Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, critic, writer, teacher, pianist, and conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as the "Dean of American Composers". The open, slowly changing harmonies in much of his music are typical of what many consider the sound of American music, evoking the vast American landscape and pioneer spirit. He is best known for the works he wrote in the 1930s and 1940s in a deliberately accessible style often referred to as "populist" and which he called his "vernacular" style. Works in this vein include the ballets ''Appalachian Spring'', ''Billy the Kid'' and ''Rodeo'', his ''Fanfare for the Common Man'' and Third Symphony. In addition to his ballets and orchestral works, he produced music in many other genres, including chamber music, vocal works, opera, and film scores.

After some initial studies with composer Rubin Goldmark, Copland traveled to Paris, where he first studied with Isidor Philipp and Paul Vidal, then with noted pedagogue Nadia Boulanger. He studied three years with Boulanger, whose eclectic approach to music inspired his own broad taste. Determined upon his return to the U.S. to make his way as a full-time composer, Copland gave lecture-recitals, wrote works on commission and did some teaching and writing. But he found that composing orchestral music in a modernist style, which he had adopted while studying abroad, was unprofitable, particularly in light of the Great Depression. He shifted in the mid-1930s to a more accessible musical style that mirrored the German idea of ("music for use"), music that could serve utilitarian and artistic purposes. During the Depression years, he traveled extensively to Europe, Africa, and Mexico, formed an important friendship with Mexican composer Carlos Chávez, and began composing his signature works.

During the late 1940s, Copland became aware that Stravinsky and other fellow composers had begun to study Arnold Schoenberg's use of twelve-tone (serial) techniques. After he had been exposed to the works of French composer Pierre Boulez, he incorporated serial techniques into his ''Piano Quartet'' (1950), ''Piano Fantasy'' (1957), ''Connotations'' for orchestra (1961), and ''Inscape'' for orchestra (1967). Unlike Schoenberg, Copland used his tone rows in much the same fashion as his tonal material—as sources for melodies and harmonies, rather than as complete statements in their own right, except for crucial events from a structural point of view. From the 1960s onward, Copland's activities turned more from composing to conducting. He became a frequent guest conductor of orchestras in the U.S. and the UK and made a series of recordings of his music, primarily for Columbia Records. Provided by Wikipedia
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  1. 841

    The war : a Ken Burns film : soundtrack and music from the Second World War. by Marsalis, Wynton, 1961-

    New York, NY : Legacy : Distributed by Sony BMG Music Entertainment, 2007
    Deluxe ed.
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    Format: Audio


  2. 842

    Anthology of twentieth-century music

    Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, 1988
    2nd ed.
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    Format: Musical Score Book


  3. 843

    The comprehensive study of music. Volume IV, Anthology of music from Debussy through Stockhausen

    New York ; Hagerstown ; San Francisco ; London : Harper's College Press, a department of Harper & Row, Publishers, 1976
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    Format: Musical Score Book


  4. 844

    Anthology of music from Debussy through Stockhausen

    New York : Harper's College Press, 1976
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    Format: Musical Score Book


  5. 845

    Piano music in America : 1900-1945.

    Englewood Cliffs, NJ : VoxBox, 1993
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    Format: Audio


  6. 846

    Anthology of twentieth-century music

    New York : W.W. Norton, 1992
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    Format: Musical Score Book


  7. 847

    Teaching music through performance in choir : resource recordings. Volume 1, Levels 1-3.

    Chicago, IL : GIA Publications, 2006
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    Format: Audio


  8. 848

    Teaching music through performance in band : resource recordings. Volume 1, grades 2 and 3.

    Chicago : GIA Publications, 1998
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    Format: Audio


  9. 849

    Complete recordings 1944-1953

    [New York] : RCA Red Seal : Sony Music, 2013
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    Format: Audio


  10. 850

    A rhapsody in blue : the extraordinary life of Oscar Levant.

    [Place of publication not identified] : Sony Music Entertainment, 2018
    Special edition.
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    Format: Audio


  11. 851

    A history of music in western culture. Volume two, The classical era through the present

    Upper Saddle River, N.J. : [Place of publication not identified] : Prentice Hall ; Sony Music Custom Marketing Group, 2010
    3rd ed.
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    Format: CD Audio