I'm Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Barbara Klein with People in America in VOA Special English. Today
we tell about Aaron Copland, one of America’s best modern music composers.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Aaron Copland wrote many kinds of music. He wrote music for the orchestra,
piano, and voice. He wrote music for plays, movies and dance. Copland also
was a conductor, pianist, speaker, teacher and author.
Aaron Copland
Music critics say Copland taught Americans about themselves through his
music. He used parts of many old traditional American folk songs in his work.
He was influenced to do this after studying music in France. He said that
composers there had a very French way of writing music. He said Americans had
nothing like that in this country. So he decided to compose music that was
truly American.
VOICE TWO:
Aaron Copland was born in nineteen hundred in Brooklyn, New York. He was the
youngest of five children. His parents had come to the United States from
eastern Europe. They owned a store in Brooklyn. Aaron began playing the piano
when he was a young child. He wrote his first song for his mother when he was
eight years old. His dreams of becoming a composer began when he was young.
When he was sixteen, he urged his parents to let him study composing with
Rubin Goldmark. Goldmark had taught the composer George Gershwin.
VOICE ONE:
When he was in his early twenties, Copland went to Paris where he studied
music with Nadia Boulanger. She was one of the most important music teachers
of the time. He returned to New York in nineteen twenty-four.
The famous conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Serge Koussevitzky,
learned about Copland's music. Koussevitzky led the orchestra for the first
performance of Copland's early work, "Music for the Theater," in nineteen
twenty-five. Koussevitzky also conducted Copland's "Concerto for Piano and
Orchestra" in nineteen twenty-seven. This work was unusual because Copland
used ideas from jazz music in his concerto.
VOICE TWO:
Copland later wrote the music for two ballets about the American West. One
was about the life of a famous gunfighter called Billy the Kid. Copland used
music from American cowboy songs in this work. This piece from "Billy the
Kid: Ballet Suite" is called "Street in a Frontier Town. "
VOICE ONE:
In nineteen forty-two, the conductor Andre Kostelanetz asked Copland to write
music about a great American, Abraham Lincoln. Copland wrote "Lincoln
Portrait" to honor America's sixteenth president. Copland's music included
parts of American folk songs and songs popular during the American Civil War.
He added words from President Lincoln's speeches and letters.
"Lincoln Portrait" has been performed many times in America. Many famous
people have done the speaking part. Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of President
Franklin Roosevelt, was one of them. Here, actor James Earl Jones performs in
Copland's "Lincoln Portrait."
