Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland was born on November 14, 1900 in Brooklyn as the youngest of five children.  His sisters taught him how to play the piano when he was eleven years old.  As a young man he went to France to study at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, where he studies with Nadia Boulanger.  He was inspired by Schoenberg, Bartok, Ravel, and Stravinsky.  In 1924 he completed his studies and returned to the U.S.

The 1920s and 1930s were a period of deep concern for Copland.  He worried about the limited audience for new, and especially American music.  He was active in many organizations devoted to performance and sponsorship of new music.  These included, the Copland-Sessions concerts, the American Composers’ Alliance, and the League of Composers.  His fellow composer Virgil Thomson nicknamed him “American music’s natural president.”

Beginning in the mid 1930s Copland made a serious effort to widen the audience for American music. He took steps by changing his style when writing pieces for different occasions.  He composed for theater, ballet, and films as well as more traditional concert settings.  In his ballet “Billy the Kid” (1938) he uses folk melodies to be broadly recognized as “American.” 

Copland’s concern for establishing a tradition of music in American life only increased throughout his life. He taught at Harvard and published several books.  He died in 1990.  He has been remembered as a man who encouraged composers to find their own voice, no matter the style, just as he did for sixty years.