Chapter 21:Alternatives to Modernism

Aaron Copland

Key Terms

Neoclassicism

Nationalism

Ballet

Square dance

Hymn

Theme and variations

Aaron Copland

The leading U.S. composer 1925-1950

“Roaring 20s” encouraged modernism• Favorable climate for new European ideas• Many Americans lived abroad – Gertrude Stein,

T. S. Eliot, Ernest Hemingway, etc.• Stravinsky’s Neoclassical style influenced

several generations of U.S. composers

Copland began a full-fledged modernist• His Piano Variations (1930) uses dissonant

harmonies & Stravinsky-like rhythms• But his music soon grew more traditional

Music for Americans

Copland adopted a nationalist agenda

Used American music of all kinds, regions, & ages

• Jazz – Music for the Theater, Clarinet Concerto• Cowboy songs – Rodeo, Billy the Kid• A Shaker hymn – Appalachian Spring• Square dancing – The Tender Land, Rodeo• Old hymns – 12 Poems of Emily Dickinson

Wrote music that is recognizably American

Aaron Copland(1900-1990)

Son of immigrants in Brooklyn• Began musical studies in New York• In 1920s studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris

Once home he promoted American music• Copland-Sessions concerts, books, articles• Attracted by idea that art “serve the people”

Turned to folk materials in the 1930s• Works celebrate traditional American values• Lincoln Portrait, Fanfare for the Common Man

Late works a bit more modernist again

Copland, Appalachian Spring

One of Copland’s most famous works

Ballet score choreographed & danced by Martha Graham

• “a pioneer celebration in spring around a newly built farmhouse in the Pennsylvania hills in the first part of the last century”

• Distinctive, wide-open American sound• Evokes a square dance, quotes a Shaker hymn

Copland arranged a concert suite for full orchestra in six continuous sections

Appalachian Spring, Section 1

Opens with still, clear, static passage• Evokes stillness of dawn & spaciousness of a

vast landscape• Simple, meditative motives in counterpoint

juxtapose A & E triads • Motives alternate with slow, lyric melody• An occasional solemn pulse in the harp

Appalachian Spring, Section 2 (1)

“The bride-to-be and the young farmer husband enact the emotions, joyful and apprehensive, their new domestic partnership invited”

Starts with lively hoedown theme• Mixed with Section 1 arpeggio motives

Slower, arching, hymnlike melody looms• Used in counterpoint with dance figures

Appalachian Spring, Section 2 (2)

Stravinsky-like rhythms take over dance

Ends with slow, prayerful version of hymn• And a few last dance fragments

Appalachian Spring, Section 5 (1)

A set of four variations on “Simple Gifts”• A Shaker hymn – “’Tis the gift to be simple”

Appalachian Spring, Section 5 (2)

Copland doesn’t vary the tune itself• Variations present the tune using different

instruments, keys, tempos, & accompaniments• Imitation & busy background tapestry in

Variation 2• Lively contrapuntal texture in Variation 3• Climactic Variation 4 is one of Copland’s most

famous “sound bites”

Appalachian Spring, Section 6

Starts slowly with simple lyric theme• “like a prayer” according to the program• Copland said it should sound like a church

organ• Repeats several times in varied versions

Arching hymn from Section 2 returns

Ends with simple motives from Section 1• Concludes very softly• Music evokes the many still dawns this pioneer

couple will face in the years to come