Carol J. Oja
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195058499
- eISBN:
- 9780199865031
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195058499.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
New York City witnessed a burst of creativity in the 1920s. This artistic renaissance is examined from the perspective of composers of classical and modern music who, along with writers, painters, ...
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New York City witnessed a burst of creativity in the 1920s. This artistic renaissance is examined from the perspective of composers of classical and modern music who, along with writers, painters, and jazz musicians, were at the heart of early modernism in America. The book also illustrates how the aesthetic attitudes and institutional structures from the 1920s left a deep imprint on the arts over the 20th century. Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Virgil Thomson, William Grant Still, Edgard Varèse, Henry Cowell, Carl Ruggles, Marion Bauer, and Dane Rudhyar were the leaders of a talented new generation of American composers whose efforts made New York City the center of new music in the country. They founded composer societies—such as the International Composers' Guild, the League of Composers, the Pan American Association, and the Copland-Sessions Concerts—to promote the performance of their music, and nimbly negotiated cultural boundaries, aiming for recognition in Western Europe as much as at home. This book provides a new perspective on the period and a compelling collective portrait of the figures, puncturing many longstanding myths. American composers active in New York during the 1920s are explored in relation to the “Machine Age” and American Dada; the impact of spirituality on American dissonance; the crucial, behind-the-scenes role of women as patrons and promoters of modernist music; cross-currents between jazz and concert music; the critical reception of modernist music (especially in the writings of Carl Van Vechten and Paul Rosenfeld); and the international impulse behind neoclassicism. The book also examines the persistent biases of the time, particularly anti-Semitism, gender stereotyping, and longstanding racial attitudes.Less
New York City witnessed a burst of creativity in the 1920s. This artistic renaissance is examined from the perspective of composers of classical and modern music who, along with writers, painters, and jazz musicians, were at the heart of early modernism in America. The book also illustrates how the aesthetic attitudes and institutional structures from the 1920s left a deep imprint on the arts over the 20th century. Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Virgil Thomson, William Grant Still, Edgard Varèse, Henry Cowell, Carl Ruggles, Marion Bauer, and Dane Rudhyar were the leaders of a talented new generation of American composers whose efforts made New York City the center of new music in the country. They founded composer societies—such as the International Composers' Guild, the League of Composers, the Pan American Association, and the Copland-Sessions Concerts—to promote the performance of their music, and nimbly negotiated cultural boundaries, aiming for recognition in Western Europe as much as at home. This book provides a new perspective on the period and a compelling collective portrait of the figures, puncturing many longstanding myths. American composers active in New York during the 1920s are explored in relation to the “Machine Age” and American Dada; the impact of spirituality on American dissonance; the crucial, behind-the-scenes role of women as patrons and promoters of modernist music; cross-currents between jazz and concert music; the critical reception of modernist music (especially in the writings of Carl Van Vechten and Paul Rosenfeld); and the international impulse behind neoclassicism. The book also examines the persistent biases of the time, particularly anti-Semitism, gender stereotyping, and longstanding racial attitudes.
Carol J. Oja
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195058499
- eISBN:
- 9780199865031
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195058499.003.0015
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
More than any other composer in the generation born around 1900, Aaron Copland (1900-1990) has come to be seen as championing an idiom that was identifiably American. Copland began pursuing a ...
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More than any other composer in the generation born around 1900, Aaron Copland (1900-1990) has come to be seen as championing an idiom that was identifiably American. Copland began pursuing a nationalist voice during the 1920s, while keeping pace with the latest developments abroad. During this period, Copland grasped the importance of having both an international purview and a national one. His transatlantic gaze was deeply intertwined with his personal response to neoclassicism. Copland's European connections were reinforced by Paul Rosenfeld, as well as by the modernist climate in New York City, with the high value it placed on new music from abroad. Over the course of the 1920s, Copland kept his transatlantic ties strong by visiting Europe frequently, and played a public role in encouraging Euro-American communication by publishing essays and reviews commenting on his experiences. Through these trips and articles, Copland's relationship to neoclassicism emerged with clarity.Less
More than any other composer in the generation born around 1900, Aaron Copland (1900-1990) has come to be seen as championing an idiom that was identifiably American. Copland began pursuing a nationalist voice during the 1920s, while keeping pace with the latest developments abroad. During this period, Copland grasped the importance of having both an international purview and a national one. His transatlantic gaze was deeply intertwined with his personal response to neoclassicism. Copland's European connections were reinforced by Paul Rosenfeld, as well as by the modernist climate in New York City, with the high value it placed on new music from abroad. Over the course of the 1920s, Copland kept his transatlantic ties strong by visiting Europe frequently, and played a public role in encouraging Euro-American communication by publishing essays and reviews commenting on his experiences. Through these trips and articles, Copland's relationship to neoclassicism emerged with clarity.
Emily Abrams Ansari
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- June 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190649692
- eISBN:
- 9780190649722
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190649692.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter examines the Cold War experience of composer Aaron Copland. It argues that after suffering at the hands of Senator Joseph McCarthy and his cronies in the early 1950s, Copland reoriented ...
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This chapter examines the Cold War experience of composer Aaron Copland. It argues that after suffering at the hands of Senator Joseph McCarthy and his cronies in the early 1950s, Copland reoriented himself. He not only turned away from musical Americanism as a composer but also took advantage of opportunities to tour overseas for the State Department, both to remove the taint of leftism from his image and to politically neutralize the Americanist style. Yet Copland’s Cold War choices were not simply a strategic response to a radically altered political landscape. Both his work with government and his musical works from this period show his enduring commitment to a set of strong personal principles that shaped his compositions, his writings, and his cultural diplomacy work across his long career. Copland’s ability to stay true to what he believed in ensured he never succumbed to cynicism, as did many other members of the Old Left.Less
This chapter examines the Cold War experience of composer Aaron Copland. It argues that after suffering at the hands of Senator Joseph McCarthy and his cronies in the early 1950s, Copland reoriented himself. He not only turned away from musical Americanism as a composer but also took advantage of opportunities to tour overseas for the State Department, both to remove the taint of leftism from his image and to politically neutralize the Americanist style. Yet Copland’s Cold War choices were not simply a strategic response to a radically altered political landscape. Both his work with government and his musical works from this period show his enduring commitment to a set of strong personal principles that shaped his compositions, his writings, and his cultural diplomacy work across his long career. Copland’s ability to stay true to what he believed in ensured he never succumbed to cynicism, as did many other members of the Old Left.
Mark Franko
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199777662
- eISBN:
- 9780199950119
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199777662.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, Dance, History, American
This chapter analyzes Graham’s Appalachian Spring (1944) as a work that encrypts its popular front critique of American history through revisions of the scenarios Graham wrote for Aaron Copland and ...
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This chapter analyzes Graham’s Appalachian Spring (1944) as a work that encrypts its popular front critique of American history through revisions of the scenarios Graham wrote for Aaron Copland and changes in the choreography. The subtext of slavery and John Brown is discussed, the idea of character compression in Graham’s dramaturgy, and her distrust of narrative.Less
This chapter analyzes Graham’s Appalachian Spring (1944) as a work that encrypts its popular front critique of American history through revisions of the scenarios Graham wrote for Aaron Copland and changes in the choreography. The subtext of slavery and John Brown is discussed, the idea of character compression in Graham’s dramaturgy, and her distrust of narrative.
Steve Swayne
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195388527
- eISBN:
- 9780199894345
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195388527.003.0010
- Subject:
- Music, History, American, History, Western
Though Harris was Schuman's last major teacher, it was Aaron Copland who gave Schuman the biggest boost in his career, first by helping Schuman win the prize for the Second Symphony and then by ...
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Though Harris was Schuman's last major teacher, it was Aaron Copland who gave Schuman the biggest boost in his career, first by helping Schuman win the prize for the Second Symphony and then by encouraging Schuman to present the work to Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor Serge Koussevitzky. Koussevitzky agreed to perform the symphony, and Schuman's host that weekend was a junior at Harvard, Leonard Bernstein. This chapter explores the early beginnings of these new and seminal relationships, with an emphasis on the close friendship Schuman developed with Copland. This chapter also looks at an aborted ballet Schuman was commissioned to write and considers the possibility that some of this music became part of the American Festival Overture.Less
Though Harris was Schuman's last major teacher, it was Aaron Copland who gave Schuman the biggest boost in his career, first by helping Schuman win the prize for the Second Symphony and then by encouraging Schuman to present the work to Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor Serge Koussevitzky. Koussevitzky agreed to perform the symphony, and Schuman's host that weekend was a junior at Harvard, Leonard Bernstein. This chapter explores the early beginnings of these new and seminal relationships, with an emphasis on the close friendship Schuman developed with Copland. This chapter also looks at an aborted ballet Schuman was commissioned to write and considers the possibility that some of this music became part of the American Festival Overture.
Beth E. Levy
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520267763
- eISBN:
- 9780520952027
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520267763.003.0012
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter examines the process by which Aaron Copland's westernness replaced his more contentious leftism, overshadowed his overt engagement with African American musical materials, and won ...
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This chapter examines the process by which Aaron Copland's westernness replaced his more contentious leftism, overshadowed his overt engagement with African American musical materials, and won nationwide popularity for a composer who might otherwise have been marginalized based on his Russian–Jewish heritage or his homosexuality. The conjunction of whiteness, masculinity, and the West that was so significant a part of Harris's appeal had different but still powerful implications for Copland. The aggressive heroes and rugged landscapes of the West helped balance (veiled) allusions to his homosexual preferences, deflecting interest away from his Jewish, cosmopolitan background and focusing it on an Anglo, western mythology that was rapidly becoming a favorite arena for representations of American identity in the mass media.Less
This chapter examines the process by which Aaron Copland's westernness replaced his more contentious leftism, overshadowed his overt engagement with African American musical materials, and won nationwide popularity for a composer who might otherwise have been marginalized based on his Russian–Jewish heritage or his homosexuality. The conjunction of whiteness, masculinity, and the West that was so significant a part of Harris's appeal had different but still powerful implications for Copland. The aggressive heroes and rugged landscapes of the West helped balance (veiled) allusions to his homosexual preferences, deflecting interest away from his Jewish, cosmopolitan background and focusing it on an Anglo, western mythology that was rapidly becoming a favorite arena for representations of American identity in the mass media.
Nadine Hubbs
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520241848
- eISBN:
- 9780520937956
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520241848.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter traces a new history of midcentury musical modernism in the U.S. It suggests that political and cultural factors influenced compositional style and regime shifts. It highlights the ...
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This chapter traces a new history of midcentury musical modernism in the U.S. It suggests that political and cultural factors influenced compositional style and regime shifts. It highlights the decline of tonal Americana and of Aaron Copland's career as Dean of American Music and discusses the emergence of twelve-tone serialism and other complex music.Less
This chapter traces a new history of midcentury musical modernism in the U.S. It suggests that political and cultural factors influenced compositional style and regime shifts. It highlights the decline of tonal Americana and of Aaron Copland's career as Dean of American Music and discusses the emergence of twelve-tone serialism and other complex music.
Aaron Copland
Elizabeth B. Crist and Wayne Shirley (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300111217
- eISBN:
- 9780300133479
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300111217.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This book is devoted to the correspondence of composer Aaron Copland, covering his life from age eight to eighty-seven. The chronologically arranged collection includes letters to many significant ...
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This book is devoted to the correspondence of composer Aaron Copland, covering his life from age eight to eighty-seven. The chronologically arranged collection includes letters to many significant figures in American twentieth-century music as well as Copland's friends, family, teachers, and colleagues. Selected for readability, interest, and the light they cast upon the composer's thoughts and career, the letters are carefully annotated and each is published in its entirety. Copland was a gifted and natural letter writer who revealed much more about himself in his letters than in formal writings in which he was conscious of his position as spokesman for modern music. The collected letters offer insights into his music, personality, and ideas, along with fascinating glimpses into the lives of such other well-known musicians as Leonard Bernstein, Carlos Chávez, William Schuman, and Virgil Thomson.Less
This book is devoted to the correspondence of composer Aaron Copland, covering his life from age eight to eighty-seven. The chronologically arranged collection includes letters to many significant figures in American twentieth-century music as well as Copland's friends, family, teachers, and colleagues. Selected for readability, interest, and the light they cast upon the composer's thoughts and career, the letters are carefully annotated and each is published in its entirety. Copland was a gifted and natural letter writer who revealed much more about himself in his letters than in formal writings in which he was conscious of his position as spokesman for modern music. The collected letters offer insights into his music, personality, and ideas, along with fascinating glimpses into the lives of such other well-known musicians as Leonard Bernstein, Carlos Chávez, William Schuman, and Virgil Thomson.
Steve Reich
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195151152
- eISBN:
- 9780199850044
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195151152.003.0045
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter presents Reich's thoughts about Aaron Copland. He talks about listening to recordings of Copland's ballets as a teenager and the romance of America they conjured up. Later, at Cornell, ...
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This chapter presents Reich's thoughts about Aaron Copland. He talks about listening to recordings of Copland's ballets as a teenager and the romance of America they conjured up. Later, at Cornell, he heard his Clarinet Concerto written for jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman, and the Piano Quartet that began his encounter with 12-tone music.Less
This chapter presents Reich's thoughts about Aaron Copland. He talks about listening to recordings of Copland's ballets as a teenager and the romance of America they conjured up. Later, at Cornell, he heard his Clarinet Concerto written for jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman, and the Piano Quartet that began his encounter with 12-tone music.
Maurice Peress
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195098228
- eISBN:
- 9780199869817
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195098228.003.0014
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter describes the researching and reconstructing of what was perhaps the most infamous modern music event of the 20th century after Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, George Antheil's “Ballet ...
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This chapter describes the researching and reconstructing of what was perhaps the most infamous modern music event of the 20th century after Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, George Antheil's “Ballet Mecanique” for player piano, eight concert grands, xylophones, drums, a fire siren, doorbells, and aeroplane propellers. It was designed to shock, but beneath its wild surface lies a story that includes the poet, Ezra Pound; artists and film makers Leger, Man Ray, and Picabia; composers W. C. handy (and his all-negro Orchestra) Colin McFee, Aaron Copland and Virgil Thomson; and the violinist, Olga Rudge. It was the first work to encompass silences, some as long as twenty-four seconds, and in many minds, minimalism.Less
This chapter describes the researching and reconstructing of what was perhaps the most infamous modern music event of the 20th century after Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, George Antheil's “Ballet Mecanique” for player piano, eight concert grands, xylophones, drums, a fire siren, doorbells, and aeroplane propellers. It was designed to shock, but beneath its wild surface lies a story that includes the poet, Ezra Pound; artists and film makers Leger, Man Ray, and Picabia; composers W. C. handy (and his all-negro Orchestra) Colin McFee, Aaron Copland and Virgil Thomson; and the violinist, Olga Rudge. It was the first work to encompass silences, some as long as twenty-four seconds, and in many minds, minimalism.
Nadine Hubbs
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520241848
- eISBN:
- 9780520937956
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520241848.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This book shows how a gifted group of Manhattan-based gay composers were pivotal in creating a distinctive “American sound” and in the process served as architects of modern American identity. ...
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This book shows how a gifted group of Manhattan-based gay composers were pivotal in creating a distinctive “American sound” and in the process served as architects of modern American identity. Focusing on a circle that included Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, Leonard Bernstein, Marc Blitzstein, Paul Bowles, and David Diamond, the book homes in on the role of these artists' self-identification—especially with tonal music, French culture, and homosexuality—in the creation of a musical idiom that even today signifies “America” in commercials, movies, radio and television, and the concert hall.Less
This book shows how a gifted group of Manhattan-based gay composers were pivotal in creating a distinctive “American sound” and in the process served as architects of modern American identity. Focusing on a circle that included Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, Leonard Bernstein, Marc Blitzstein, Paul Bowles, and David Diamond, the book homes in on the role of these artists' self-identification—especially with tonal music, French culture, and homosexuality—in the creation of a musical idiom that even today signifies “America” in commercials, movies, radio and television, and the concert hall.
Steve Swayne
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195388527
- eISBN:
- 9780199894345
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195388527.003.0013
- Subject:
- Music, History, American, History, Western
This chapter continues to trace Schuman's meteoric rise. It begins by revisiting his close relationship with Copland and looks at Schuman's continued belief in musical propaganda. His relationship ...
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This chapter continues to trace Schuman's meteoric rise. It begins by revisiting his close relationship with Copland and looks at Schuman's continued belief in musical propaganda. His relationship with Koussevitzky also reappears in this chapter. An aborted commission for a stage work resulted in one of Schuman's most enduring compositions: the song “Orpheus with His Lute.” The chapter concludes with Schuman's decision to leave Sarah Lawrence College to become the director of publications at G. Schirmer Publishers, a decision Schuman quickly rued. Fate would intervene and give Schuman another, more prestigious position from which to disseminate his ideas about music education and contemporary music.Less
This chapter continues to trace Schuman's meteoric rise. It begins by revisiting his close relationship with Copland and looks at Schuman's continued belief in musical propaganda. His relationship with Koussevitzky also reappears in this chapter. An aborted commission for a stage work resulted in one of Schuman's most enduring compositions: the song “Orpheus with His Lute.” The chapter concludes with Schuman's decision to leave Sarah Lawrence College to become the director of publications at G. Schirmer Publishers, a decision Schuman quickly rued. Fate would intervene and give Schuman another, more prestigious position from which to disseminate his ideas about music education and contemporary music.
Beth E. Levy
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520267763
- eISBN:
- 9780520952027
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520267763.003.0013
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter first considers Aaron Copland's political engagement, particularly the geographical settings that agitated his political conscience and the impact which leftism had on his views about ...
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This chapter first considers Aaron Copland's political engagement, particularly the geographical settings that agitated his political conscience and the impact which leftism had on his views about folk music. It suggests that Copland's biographical and emotional distance from western Americana opened up space for irony, comedy, and nostalgic displacement in such works as Billy the Kid, Rodeo, and The Red Pony. Copland's own biography supplies supporting evidence for the idea that the imagery of the American West offered a haven for social and sexual aberrance, but also a site where patriarchal visions of social and moral order could be vigorously upheld.Less
This chapter first considers Aaron Copland's political engagement, particularly the geographical settings that agitated his political conscience and the impact which leftism had on his views about folk music. It suggests that Copland's biographical and emotional distance from western Americana opened up space for irony, comedy, and nostalgic displacement in such works as Billy the Kid, Rodeo, and The Red Pony. Copland's own biography supplies supporting evidence for the idea that the imagery of the American West offered a haven for social and sexual aberrance, but also a site where patriarchal visions of social and moral order could be vigorously upheld.
Anthony Bushard
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199936151
- eISBN:
- 9780190204662
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199936151.003.0014
- Subject:
- Music, Popular, History, American
In a 2001 Musical Quarterly article, “Copland’s Music of Wide Open Spaces: Surveying the Pastoral Trope in Hollywood” Neil Lerner suggests that it is the “pastoral” textures in Copland’s concert ...
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In a 2001 Musical Quarterly article, “Copland’s Music of Wide Open Spaces: Surveying the Pastoral Trope in Hollywood” Neil Lerner suggests that it is the “pastoral” textures in Copland’s concert music that provided a wellspring of material for film scores composed by John Williams, James Horner, and Randy Newman, to name a few, and that the feeling of “wide open spaces” blended well with advertising campaigns aimed at suburbia. Increasingly, more contemporary films have revealed the seamier side of suburbia’s utopian promises. American Beauty, In the Bedroom, Little Children, and Revolutionary Road do not extol the benefits of living in blissful conformity, but rather highlight the isolation and anxiety. These films all share the same composer: Thomas Newman. This chapter builds on Lerner’s work, not by tracing the “pastoral” influence of Copland on Thomas Newman, but in examining how Newman channels the urban loneliness and isolation found in Copland and conveys similar feelings while underscoring suburban narratives.Less
In a 2001 Musical Quarterly article, “Copland’s Music of Wide Open Spaces: Surveying the Pastoral Trope in Hollywood” Neil Lerner suggests that it is the “pastoral” textures in Copland’s concert music that provided a wellspring of material for film scores composed by John Williams, James Horner, and Randy Newman, to name a few, and that the feeling of “wide open spaces” blended well with advertising campaigns aimed at suburbia. Increasingly, more contemporary films have revealed the seamier side of suburbia’s utopian promises. American Beauty, In the Bedroom, Little Children, and Revolutionary Road do not extol the benefits of living in blissful conformity, but rather highlight the isolation and anxiety. These films all share the same composer: Thomas Newman. This chapter builds on Lerner’s work, not by tracing the “pastoral” influence of Copland on Thomas Newman, but in examining how Newman channels the urban loneliness and isolation found in Copland and conveys similar feelings while underscoring suburban narratives.
Carol J. Oja
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195058499
- eISBN:
- 9780199865031
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195058499.003.0014
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
The stylistic designation “neoclassicism” met with especially strong resistance from young composers in the United States during the 1920s. Although slippery to define, neoclassicism popped up all ...
More
The stylistic designation “neoclassicism” met with especially strong resistance from young composers in the United States during the 1920s. Although slippery to define, neoclassicism popped up all across the Western modernist spectrum, often encompassing stylistic principles of “clarity” and “simplicity” and a broad range of attempts in art, music, and literature to re-imagine materials from the past. Whatever its profile, as a loosely defined aesthetic it affected a significant body of American works written late in the decade. These included compositions by Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, Roy Harris, Roger Sessions, Carlos Chavez, Walter Piston, and other newcomers to the scene. Much of the ambivalence of American composers toward neoclassicism hung on the question of whether the aesthetic yielded orthodox Europeanism, or whether it represented an empowering form of internationalism. Selected works from the Copland-Sessions Concerts exhibit sprightly responses to varying aspects of the aesthetic, showing how American composers achieved individuality while responding to a transnational set of aesthetic values.Less
The stylistic designation “neoclassicism” met with especially strong resistance from young composers in the United States during the 1920s. Although slippery to define, neoclassicism popped up all across the Western modernist spectrum, often encompassing stylistic principles of “clarity” and “simplicity” and a broad range of attempts in art, music, and literature to re-imagine materials from the past. Whatever its profile, as a loosely defined aesthetic it affected a significant body of American works written late in the decade. These included compositions by Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, Roy Harris, Roger Sessions, Carlos Chavez, Walter Piston, and other newcomers to the scene. Much of the ambivalence of American composers toward neoclassicism hung on the question of whether the aesthetic yielded orthodox Europeanism, or whether it represented an empowering form of internationalism. Selected works from the Copland-Sessions Concerts exhibit sprightly responses to varying aspects of the aesthetic, showing how American composers achieved individuality while responding to a transnational set of aesthetic values.
Carol J. Oja
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199862092
- eISBN:
- 9780199379989
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199862092.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, History, American, Dance
Debuted by Ballet Theatre in 1944, Fancy Free represented the first major success for its composer Leonard Bernstein and choreographer Jerome Robbins. Inspired by The Fleet’s In, a controversial ...
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Debuted by Ballet Theatre in 1944, Fancy Free represented the first major success for its composer Leonard Bernstein and choreographer Jerome Robbins. Inspired by The Fleet’s In, a controversial painting by Paul Cadmus, Fancy Free encoded a queer strain in its plot and musical style. Correspondence in the archives of Bernstein and the composer Aaron Copland documents how gay relationships inflected the work’s overall outlook, intermingling biography with art. This chapter probes Bernstein’s musical language as an aesthetic of parody and montage in which he simulated a rapidly shifting array of styles, then stitched them together much like a cartoon or film score.Less
Debuted by Ballet Theatre in 1944, Fancy Free represented the first major success for its composer Leonard Bernstein and choreographer Jerome Robbins. Inspired by The Fleet’s In, a controversial painting by Paul Cadmus, Fancy Free encoded a queer strain in its plot and musical style. Correspondence in the archives of Bernstein and the composer Aaron Copland documents how gay relationships inflected the work’s overall outlook, intermingling biography with art. This chapter probes Bernstein’s musical language as an aesthetic of parody and montage in which he simulated a rapidly shifting array of styles, then stitched them together much like a cartoon or film score.
Beth E. Levy
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520267763
- eISBN:
- 9780520952027
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520267763.003.0014
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter focuses on Aaron Copland's film career, which began in 1939 at the World's Fair in New York City. Copland got his “big break” when Ralph Steiner and Willard Van Dyke approached him on ...
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This chapter focuses on Aaron Copland's film career, which began in 1939 at the World's Fair in New York City. Copland got his “big break” when Ralph Steiner and Willard Van Dyke approached him on behalf of the American City Planning Institute to score The City, a film portraying the evils of unregulated urban growth. With its evocations of small-town America, horrific industrial slums, and the improvements enabled by conscientious urban planning, his contribution to The City had the desired impact on Hollywood producers and directors, including Lewis Milestone, the man behind three of the most important film projects that Copland subsequently scored. The most immediate result of the Copland–Milestone connection was Of Mice and Men (1939).Less
This chapter focuses on Aaron Copland's film career, which began in 1939 at the World's Fair in New York City. Copland got his “big break” when Ralph Steiner and Willard Van Dyke approached him on behalf of the American City Planning Institute to score The City, a film portraying the evils of unregulated urban growth. With its evocations of small-town America, horrific industrial slums, and the improvements enabled by conscientious urban planning, his contribution to The City had the desired impact on Hollywood producers and directors, including Lewis Milestone, the man behind three of the most important film projects that Copland subsequently scored. The most immediate result of the Copland–Milestone connection was Of Mice and Men (1939).
Arthur Berger
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520232518
- eISBN:
- 9780520928213
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520232518.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This book describes the music scene in New York and Boston since the 1930s, discussing the heady days when the author was a member of a tight-knit circle of avant-garde young composers, mentored by ...
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This book describes the music scene in New York and Boston since the 1930s, discussing the heady days when the author was a member of a tight-knit circle of avant-garde young composers, mentored by Aaron Copland, as well as his participation in a group at Harvard University dedicated to Stravinsky. As Virgil Thomson's associate on the New York Herald Tribune and founding editor of the prestigious Perspectives of New Music, the author became one of the preeminent observers and critics of American music. His reflections on the role of music in contemporary life, his journalism career, and how changes in academia influence the composition and teaching of music offer a unique perspective.Less
This book describes the music scene in New York and Boston since the 1930s, discussing the heady days when the author was a member of a tight-knit circle of avant-garde young composers, mentored by Aaron Copland, as well as his participation in a group at Harvard University dedicated to Stravinsky. As Virgil Thomson's associate on the New York Herald Tribune and founding editor of the prestigious Perspectives of New Music, the author became one of the preeminent observers and critics of American music. His reflections on the role of music in contemporary life, his journalism career, and how changes in academia influence the composition and teaching of music offer a unique perspective.
Barry Seldes
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520257641
- eISBN:
- 9780520943070
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520257641.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter provides a glimpse into the early years of Leonard Bernstein. It begins with an account of how Bernstein discovered his love for music, and then looks at his freshman year as a music ...
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This chapter provides a glimpse into the early years of Leonard Bernstein. It begins with an account of how Bernstein discovered his love for music, and then looks at his freshman year as a music student in Harvard. It then introduces three men who greatly inspired Bernstein: David Prall, Aaron Copland, and Marc Blitzstein.Less
This chapter provides a glimpse into the early years of Leonard Bernstein. It begins with an account of how Bernstein discovered his love for music, and then looks at his freshman year as a music student in Harvard. It then introduces three men who greatly inspired Bernstein: David Prall, Aaron Copland, and Marc Blitzstein.
Carol A. Hess
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199919994
- eISBN:
- 9780199345618
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199919994.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music, History, American
This chapter examines the climax of north-south sameness-embracing, the period following the outbreak of war in September 1939. One manifestation of Pan Americanist culture was Latin American–themed ...
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This chapter examines the climax of north-south sameness-embracing, the period following the outbreak of war in September 1939. One manifestation of Pan Americanist culture was Latin American–themed music by U.S. composers, much of which verged on the commercial. Virgil Thomson, who reviewed Villa-Lobos’s music (and whose antinationalist barbs parallel the sentiments of many Latin American composers and critics), laid the groundwork for Brazilian universalism. Villa-Lobos’s reputation in the United States also gained luster from the alliance between the Brazilian strongman Getúlio Vargas and the United States, cemented in 1942 after a long courtship and touted by art music critics and the U.S. music industry. Reflecting the commercial bent of much Pan Americanist culture, Villa-Lobos was also bound to Hollywood and the culture industry, as corroborated by his foray into the American musical, Magdalena, read here in the context of Pan Americanism’s abrupt deterioration during the early years of the cold war.Less
This chapter examines the climax of north-south sameness-embracing, the period following the outbreak of war in September 1939. One manifestation of Pan Americanist culture was Latin American–themed music by U.S. composers, much of which verged on the commercial. Virgil Thomson, who reviewed Villa-Lobos’s music (and whose antinationalist barbs parallel the sentiments of many Latin American composers and critics), laid the groundwork for Brazilian universalism. Villa-Lobos’s reputation in the United States also gained luster from the alliance between the Brazilian strongman Getúlio Vargas and the United States, cemented in 1942 after a long courtship and touted by art music critics and the U.S. music industry. Reflecting the commercial bent of much Pan Americanist culture, Villa-Lobos was also bound to Hollywood and the culture industry, as corroborated by his foray into the American musical, Magdalena, read here in the context of Pan Americanism’s abrupt deterioration during the early years of the cold war.
