Aaron Copland And His World

by Oja, Carol J.; Tick, Judith

• ISBN13: 9780691124704
• ISBN10: 0691124701
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-08-01
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

Aaron Copland and His Worldreassesses the legacy of one of America's best-loved composers at a pivotal moment--as his life and work shift from the realm of personal memory to that of history. This collection of seventeen essays by distinguished scholars of American music explores the stages of cultural change on which Copland's long life (1900 to 1990) unfolded: from the modernist experiments of the 1920s, through the progressive populism of the Great Depression and the urgencies of World War II, to postwar political backlash and the rise of serialism in the 1950s and the cultural turbulence of the 1960s. Continually responding to an ever-changing political and cultural panorama, Copland kept a firm focus on both his private muse and the public he served. No self-absorbed recluse, he was very much a public figure who devoted his career to building support systems to help composers function productively in America. This book critiques Copland's work in these shifting contexts. The topics include Copland's role in shaping an American school of modern dance; his relationship with Leonard Bernstein; his homosexuality, especially as influenced by the writings of Andreacute; Gide; and explorations of cultural nationalism. Copland's rich correspondence with the composer and critic Arthur Berger, who helped set the parameters of Copland's reception, is published here in its entirety, edited by Wayne Shirley. The contributors include Emily Abrams, Paul Anderson, Elliott Antokoletz, Leon Botstein, Martin Brody, Elizabeth Crist, Morris Dickstein, Lynn Garafola, Melissa de Graaf, Neil Lerner, Gail Levin, Beth Levy, Vivian Perlis, Howard Pollack, and Larry Starr.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Permissions	xii
Between Memory and History: An Introduction	xv
Carol J. Oja
Judith Tick
PART I SCANNING A LIFE
Copland and the Prophetic Voice	1	(14)
Howard Pollack
Founding Sons: Copland, Sessions, and Berger on Genealogy and Hybridity	15	(32)
Martin Brody
PART II COPLAND'S GREATER CULTURAL WORLD
``To Become as Human as Possible'': The Influence of Andre Gide on Aaron Copland	47	(34)
Paul Anderson
Copland and American Populism in the 1930s	81	(20)
Morris Dickstein
From the New York Avant-Garde to Mexican Modernists: Aaron Copland and the Visual Arts	101	(20)
Gail Levin
Making an American Dance: Billy the Kid, Rodeo, and Appalachian Spring	121	(30)
Lynn Garafola
PART III COPLAND'S INNER CIRCLE
Dear Aaron, Dear Lenny: A Friendship in Letters	151	(28)
Vivian Perlis
Aaron Copland and Arthur Berger in Correspondence	179	(54)
Wayne D. Shirley
PART IV ANALYTIC PERSPECTIVES
War Drums, Tolling Bells, and Copland's Piano Sonata	233	(22)
Larry Starr
Copland's Gift to be Simple Within the Cumulative Mosaic Complexities of His Ballets	255	(22)
Elliott Antokoletz
PART V POLITICAL EDGES
Copland and the Politics of Americanism	277	(30)
Elizabeth B. Crist
From Orient to Occident: Aaron Copland and the Sagas of the Prairie	307	(44)
Beth E. Levy
Aaron Copland, Norman Rockwell, and the ``Four Freedoms'': The Office of War Information's Vision and Sound in The Cummington Story (1945)	351	(28)
Neil Lerner
Aaron Copland Meets the Soviet Composers: A Television Special	379	(16)
Emily Abrams
PART VI COPLAND AND HIS PUBLIC
Aaron Copland and the Composers' Forum-Laboratory: A Post-Concert Discussion, February 24, 1937	395	(18)
Melissa De Graaf
Copland on Television: An Annotated List of Interviews and Documentaries	413	(26)
Emily Abrams
PART VII RECONFIGURING COPLAND'S WORLD
Copland Reconfigured	439	(48)
Leon Botstein
Index	487	(12)
Notes on Contributors	499