Appalachian Spring
Aaron Copland
About the Music
Born in Brooklyn, NY on November 14, 1900, Aaron Copland defined what it was to be an American composer in the 20th Century. As a champion of American music, Copland spent the majority of his career as a composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor; he was referred to by his contemporaries as “the Dean of American Composers.” Most of his best known works were written between 1930-1950 and contributed harmonically and melodically to the sound that became known as the American vernacular. These include Billy the Kid, Rodeo, Fanfare for the Common Man, the Third Symphony, and his most iconic work (and the one that you will hear on tonight’s program), Appalachian Spring.
Copland was the youngest of five children in a Conservative Jewish family of Lithuanian origins. His father, Harris Morris Copland, had no musical interest; however, his mother, Sarah Miittenthal Copland, sang and played the piano. She arranged for music lessons for all five of her children, and most of Copland’s early exposure to music was at Jewish weddings and ceremonies. He began writing short songs at eight years old, and his earliest surviving notated music came from when he was eleven years old. Copland began his formal music education on the piano and would eventually study harmony, theory, and composition under the tutelage of Rubin Goldmark. After high school, Copland made the decision to further his studies in Paris, where he worked with Nadia Boulanger for three years. About his time with Boulanger he wrote, “it was wonderful for me to find a teacher with such openness of mind, while at the same time she held firm ideas of right and wrong in musical matters. The confidence she has in my talents and her belief in me were at the very least flattering and more–they were crucial to my development at the time of my career.”
After his time in Paris, Copland returned to New York in 1925 optimistic about his future as a composer. While great success was not immediate, Copland was able to keep himself afloat during the Depression, mostly due to two Guggenheim Fellowships (1925 and 1926), the generosity of wealthy patrons, and mentorships with influential musical figures like Serge Koussevitzky, the music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Inspired by composition circles in France, Copland forged close bonds with his contemporaries such as Roger Sessions, Roy Harris, Virgil Thomson, and Walter Piston, and firmly established himself as a spokesperson for his generation of composers. Throughout the 1920s and 30s he continued to compose, teach, give lectures, and write regularly for The New York Times and The Musical Quarterly. The 1940s were Copland’s most productive years and the works he produced during this period would cement his status as a musical icon.
Copland began working on Appalachian Spring in 1943 and completed the following year. The work was commissioned as a ballet by legendary choreographer and dancer Martha Graham and was supported by the Coolidge Foundation under the recommendation of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. When Copland delivered the score to Graham in 1944 it was originally entitled, Ballet for Martha, which would eventually become the subtitle after Graham suggested Appalachian Spring in honor of Hart Crane’s poem, “The Bridge.” The ballet was premiered on October 30, 1944 at the Library of Congress with Graham dancing the leading role. The following year conductor Artus Rodziński commissioned Copland to rearrange the ballet as an orchestral suite, which is a slightly condensed version of the ballet. This version was recorded the same year by Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Over the next three decades Copland produced two more versions of the work, the full ballet scored for full orchestra for Eugene Ormandy and the 1972 suite version for the original 13 instruments. Tonight, you will here this final version, the suite for 13 instruments.
The ballet’s narrative recounts a spring celebration of American pioneers in the 19th century upon completion of their new Pennsylvania farmhouse. The central characters include a bride, a groom, a pioneer woman, a preacher, and his congregation. The orchestral suite is divided into eight sections that capture the primary events of the ballet. In his descriptions of the sections Copland writes:
1. Very slowly. Introduction of the characters, one by one, in a suffused light.
2. Fast/Allegro. Sudden burst of unison strings in A major arpeggios starts the action. A sentiment both elated and religious gives the keynote to this scene.
3. Moderate/Moderato. Duo for the Bride and her Intended – scene of tenderness and passion.
4. Quite fast. The Revivalist and his flock. Folksy feeling – suggestions of square dances and country fiddlers.
5. Still faster/Subito Allegro. Solo dance of the Bride – presentiment of motherhood. Extremes of joy and fear and wonder.
6. Very slowly (as at first). Transition scene to music reminiscent of the introduction.
7. Calm and flowing/Doppio Movimento. Scenes of daily activity for the Bride and her Farmer husband. There are five variations on a Shaker theme. The theme, sung by a solo clarinet, was taken from a collection of Shaker melodies compiled by Edward D. Andrews, and published under the title “The Gift to Be Simple.” The melody borrowed and used almost literally is called “Simple Gifts.”
8. Moderate. Coda/Moderato - Coda. The Bride takes her place among her neighbors. At the end the couple are left “quiet and strong in their new house.” Muted strings intone a hushed prayerlike chorale passage. The close is reminiscent of the opening music.
Note by Christina Dioguardi