Copland, Aaron 1900 - 1990
Author: Saitoh, Noriko
Last updated：August 1, 2008
Author: Saitoh, Noriko
An American composer, born and died in New York. He grew up as the fifth child of Russian-Jewish parents. He published an autobiography titled Our New Music in 1941. This book also has a Japanese translation (Gendai Ongaku Nyumon [Introduction to Modern Music], translated by Akihiro Tsukaya, 1957). Music did not abound in the home where Copland was born and raised. In his mid-teens, he decided to pursue composition of his own volition and studied harmony with Rubin Goldmark (1872–1936), nephew of the composer Karl Goldmark. After graduating from high school in 1918, he began composing songs and piano pieces while studying works by Haydn, Beethoven, Chopin, Wagner, Debussy, Scriabin, and others. His approximately three-year study abroad in France from 1921 became a turning point for Copland's later creative activities.
Upon returning to the United States with his debut work composed in France, Symphony for Organ and Orchestra (1924), he caught the attention of Koussevitzky and received a commission from the League of Composers. Thereafter, Copland's name became widely known through achievements such as receiving the Guggenheim Fellowship (1925 and 1926) and winning the RCA Victor competition. For Appalachian Spring (1944), he received the 1945 Pulitzer Prize and the New York Music Critics' Circle Award. He continued to produce numerous representative works, but his output became sparse around 1970.
Copland's range of activities was extremely broad, including composing film scores, conducting, and engaging in music professorship and criticism. His compositional style underwent significant changes throughout his life; his early style favored the use of jazz techniques, but he later gravitated towards Neoclassicism. In his later years, he also incorporated twelve-tone technique, electronic music, and musique concrète. One can also discern a thread of modern music in his works from the 1920s onwards.
Works(23)
Concerto (1)
Piano Solo (8)
pieces (3)
character pieces (2)
Various works (7)
Piano Ensemble (1)
other dances (3)
Chamber Music (1)
