those intervals which we

call the minor

third and the

perfect

fifth;

their use of other inter-

vals was rare.... This

type

of interval

preference..,.

found

ap-

propriate

expression

in

modal melodies which

entirely

lacked the

semitone.32


10/29

58

Nina Perlove

In addition to his

familiarity

with the above concert

composers,

Copland certainly

would have heard Indian musical clich6s

in

the

vernacular media.

The

scope

and

influence

of mainstream musical

Indianisms on the collective American consciousness is too great to

fully

examine

here;

radio

broadcasts,

stage

shows

(including

but not

limited to

Irving

Berlin's

"I'm

an Indian Too" from

Annie

Get

Your

Gun),

television

programs,

and dozens of Western films all contrib-

uted

to the

perpetuation

and creation of a

recognizable,

mainstream

idiom.

In

film,

Indian

stereotypes

reached

the

masses,

influencing

Ameri-

ca's

musical,

as well as

cultural,

landscape.

Native American charac-

ters and musical

stereotypes

appeared

not

only

in

early

Westerns

(such as the 1939 film Stagecoach),but continued through the 1960s

with movies like

A

Man

Called

Horse

(1970).

Leonard Rosenman's score

for

A

Man Called

Horse

was based

upon

the

composer's

work

with

South Dakota Sioux from the Black

Hills

region.33

The

opening

mu-

sic

however,

played

on a

non-keyed

flute,

does not seem

representa-

tive of Lakota

flute

songs.34 More

likely,

the solo reflects

aspects

of

Indian musical exoticism

in

its use of initial

falling pitches,

descend-

ing

consonant intervals and

phrase

structure,

meter

changes,

and

monophonic

texture (ex.

4).

It also

avoids

leading

tones

and

rests

pri-

marily within an octave range (gl to g2), using an upward extension

in

measure five.

Although

it is uncertain whether

Copland

saw

A

Man

Called

Horse,

the fact remains

that its

presence

in the vernacular main-

stream both

perpetuates

and reflects common

public opinions

about

Native music

in

1970,

however inaccurate these

public

perceptions

may

have

been.35

The Duo's

flute

solo

clearly

uses


similar

to the various

Indianisms discussed above

(see

ex.

1

above).

Like

Maganini's trumpet

lament,

Copland's monophonic

flute lament both

introduces and closes the movement. Set in mixed meters, the melo-

dy begins

with a

falling, open

fifth that

immediately

returns to the

starting

pitch

and is dominated

by

third

motion.

At first the tonal

or-

ganization

appears

classical

in

its

simplicity;

the first six

measures

imply

a

I-IV-V-I

progression.

But

as

the solo continues Native

Amer-

ican exoticisms become evident.

Although

a B-flat

major tonality

at

first seems to be

at

work,

B

flats

appear primarily

on weak

beats,

de-

Example

4.

A Man Called

Horse,

opening

flute solo

(music

by

Leonard

Rosen-

man).

extension

i I

.0

..

.,

t

..•"

,-

,

,

trt•"

.

t'

,

' • '


11/29

Native American

Exoticism

n

Copland

59

emphasizing

tonic.

Copland

also

specifically

avoided

semitones,

which

further obscures

major-scale

function (one

structurally insig-

nificant

semitone

appears

in m.

13,

but

the

A

does

not resolve

upward,

instead continuing in a downward motion toward F). In fact, most of

the

phrases

pull

toward

F

and

C

rather

than B

flat,

giving

the

solo an

orientation

of F

mixolydian.

The use of stacked fourths

(m.

8)

further

underscores

the modal

quality

of the material.

In

these

ways, Cop-

land obscures the B-flat

tonality

with

modal structure.

Furthermore,

the solo reflects the Indian exotic characteristic of fall-

ing

octaves with

extensions;

in

the

Duo,

Copland emphasizes upward

extensions within the framework of an overall

descending

octave

phrase

(f2

down to

fl

in m.

24).

The first

part

of

the

solo

strives

up-

ward toward m. 16, progressively extending beyond f2. But the "ex-

tended"

pitches

are unstable and resolve downward within the oc-

tave framework. At

m.

16,

the extension to

g2

is a

temporary,

unstable

resting point,

as there is no clear cadential motion. The

descending

middle section

(mm. 16-19)

is

heard as

new

material,

contrasting

in

texture

(with

the addition of the

piano)

and melodic

content,

and

therefore

is not limited to the

octave

range.

The

monophonic closing

material

(mm.

20-24)

continues the

open-ended phrase

of

m.

16,

and

rests

largely

in

the octave between

fl

and

f2,

also with

tension-build-

ing upward extensions. The solo comes to a solid conclusion at m. 24

with a

falling

fifth.

Typical

of musical

Indianisms,

the solo ends an

octave

below the

starting pitch.

It

also seems

to me that

another

Native

American musical cliche

appears briefly

at

m.

66,

with

the flute's

repeated

notes

with

heavy

accents (ex.

5).

Although

this

passage

is

brief,

it

is

significant

because

it

signals

a

point

of contrast.

Similar

motives were

widely

associated

with Indian

stereotype,

even

entering

the

repertory

of children's

games; many

a

young "cowboy

and Indian" have been heard to chant

this motive, usually with a descending consonant interval between

the first two notes

(ex. 6).

Browner labeled such motives BAH-bum-

bum-bum

patterns

in

her

study

of Indian

"appropriations"

in

West-

ern art music.36

Copland's

passage,

however,

alternates and

displac-

Example

5.

Aaron

Copland,

Duo

for

Fluteand

Piano,

mvt.

I.

BAH BAH

bum bum

. .

f

>

go

.>

.

>

f marc.

fS

vigorous


12/29

60

Nina

Perlove

Example

6.

Stereotyped

BAH-bum-bum-bum

igure.

BAH

bum bum

bum BAH

bum bum bum

L i Lrr

e)

es

the

rhythmic

accents.

Instead of a strict

BAH-bum-bum-bum,

Co-

pland

transformed

the

phrase

to

BAH-BAH-bum-bum,

using

a de-

scending

third between the second

and

third notes. Yet

the

expres-

sive

essence

of the

gesture

remains.

This

brief

passage

alone

is

hardly

sufficient

to

argue

the

presence

of

Indianisms in

the

piece,

but once

again,

it is the

combined

impact

of this

figure

with

its

surrounding

ex-

otic material that creates an overall effect.

In

addition,

Indian

exotic

clich6s of

descending

"grace

note"

figures

also

appear

throughout

the

movement,

as

can

be heard

in the

open-

ing

solo

(see

ex.

1

above)

and

throughout

the

movement

in

various

forms and

notations

(ex.

7).37

Copland

would

have heard similar

figures

used as

Indian exoticisms

in

works such

as

the above-men-

tioned

Tuolumne (ex.

8),

MacDowell's

Indian

Suite,

Carlos

Chavez's

Example7. AaronCopland,DuoforFluteandPiano,mvt. I.

Grace

note-like,

Grace

note-like,

descending

descending

I

I

I

I

Example

8.

Quinto

Maganini,

Tuolumne:

California

Rhapsody

or

Orchestra

with

TrumpetObbligato.

Grace

notes

A

Piccolo

WHOOPS

Grace notes-'

Flutes

1.solo

Oboes

Bassoons

if

pesante

f

pesante


13/29

Native American

Exoticism

in

Copland

61

Symphonia

India,

and Western

movie scores like

Stagecoach.38

n

addi-

tion,

Copland

may

also have become familiar

with their exotic

asso-

ciations

through

the

work of Elliott

Carter,

who used similar

descend-

ing "snap" figures in his ballet score Pocahontas (ex.

9).39

In 1939

Example

9. Elliott

Carter,

Pocahontas

Orchestral uite

from

the

Ballet,

conclu-

sion.

60

61

Sub.

piu

mosso

(J

=

76)

A

tempo

(J

=

63)

-

-

unis. V

Vln.

1

-ff

>? ~

I

ufespress.

"SNAPS"

unis.

Vln.

2

•f f

P

>2"2"

pizz"

pizz.

Via.

pizza

Vcl.

I

"-

I

i

"-

"•-•

•.

pp-

z..

_

f

__ __

pizz

P

62

V

~------1div.

Vn.

1

__

_

P pizz.

arco

Vln

0

-

arco

Via.

a•v

"•

p

pp cresc.

V

.f

I

Vcl.

___ ,

I_

w

~,D

,

I >

pp

cresc.

qf

p

f

-

Cb.____

_

2P

p

pp

cresc

af

p

<

a

a

Vln.

1_-_

8lrglr

Vln.

2

2

Soli

b

smorz.

Via.

I TGTP

div. 3Soli smorz.

~4P8~9unis.

pizpp

Vcla

•

•

•

-

pizz. 4

Soli

•

smorz.

~

F

PP


14/29

62

Nina

Perlove

Copland

called

the

orchestral

version of

this ballet

Carter's

"first im-

portant

orchestral

work."40

Once

again,

it

must

be

stressed

that

Cop-

land's Duo

does not

quote

figures

from

these

sources,

but

rather bor-

rows and transforms general stylistic traits that were an integral part

of

collective

Native

American

sound

images.

The

Duo's

poetic,

somewhat

mournful

second

movement

opens

with

repeated,

noncontrapuntal

piano

chords

that

linger

over both

time and

space

(ex.

10).

In

marking

the

passage

"bell-like,"

the

piano

takes on

the

characteristics of

a

prairie

church bell.41

In

this

way,

the

pianist

becomes an

immobile

voice-the

church

steeple-while

the

listeners are

placed

at a

distance,

hearing

the

ringing

from

afar.

Example

10.Aaron

Copland,

Duo

for

Fluteand

Piano,

mvt.

II.

Poetic,

somewhat

mournful

( =

circa

96)

p

freely

expressive

y

'

(r.h. to

the

ore,

bell-like)

Ped.on each

.h.

chord

simile

Although

the

beginning

of

the movement

is

lyrical

and

relaxed,

an

underlying

tension is

nevertheless

expressed

in

the

piano's

clashing

E

and E flat.

As the

movement

progresses,

the

tension

grows

until a

dramatic

climax

is

reached at

mm.

51-59

(ex.

11a).

On

the

once-calm

prairie,

Copland

introduces Old

West and

Indian sound

cliches.

The

wavering five- and six-note groups in the piano and flute produce

whooping

sounds that in

my

opinion

evoke

stereotypes

of

Native

American

tongue-wagging.

Pisani

discusses the

prevalence

of such

whoop figures

in

works

as

early

as

George

Frederick

Bristow's Arca-

dian

Symphony

(1873).42

The

effect,

also

common in

child's

play,

was

further

disseminated

as an "Old

West" cliche

by

Hollywood-for

one

example,

the

classic

1969

Sergio

Leone

film,

The

Good,

the

Bad,

and

the

Ugly.

This

Western

movie

features Mexican

and

American

outlaws

in

civil

war and

cowboy

settings.

Ennio

Morricone's

music

resonates

with Indian sound cliches to suggest the exotic world of the Ameri-

can

West

(although

specific

Native

American

characters are

not fea-

tured in

the

film).

The

main

theme,

which

is

largely

pentatonic-D

F

G A

C-employs

whistled

whoops

in

fourths

followed

by quarter

notes in

a

third-second-fourth

interval

pattern

(ex.

12).


15/29

Native

American

Exoticism in

Copland

63

Example

11a.

Aaron

Copland,

Duo

for

Flute

and

Piano,

mvt.

II.

-

-

_simile


16/29

64 Nina Perlove

Although Copland's passage

does

not

quote

from

Morricone,

I

find

it

interestingly

mirrors the

general

stylistic

elements of

the

material

(compare

ex.

11b

and

12):

the

Duo

too

employs whooping

statements,

often in ascending fourths and fifths. Following the flute whoops, the

melodic contour uses consonant intervals-a

falling

third and

falling

fifth. The next

piano

whoop,

again

in

fourths,

is followed in

the flute

line with

a

falling

third

and

rising

sixth,

echoing

the

general

contour

of Morricone's

falling

then

rising phrase,

and

employing

similar con-

sonant intervals.

Such

whooping figures

were not

signatures

of

Copland's style,

but

they

had

appeared

in his

works,

including

the Film

Suite from

The

Red

Pony

(1951)

and the

1955 Piano

Fantasy

(ex.

13).43

MOst

likely,

the

relationship between these figures in Copland and The Good, the Bad

and the

Ugly

are coincidences born of the same "Old

West,"

pastoral

"whooping" stereotype. Although

it is

unlikely

that

a

single

source

inspired

these

whooping figures, Copland

was

undoubtedly

familiar

with their Indian associations and

prevalence

in

children's

games,

especially

as he wrote:

Every

American

boy

is fascinated with

cowboys

and

Indians,

and

I

was no

exception....

For me

it

was not

necessary

to have an

experience

in

order to

compose

about it.

I

preferred

to

imagine

being

on a horse without

actually

getting

on one In

any

case, I

never

gave

much

thought

to

including

or

excluding any

kind

of

influence

from

my

work.

It

was

always

a

musical stimulus

that

got

me

started.44

Example

13.

Aaron

Copland,

Piano

Fantasy

G~b

G~b

*l~.

*

G~.

*~

*

b


17/29

Native

American Exoticism in

Copland

65

Just

as

Indianist

composers,

Hollywood

film

scores,

and

"cowboys

and Indians"

game-playing

may

have served as

Copland's

musical

stimulus,

the use of

whooping

trills

may

also have derived from

mu-

sical sources beyond those strictly associated with Old West settings.

Igor

Stravinsky,

for

example,

used similar

techniques

in

many

of his

early

works.

In

Stravinsky's pieces, whoops

and

grace

notes became

associated

with

"primitivism"

because

of their

surrounding settings.

As Paul Griffiths

noted,

the

primitive

nature of

Rite

of

Spring

(Pictures

of

Pagan

Russia)

"has obvious connections

with the

'Scythian'

move-

ment

among

Russian

artists,

who looked to

the

country's pre-Chris-

tian traditions for clues

to its future."45Richard

Taruskin shows

how,

at the turn of the

century,

the

"fancied

spiritual

wholeness

of

prime-

val man was something after which many in Russia were hankering

in

the decades

following

emancipation

and

(belated)

industrializa-

tion."46 This movement

influenced Nikolai

Roerich,

who collaborat-

ed with

Stravinsky

on Rite

of

Spring.

A

contemporary

of Roerich de-

scribed him as

utterly

absorbed

in

dreams of

prehistoric

and

religious

life-of

the

days

when

the

vast,

limitless

plains

of Russia and the shores

of her lakes

and rivers were

peopled

with the forefathers of the

present

inhabitants. Roerich's

mystic, spiritual experiences

made

him

strangely susceptible

to the charm of this ancient world. He

felt in it

something primordial

and..,

intimately

linked with

nature.47

The

Scythian

movement has

striking

similarities with the Ameri-

can noble

savage stereotype

that associated the American Indian with

pastoral settings.

Furthermore,

it is well known that

Copland's

com-

positional style

was influenced

by

Stravinsky;

in

the 1930s

Copland

was even called a

"Brooklyn

Stravinsky."4s

In noting

this

relationship,

writer and composer Lazare Saminsky (critical of Copland's "mixed

aesthetic")

related

Billy

the Kid to

Stravinsky's early

ballets and also

likened

Appalachian Spring

to

the wet

nurses' dance from

Petrushka,

sarcastically claiming

that

Copland's "Appalachian peasants

sound

more like

Appalachian

cossacks."

Saminsky

even described the

open-

ing

of

Copland's

Third

Symphony

(which

served as a model for the

Duo)

as a

"pleasing

modal theme of a

faintly

Russian

contour."49

In the

Duo,

Copland's

Stravinsky-like

grace

notes and

whoops

are

placed

within an

American musical

landscape-open prairies

and an

Americana compositional style. Copland's tendency to integrate ma-

terial

in

this

way

was described

by

Lawrence Starr:

What

Copland

does to his traditional American material is in

some

important respects analogous

to

what

Stravinsky

did with


18/29

66

Nina

Perlove

traditional

Russian

folk and

Western art

music

materials: he

sub-

jects

his

musical

subject

matter to

operations

not

previously

as-

sociated with it in

order

to

create unusual and

intense

effects of

musical

perspective;

the

result is a

commentary

of

one

musical

period,

type,

and

idiom

upon

another.50s

By

superimposing

aspects

of

Stravinsky's

ballet

idiom with

Ameri-

can sound

material,

Copland

indeed

incites

commentary by

musical-

ly

and

thematically

linking

ancient

Russian and

American

civiliza-

tions.

This dual

use of

Russian

and American

root

elements is

especially

fascinating given

Aaron

(Kaplan)

Copland's

own

ethnic

identity.

It

was the

composer's

philosophy

that artistic

creation is

a

process

of

self-discovery:

The

reason for the

compulsion

to

renewed

creativity,

it

seems to

me,

is

that each

added

work

brings

with

it an element

of

self-

discovery.

I

must

create

in

order to

know

myself,

and since

self-

knowledge

is a

never-ending

search,

each new

work is

only

a

part-answer

to the

question

"Who am

I?"51

Given

this

interpretation,

I

wonder

if

the

juxtaposition

of

Indian ex-

oticisms and Russian

primitivism

in

the

Duo

reflects the

composer's

musical search

for his

roots as both

a native-born

American

and Rus-

sian immigrant?

The

Duo's

modified-rondo third movement

has a

distinctly

heroic

quality.

The work is

introduced

by repeated

molto

sforzando

tonic

chords,

separated by

two

quarter-note

rests (ex.

14).52

In

my

opinion,

these double attacks

are

rhythmically

evocative of the

powerful forte,

tonic

chords that

introduce Beethoven's

"Eroica"

Symphony.

Because

Beethoven's Third

Symphony

is

recognized

as a

monumental

represen-

tation of

his "Heroic"

period,

these famous

chords have

become asso-

ciated with musical

heroic

gesture.

But

Copland

transformed

the

figure;

instead of

major

chords,

Copland

omitted the

third,

resulting

in

spa-

cious

open

fifths-a common

Indian

exoticism and

pastoral

clich&.53

Copland's

"heroes"

are not the

Napoleonic

figures

from

Beetho-

ven's

Europe

however,

but

uniquely

American

characters.

The flute's

Example

14.

Aaron

Copland,

Duo

for

Fluteand

Piano,

mvt.

III.

Lively,

with

bounce

(

=

134)

Piano

r

i

"•,.

-• •N.rising

flourish


19/29


Copland

67

first theme

suggests

a

cowboy

fiddle

hoedown,

employing

dotted

rhythms

similar

in

style

to the dance scenes

in

Rodeo and

Billy

the

Kid.54

find

that

the

passage

is also similar to the flute solo that be-

gins "In War Time," the third movement of Edward MacDowell's In-

dian Suite

(ex.

15).55

Copland's

passage

reflects MacDowell's basic

rhythm

and use of

thirds,

though

Copland's

flute is in

a

higher

octave. In

addition,

Co-

pland's

flute line follows a similar

rising

and

falling

contour as

the

MacDowell

melody. Although Copland's

solo is

presented

in D

ma-

jor

as

opposed

to MacDowell's

D

minor,

they

both avoid

leading

tones

(C

sharps

in

the

Duo's

passage

never lead to

D).

Furthermore,

both

solos use

eighth-eighth-quarter rhythms

as

phrase

cadences.

This

rhythm is typical of Indian stereotype, as can be heard in Chavez's

Symphonia

India

(the

figure

also

appears

as an

Indianism

in reverse

form:

quarter-eighth-eighth).56

Copland's

phrase

is

shorter

than Mac-

Dowell's,

but both end with

flourishes-Copland's

rises whereas

MacDowell's

falls.

Copland's adoption

of the

stylistic

elements

from "In

War

Time"

re-

veals an

important

link

between himself

and

MacDowell,

a

composer

whose Indianist work he

previously

criticized.57

But

Copland's

trans-

formation of

material creates an

expression

that is more

optimistic,

affirmative, and celebratory than MacDowell's "savage" foreboding.

Example

15. Edward

MacDowell,

Indian

Suite,

mvt.

III

Bestimmt und rauh.

With

rough vigor,

almost

savagely.

(

=

144)

Bien

d~cidC

et hardiment.

J

Solo

Flute

Solo Flute

~~

Piano I

f

fo---

Falling

flourish


20/29

68

Nina Perlove

Later

in

the third

movement,

Copland

employs

pointed,

jagged

rhythms

in

a

percussive

style

(ex.

16).

These

short,

accented

eighths

resemble

the "Gun Battle" movement of

Copland's

Billy

the

Kid (ex.

17). Like Billy, the Duo's texture thins so that each attack can be heard

individually.

The

piano

lines

in

both works alternate thirds and

are

written

in

low

registers,

giving

them a

dry, percussive

quality

(also

note

Billy's harp part,

which

similarly

moves

in

thirds).

The Duo's re-

peated

notes create the

effect

of

single pitched

percussion, emphasiz-

ing

harmonic stasis.

Another

link

between the

works

is

a similar use

of

eighth-quarter-quarter

rhythmic

attacks. Given the

similarities

in

style

between the Duo and

Billy

the

Kid,

I

feel that the

pointed

attacks

in the Duo

take on a

bullet-like character.

Example

16.

Aaron

Copland,

Duo

for

Fluteand

Piano,

mvt.

III.

f

(marc.

sempre)

repeated pitches

>

(marc.

sempre)

•>

-

3rds

. .

10

-_

_••

t,>

3,I.,,

•

•

....

> >

8

>

8------------------------------

,1_

i?

?

?I• ,

,• 3

I

•,

',

Y " Y

;

*"Y ? Y

tt #

,•

t

.. .. .


21/29


Copland

69

Example

17.

Aaron

Copland, Billy

the Kid

Suite,

"Gun Battle."

Tpt.

Tbn

3

__ _ _ _ __ _ _ __ __ _

_ _

con

sord.

Tuba

Timp.

Sn. Dr

_ _ _ _

3rds

Harp

S>

> > >

8ba-

ba

..................~...........~.............................................~~.~~.

2 J

+ + +

Hn

repeated pitches

div•

-2

.

senzasord.

Tpt.

3

marcato,

on

egato

>

Tbn

3

B.

Am

?>

>

>

S•

•

_________________

B

Ih•___-_

___

_

__ ____ __

-

___

Harp>

>

>

Piano

non

_

leao

>-

>8-

0n

,

•

. .

F•

,

.'

•

',•

I -

I-J

l ;

,,I

--

" l > >

I I

>

'

[aj>

>

8b

.>

..r

bu•

..

>•

>

•


22/29

70

Nina

Perlove

At the

movement's

conclusion,

percussive

attacks

merge

with

a

fiddle-dance

style.

The

flute's

high-register,

ascending grace

notes

build tension

and

signal

the

grand szforzando

finale,

which

is

as

bril-

liant, explosive, and optimistic as July Fourth fireworks (ex. 18).

Although Copland

may

not have

openly

recognized

or

acknowl-

edged

the

contributions of

MacDowell

or the

Indianist

school,

his

own

work

may

have

nevertheless

been

influenced

by

the

very

clich6s

these

composers

created and

perpetuated.

Furthermore,

his

deliberate

avoidance of

Indians in

Appalachian

Spring

seems a

contradiction

of

his

sympathetic

and

self-identifying

response

toward the

Natives of

Mexico. It is

therefore

likely

that

Copland's

distancing

from

the

In-

dianists had

more to

do with

his

disapproval

of

their German

Roman-

tic context than with an overall disinterest in Native material and sub-

jects.

After

all,

Copland

believed that

the

formation of a

unique

American

composition

school

required

liberation

from the

Germanic

tradition,

including

the

previous

generation

of

American

composers

who

had embraced

German

Romantic

ideals.

Unlike the

nineteenth-

Example

18.

Aaron

Copland,

Duo

or

Fluteand

Piano,

mvt.

III

conclusion

(flute

part).

marc. e

stacc.

-i

6)

non

legato

mf

17

sim.

stacc. >

Sf

mf

18• (don'thurry)

>

?

>

•,--.

> ,.

'.

Broaden tempo

somewhat

if

m

.

,

,

,

•

,

ff marc.

f


23/29

Native American Exoticism

in

Copland

71

century

American

composers

trained in

Leipzig,

Munich,

and

Dres-

den,

Copland

and

his

contemporaries

studied in Paris

and

developed

as

composers

during

and between the world

wars,

when anti-German

sentiments were intense. Although German- and French-trained

Arthur Farwell

similarly

called for a national music that was

"sufficiently

un-German,"58 Copland may

still have considered

him

a

representative

member

of the old

guard

from

which he wished to

separate

himself. As Pisani

recently suggested, Copland

"turned

away

from both the 'realism' of Indian themes as an American source and

the Germanic

training

that had formed a foundation for the work of

most of the

previous generation.

The 1890s cachet of Indianism had

now

become tainted

with

genteelism

and

quite

simply,

bad taste."59

When Charles Ives (the Great Modernist), Quinto Maganini, and

Elliott Carter

(Maganini

and Carter were

both

members of Nadia's

"Boulangerie")

used Indian

topics

for their

pieces,

however,

Copland

praised

the

works,

perhaps

because he

approved

of

the

context used

by

his

contemporary colleagues.60

But because Native American ref-

erences had become so

closely

associated

with the

German-trained

nineteenth-century

American

composers,

Copland may

have tried to

personally

distance himself from all Indianism for fear of

being

grouped

with

his

genteel predecessors.

A

similar anti-German distanc-

ing was expressed by Copland regarding his opinions of Schoenberg,

Berg,

and Webern:

"I was interested and fascinated

by

them. I did not

go along

with the

expressive

character of their music. It still sound-

ed

very

nineteenth

century

and

highly

romantic. That was

just

the

thing

we were

trying

to

get away

from."61

In

this

context,

Copland's

desire

to

keep

Indian

characters out of

ballets such as

Appalachian Spring may

have been a result of his wish

to

guarantee

that

his

work would not

be

confused

with

the

previous

generation

of

Hiawatha

settings.

This attitude may explain Copland's sentimentality toward Mexi-

can

Indians;

since this

specific region's

Native

subjects

had

not

been

a

primary

focus of German-trained Indianist

composers, they may

have carried less associative

weight.

To

Copland,

Mexican Indian

sub-

jects

were

specifically

linked

with

Carlos

Chavez,

who

first

introduced

Copland

to Mexico and

who

explored

Indian

subjects

and musical

ideas as the basis for his Mestizo movement

(works

include the Az-

tec ballet Los Cuatro Soles

[1926], Sinfonia

India

[1935],

and

Xochipilli-

Macuilxochitl

for

Traditional ndian Instruments

[1940]).

It is well known

that Copland's friendship with Chavez inspired works like El Salon

Mexico,

and

Copland

took

pride

in

the fact that critics called

his

piece

"as Mexican as the music of Revueltas."62

However,

the

"Mestizo

musical

style" may

have influenced

Copland

much more than has

previously

been

examined,

especially

because he viewed it as

specifi-


24/29

72 Nina Perlove

cally

distinct

from the

European

tradition that influenced

the

Ameri-

can "Indianists."

Chavez

may

have

used Native

subjects

in his

piec-

es,

but he was first and

foremost

a

"modernist."63 Copland

himself

wrote:

The

principal imprint

of the Indian

personality-its deepest

reflection in the music of our

hemisphere-is

to be found in the

present-day

school of Mexican

composers,

and

especially

Carlos

Chavez and Silvestre Revueltas. With them it is not so much a

question

of themes as it is of character.

...

Chavez' music

is,

above

all,

profoundly

non-European

[emphasis mine].

To me it

possesses

an

Indian

quality

that is at the same time

curiously

contemporary

in

spirit.

Sometimes

it

strikes me as the most tru-

ly contemporary music I know, not in the superficial sense, but

in

the sense that

it

comes closest to

expressing

the

fundamental

reality of

modern man

after

he has been

stripped of

the accumulations

of

centuries

of

aesthetic

experiences

[emphasis mine].64

To

Copland,

the

centuries

of

accumulated aesthetic

experience

was

precisely

the

European

tradition he so wanted to avoid.

An

understanding

of the Native American sound clich6s

in

the

Duo

may

help

explain why Copland

returned to a

popular style

for this

1971 flute piece. In the thirties and forties, Copland's popular com-

positions

often reflected wartime sentiments. The

composer

wrote of

Appalachian

Spring:

In

1944,

with

World War

II at its

grimmest

and the world in tur-

moil,

people

yearned

for the kind of

pastoral landscape

and

in-

nocent love that Martha Graham's most

lyrical

ballet offered.

AppalachianSpring

affirmed traditional American values that were

being

dramatically challenged by

Nazism. Audiences

knew

im-

mediately

what the

country

was

fighting

for when

they

saw

Ap-

palachian

Spring.65

The birth

year

of the

Duo,

1971,

was

again

"wartime"

for the United

States.

During

the Vietnam

War

however,

the

public

was

divided

about America's involvement.

Returning

soldiers

were not

always

greeted

with

a

hero's

welcome,

and traditional American values were

being challenged,

not embraced.

Given

the

interpretation

of the Duo as a reflection of wartime atti-

tudes,

the work becomes

a

prime example

of

Copland's ability

to

present contemporary life in a musical setting-a goal he felt was es-

sential to

the role of

artistic creation.

Four

years

after the Duo's

pre-

mier,

Copland

revealed his

view:

[The

artist's]

importance

to

society,

in the

deepest

sense,

is that


25/29

Native American Exoticism

in

Copland

73

the work he does

gives

substance and

meaning

to life as we live

it...

Obviously,

we

depend

on the

great

works of the

past

for

many

of our

most

profound

artistic

experiences,

but

not even the

greatest symphony of Beethoven or the greatest cantata of Bach

can

say

what

we

can

say

about

our own time and our own

life....

It's not a

question

of

simply depending

on the

great

works

of

the

past-they

are wonderful

and

cherishable,

but that's not

enough.

We as

a nation must be able to

put

down

in

terms

of art

what

it

feels

like to be alive

now,

in our own

time,

in our own

country.66

Copland's

Duo,

which

at

times

suggests

conflict and

warfare,

may

be

interpreted

as

a

reflection

of

contemporary

American events.

But

the

"noble

savage"

Indianisms

and affirmative nature of the conclud-

ing

movement

give

the work an overall sense of

optimism.

Because

noble

savage stereotype

evoked the

"good

old

days"

of

serenity,

peace, dignity,

and

stability,67

Copland's

adaptation

of Indian musi-

cal exoticisms within an affirmative

popular

context

may

express

nos-

talgia

not

only

for

"precivilization,"

but

also

a

longing

for the era of

popular

works like

Appalachian Spring

and

Billy

the Kid-a time when

even war seemed

uncomplicated.68

It

is,

after

all,

the

positive quali-

ties

of life that

Copland's

music

repeatedly expressed.

As

H.

Wiley

Hitchcock

noted,

Copland's

music

is all

"affirmative,

yea-saying, pos-

itive,

optimistic.

It

says

that

life,

American

life,

has

precious

and cher-

ishable values."69 This

was a character

Copland

specifically

identified

with American music

and which he

acknowledged

derived from the

philosophies

of MacDowell.

Copland

said:

In a

lecture

delivered sometime before

1907,

the American com-

poser

Edward

MacDowell said:

"What we must arrive

at

is

the

youthful

optimistic vitality

and the undaunted

tenacity

of

spirit

that characterizes the American man. That is what I

hope

to

see

echoed in American music." I think MacDowell's hope has been

fulfilled-partly

at least-for

if

there

is a

school

of

American com-

posers, optimism

is

certainly

its

keynote.70

Although

Copland may

have differed

from

MacDowell

by trying

to

distance himself

from the

German-European

musical

past,

he

certainly

shares

MacDowell's artistic

optimism.

Whether

Copland

realized

it

or

not,

by

the first

half

of the twenti-

eth

century,

Indian

musical

cliches

had

become

a

permanent

part

of

the American

sound

tradition,

repeatedly

reinforced

by

art

compos-

ers,

film-score

arrangers,

and even

playing

children. It

may

even be

said

that Native American musical exoticisms

had

become,

like "no-

ble

savage" mythology

of the

era,

an inextricable

part

of

America's

musical

landscape.

As Pisani commented:


26/29

74 Nina Perlove

The

suggestion

of wide

open

spaces...

and the

earthy simplici-

ty

and directness of some concert music of the 1930s and 1940s

came

to

be

irrevocably

associated with Americanism: a

pastoral

simplicity based on the pentatonicism of folk tunes and the spa-

ciousness of

parallel

chords and

open

fifths. The influence of the

Indianist school

lingered,

though

the source of that influence was

suppressed.71

Unlike the works of

previous

American

composers,

Copland's

Duo

for

Flute and Piano

places

Native American sound

images

within a non-

Germanic

context,

making

the

piece

a

unique expression

of

Copland's

own

time

in

his

own

country.

NOTES

I

would like to thank bruce

mcclung,

Richard

Crawford,

and the

anonymous

review-

ers of AmericanMusic for

reading

this

paper

and

offering insightful

comments and

sug-

gestions.

I

would

also

like to thank Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon and Frank Samarotto for

looking

over

my analysis

with

keen theoretical

eyes.

1.

John

Wyton,

"The

Copland-Solum Correspondence,

1967-1975: The Duo

for

Flute

and Piano

Commission,"

Flutist

Quarterly

17

(Winter 1992):

33-43.

2. Aaron

Copland

and Vivian

Perlis,

Copland:

Since 1943

(New

York: St.

Martin's/

Marek, 1984),

376.

3.

Schuyler

Chapin,

"A

Gift

to

Be

Simple," SymphonyMagazine

42

(March-April

1991):

25;

Wilfrid

Mellers,

"Homage

to Aaron

Copland," Tempo

95

(Winter 1970-71):

4.

4. Howard

Pollack,

Aaron

Copland:

he

Life

and Work

f

an UncommonMan

(New

York:

Henry

Holt, 1999),

529.

5.

In

this

paper

any

reference

to

so-called

Indian or Indianist musical

style

refers to

common

musical

stereotypesregarding

Native Americans as created and

perpetuated

ei-

ther

by

"Indianist" art

composers

(who

often

tried to use

ethnographic

sources

for their

material),

"primitivist"

mainstream sound

stereotypes

such as

from art

composers,

burlesque

shows,

and radio

programs,

and/or

by "Hollywood

Indian"

cliches.

The

combination

of

these

sources contributed to a

mainstream,

publicly

recognizable

idi-

om which for the purposes of this paper is more significant than attempting to trace a

possible

"authentic"

source,

which is itself

problematic

to

define because Native Amer-

icans are

made

up

of hundreds of distinct tribal

groups

with

unique

musical and

cul-

tural

practices. Copland

did

not

research "authentic"

Indian musical

sources,

but

was

likely

influenced

by

the combined

impact

of

stereotypes

mentioned above.

6. Aaron

Copland

and Vivian

Perlis,

Copland:

1900

through

1942

(New

York: St. Mar-

tin's/Marek, 1984), 1,

3-4.

7.

Aaron

Copland,

Music and

Imagination (Cambridge:

Harvard

University

Press,

1953),

97.

8.

Other American

composers

whom

Copland

classified

as the

important young

com-

posers

of the twenties and

thirties

who

lived

and/or

studied

abroad include

Virgil

Thomson, Randall Thompson, G. Herbert Elwell, Roger Sessions, Avery Claflin, Ed-

mund

Pendleton,

Douglas

Moore,

Quinto

Maganini,

Howard

Hanson,

and

Henry

Cow-

ell. See Aaron

Copland, Copland

on Music

(New

York:W. W.

Norton, 1963),

143-52.

9.

Copland,

Music and

Imagination,

100.

10. Arthur

Berger,

"Aaron

Copland

1900-1990,"

Perspectives

of

New

Music

30

(Win-

ter

1992):

296-97.


27/29

Native American

Exoticism

in

Copland

75

11.

Copland,

Music and

Imagination,

26.

12.

Ibid.,

103-4.

13. Arthur

Berger,

Aaron

Copland

(New

York:

Oxford

University

Press, 1953),

60.

14.

Copland

and

Perlis,

Copland:

Since

1943,

68.

15.Copland,MusicandImagination,6.

16. Ibid.

17.

Ibid.,

91.

18. From the notebooks of

Martha Graham. Cited

by

Michael Vincent

Pisani,

"Exotic

Sounds

in

the Native Land:

Portrayals

of

North American Indians

in

Western

Music,"

Ph.D.

thesis,

Eastman School

of

Music, 1996,

523. Pisani's source for this

information was

Marta

Robertson,

"Scores of

Evidence: Martha Graham's

Musical

Collaborations,"

un-

published paper

read at the Sonneck

Society

Conference in

Madison,

Wisconsin,

April

1995.

In

her

research,

Robertson found that Graham

originally

intended to

have an

In-

dian

girl appear

in the

ballet,

but took the character out at

Copland's

insistence

(tele-

phone

discussion

with

Marta

Robertson,

1999).

See also

Pollack,

Aaron

Copland,

394.

19. Copland and Perlis, Copland:Since 1943, 376.

20.

Copland

and

Perlis,

Copland:

1900

through

1942, 298;

and

Berger,

Aaron

Copland,

87,

89.

21. Wilfrid Mellers wrote of

Copland's

1941

Piano

Sonata,

"The

suggestion

of time-

lessness

in

Copland's

work is...

not unconnected

with

America's

physical,

geograph-

ical vastness. The stillness and

solitude

of the

prairie

lurk behind all his urban

sophis-

tication."

Quoted

by Berger,

"Aaron

Copland

1900-1990,"

297.

22.

The common connection between Indians and

landscape

imagery

of the Ameri-

can West is discussed

in

Pisani,

"Exotic Sounds in the Native

Land," 9, 35,

521,

and

Michael

V.

Pisani,

"The

Indian Music Debate and 'American' Music

in

the

Progressive

Era,"

College

Music

Symposium

37

(1997):

88-93.

23. Gilbert

Chase,

"The 'Indianist'

Movement

in

American

Music,"

New

World

Records,

NW-213,

liner notes.

24. Pisani's

in-depth

discussion of

nineteenth-century

Hiawatha

settings

is a

major

focus of his

thesis,

as cited

above. Some

composers

who

explored

Hiawatha themes

include

Rubin

Goldmark

(Copland's

former

teacher),

Robert

Stoepel,

Ellsworth

Phelps,

Louis

Coerne,

Carl

Busch,

and Arthur

Foote. See also Pisani's

article,

"Longfellow,

Robert

Stoepel,

and an

Early

Musical

Setting

of Hiawatha

(1859),"

American

Music 16

(Spring

1998):

45-85.

25.

Copland

and

Perlis,

Copland:

1900

through

1942,

216.

26. For

a

complete

discussion of Indian

exoticism,

see Michael

V.

Pisani,

"'I'm an

Indian Too':Creating Native American Indian Identities in Nineteenth- and Early Twen-

tieth-Century

Music,"

in

The Exotic in Western

Music,

ed.

Jonathan

Bellman

(Boston:

Northeastern

Documents

Inherited Sound Images Native American Exoticism in Aaron Copland's Duo for Flute And