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THE BOULANGER CONNECTION. Nadia Boulanger (1887 - 1979). THE BOULANGER CONNECTION. Aaron Copland (1900 - 1990) Walter Piston (1894 - 1976) Virgil Thomson (1896 - 1989) Roy Harris (1898 - 1979) William Schuman (1910 - Vincent Persichetti (1915 - Philip Glass (1937 -
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THE BOULANGER CONNECTION • Nadia Boulanger (1887 - 1979)
THE BOULANGER CONNECTION • Aaron Copland (1900 - 1990) • Walter Piston (1894 - 1976) • Virgil Thomson (1896 - 1989) • Roy Harris (1898 - 1979) • William Schuman (1910 - • Vincent Persichetti (1915 - • Philip Glass (1937 - • Jon Polifrone (1937 - • Marc Blitzstein (1905 - 1964) PARIS
AARON COPLAND1900 - 1990 • parents were from Poland and Lithuania • born in Brooklyn • studied harmony, counterpoint and sonata form under Goldmark • saw Ives’s Concord Sonata at Goldmark’s studio but was not allowed to become “contaminated” by it • went to the new American Conservatory at Fontainebleau in 1920 • studied with Boulanger until 1924
AARON COPLAND1900 - 1990 • met Roussel, Prokofiev, Milhaud and Koussevitzky • heard the premiere of Ravel’s orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition • spent his summers in Berlin • interested in jazz • 1924 - began as a private teacher • music began to attract the attention of the BSO under K., the MacDowell Colony and the Guggenheim Foundation
AARON COPLAND1900 - 1990 • 1928-1931 - sponsored a series of new music concerts with Roger Sessions • helped found the Arrow Music Press, the Yaddo Festivals and taught at the New School for Social Research • 1935 & 1944 taught at Harvard (Piston) • first American composer to hold the Norton Professor of Poetics at Harvard - lectures published as Music and Imagination • 1940 - teacher and advisor at the Berkshire Music Center (established by K)
AARON COPLANDHonors and Awards • 1945 - Pulitzer Prize • 1945 - New York Music Critics’ Circle Award • 1950 - “Oscar” • 1956 - Gold Medal from the National Institute of Arts and Letters • 1956 - honorary degree from Princeton • 1964 - Presidential Medal of Freedom • 1970 - Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany • 1970 - Howland Prize of Yale University
AARON COPLAND2 Operas including • his social concerns resulted in his opera for children, with a chorus of parents, The Second Hurricane (1936)
AARON COPLAND30 Orchestral Works including • 1933-1936 El salon Mexico led to his permanent contract with Boosey & Hawkes as his publisher • 1939 - Quiet City • 1942 - Fanfare for the Common Man; Lincoln Portrait • 1947-1948 - Clarinet Concerto for Benny Goodman
AARON COPLAND19 pieces of Chamber Musicincluding • 1923 - 2 Pieces for String Quartet • 1939 - Quiet City (orig. unpub.)
AARON COPLAND25 works for Keyboard including • 1920-1921 - Three Moods: Embittered, Wistful, Jazzy • 1930 - Piano Variations • 1947,1934,1948,1926 - 4 Piano Blues • 1977 - Midsummer Nocturne (his last composition)
AARON COPLAND12 pieces of Choral Musicincluding • 1925 - The House on the Hill (Women’s U. Glee Club) • 1955 - Canticle of Freedom (MIT)
AARON COPLAND12 Songs including • 1944-1945 - 12 Poems of Emily Dickinson • Old American Songs • Old American Songs, set 2
AARON COPLAND8 Film Scores including • 1939 - Of Mice and Men • 1940 - Our Town • 1948 - The Red Pony
AARON COPLAND6 Ballets including • 1938 - Billy the Kid comm. by Lincoln Kirstein for Eugene Loring • 1942 - Rodeo for Agnes de Mille • 1943-1944 - Appalachian Spring for Martha Graham
AARON COPLANDStyle • plain, clean-colored, deeply imaginative, theatrically functional
AARON COPLANDAppalachian Spring • written in 1943-1944 for Martha Graham • scored for fl, cl, bn, pf, 4 vn, 2 va, 2vc, db • Premiere in Wash., DC Oct. 30, 1944 • full orch. suite - 1945 • Copland: “orchestral know-how consists in keeping instruments out of each other’s way” • never conventional • uses irregular rhythms (5/8 and 7/8) but never for an entire movement
AARON COPLANDAppalachian Spring • Shaker Tune is unusual in that it is not modified and it is the only borrowed tune with variations • Simple Gifts (after Copland) was adopted into the repertory of schools, churches and by folksingers • the music always turns to simplicity • Commissioned by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge • title is from a poem by Hart Crane
AARON COPLAND:QUIET CITY • 1940 - re-cycled his original 4-instr. 1939 score for Irwin Shaw’s Quiet City (the play never made it to Broadway) • new scoring is for English horn, trumpet and strings • premiered by the Saidenburg Little Symphony 1/28/41 at Town Hall • Boston premiere on 4/18/41 conducted by Koussevitsky