Appalachian Spring
Aaron Copland
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Browse piano sheets by Aaron Copland on Zen Virtual Piano. Aaron Copland was a composer who wrote the music for Appalachian Spring, a ballet created with the choreographer Martha Graham and later arranged as an orchestral work. Copland's mother, Sarah Mittenthal Copland, sang, played the piano, and arranged music lessons for her children. Copland began writing songs at the age of eight and a half. About seven bars he wrote at 11, for an opera scenario he called Zenatello, are his earliest notated music. The music lessons his mother arranged and the Zenatello scenario may hint at an early link between home and composing. Copland came under the influence of Nadia Boulanger at Fontainebleau, where he attended the newly founded school for Americans in the summer of 1921. Britannica calls Boulanger a brilliant teacher who shaped the outlook of an entire generation of American musicians. Copland later wrote that it was wonderful to find a teacher with "such openness of mind." Koussevitsky proved to be very influential in Copland's life, perhaps the second most important figure in his career after Boulanger. The Fontainebleau summer of 1921 and Koussevitsky's influence may suggest that teachers and mentors mattered at more than one point in Copland's career. Copland rethought his approach after mounting troubles with the Symphonic Ode (1929) and Short Symphony (1933), since it was financially unprofitable, particularly during the Depression. Copland described "an increasing dissatisfaction with the relations of the music-loving public and the living composer." Vivian Perlis, who collaborated with Copland on his autobiography, writes that he would write down fragments of musical ideas as they came to him and turn to these "gold nuggets" when he needed a piece. His dissatisfaction with the relations between public and composer and his habit of keeping fragments may point to a craft that joined audience concerns with a store of ideas. The 1944 premiere of Appalachian Spring was well received, and the 1945 United States tour brought Copland the Pulitzer Prize for Music. In 1980 Copland called the music "plain, singing" and "slightly folksy", with a direct and approachable manner. Much of Copland's music used open harmonies that changed slowly, and the sound evoked the vast American landscape and pioneer spirit. His 1980 remark on the ballet's directness and the open, slowly changing harmonies in much of his music may hint at a link between the ballet's plainness and the wider sound of his music.
Browse piano sheets by Aaron Copland on Zen Virtual Piano.
Aaron Copland was a composer who wrote the music for Appalachian Spring, a ballet created with the choreographer Martha Graham and later arranged as an orchestral work. Copland's mother, Sarah Mittenthal Copland, sang, played the piano, and arranged music lessons for her children. Copland began writing songs at the age of eight and a half. About seven bars he wrote at 11, for an opera scenario he called Zenatello, are his earliest notated music. The music lessons his mother arranged and the Zenatello scenario may hint at an early link between home and composing.
Copland came under the influence of Nadia Boulanger at Fontainebleau, where he attended the newly founded school for Americans in the summer of 1921. Britannica calls Boulanger a brilliant teacher who shaped the outlook of an entire generation of American musicians. Copland later wrote that it was wonderful to find a teacher with "such openness of mind." Koussevitsky proved to be very influential in Copland's life, perhaps the second most important figure in his career after Boulanger. The Fontainebleau summer of 1921 and Koussevitsky's influence may suggest that teachers and mentors mattered at more than one point in Copland's career.
Copland rethought his approach after mounting troubles with the Symphonic Ode (1929) and Short Symphony (1933), since it was financially unprofitable, particularly during the Depression. Copland described "an increasing dissatisfaction with the relations of the music-loving public and the living composer." Vivian Perlis, who collaborated with Copland on his autobiography, writes that he would write down fragments of musical ideas as they came to him and turn to these "gold nuggets" when he needed a piece. His dissatisfaction with the relations between public and composer and his habit of keeping fragments may point to a craft that joined audience concerns with a store of ideas.
The 1944 premiere of Appalachian Spring was well received, and the 1945 United States tour brought Copland the Pulitzer Prize for Music. In 1980 Copland called the music "plain, singing" and "slightly folksy", with a direct and approachable manner. Much of Copland's music used open harmonies that changed slowly, and the sound evoked the vast American landscape and pioneer spirit. His 1980 remark on the ballet's directness and the open, slowly changing harmonies in much of his music may hint at a link between the ballet's plainness and the wider sound of his music.
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Aaron Copland
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Aaron Copland wrote the music for Appalachian Spring, a ballet created with the choreographer Martha Graham and later arranged as an orchestral work.
Aaron Copland came under the influence of Nadia Boulanger at Fontainebleau, where he attended the newly founded school for Americans in the summer of 1921.
Vivian Perlis writes that Aaron Copland wrote down fragments of musical ideas as they came to him and turned to these "gold nuggets" when he needed a piece.
The ballet's 1944 premiere was well received, and the 1945 United States tour brought Aaron Copland the Pulitzer Prize for Music.