Aaron Copland's Influence on American Music

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Created on Wednesday, 23 November 2011 00:17

Written by Kevin Ure

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Aaron Copland helped to define American concert music and bring it to prominence on the world stage. His works for orchestra and film heavily influenced 20th century composers and he achieved prominence as a conductor as well. Moving beyond tonality, he began to introduce concepts such as polytonality and quartal harmony. He lived from November 14, 1900 to December 2, 1990 and created a substantive collection of quintessential American musical works.

Compositional Style

Copland started as a composer that wrote music in a very specific manner intended for those that were highly educated in music. Most composers go through different periods in their lives, and this first one was dedicated to following in the footsteps of composers like Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern and Alban Berg.

Copland’s second period is where he began to find the voice and style that he is now known. He drifted away from writing music geared towards the educated musical elites and started writing music that would appeal to a larger, more diverse audience. Rather than writing using serialism techniques, he began to find new ways to voice chords, using quartal harmony and open spacing’s to create a transparent sound.

American Music

The music of Aaron Copland focused on the experiences and sounds of American life, avoiding the European tendency towards dense and complex harmonies. The desire to write a uniquely American music was Copland’s primary goal. He achieved this by integrating modern dissonances with American fold music, like the Shaker hymn, “Simple Gifts.” “Billy the Kid” and “Appalachian Spring” are two contributions to American music in the form of a ballet. A PBS spokesman for the American Masters Series, reflecting on his music stated that Copland made huge advances in the liberation of American music from the “European influence”. Copland’s work is still influencing the current state of music education.

Organizations

Copland headed several organizations and served on music committees that had a direct impact on the state of American classical music. His belief that American concert music was competitive with European concert music helped him to focus his energies on the promotion of American music. He felt that the American symphony could be just as popular as the jazz music of the 1920s. Helping young composers and providing performing opportunities through his joint “Copland-Sessions” concerts proved instrumental in implementing these programs.

Composer and Conductor

Copland composed less towards the end of his life and wrote more frequently as well as conducting his own and other composers works. When he could, he put an emphasis on American concert works and provided support for young composers. He authored several essays and a text on “What to Listen for in Music”. This text is recommended reading for any young composer or music enthusiast.