名人轶事:American Music Composer Aaron Copland

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VOICE ONE:

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.

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VOICE ONE:

Aaron Copland wrote many kinds of music. He wrote music for the orchestra¹,

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 decided² 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 Symphony³ 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 "Concerto⁴ 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 Suite⁵" 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." #p#副标题#e#

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VOICE TWO:

Also in nineteen forty-two, the music director of the Cincinnati Symphony

Orchestra asked eighteen composers to write music expressing love for

America. For the competition, Copland composed "Fanfare⁶ for the Common Man. "

This music is played in America during many national events, including some

presidential inaugurations⁷.

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VOICE ONE:

Experts say "Fanfare for the Common Man" was an example of Copland's change

in direction during the nineteen-forties. He began writing music that was

more easily understood and more popular. Copland wrote about this in nineteen

forty-one in his book, “Our New Music.” 

He wrote that a whole new public for music had developed as a result of the

popularity⁸ of the radio and record player. He said that there was no reason

to continue writing music as if these devices did not exist. So he decided to

write music in a simpler way.

VOICE TWO:

Copland spread his ideas about music in other ways. He taught at the New

School for Social Research in New York City and at Harvard University in

Cambridge, Massachusetts. One of the many awards he received was the Pulitzer

Prize. He won it in nineteen forty-five for his famous music for a ballet

called "Appalachian Spring." It is one of his most popular works.

The last part of the ballet is based on a traditional song, "A Gift to be

Simple."

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VOICE ONE:

Copland also wrote music for several major motion pictures. He won an Academy

Award in nineteen-fifty for composing the music for the film, "The Heiress."

Then, he began experimenting with what is called a twelve-tone system of

composing. His music no longer was as easy to understand, or as popular.

Copland stopped composing at the end of the nineteen-sixties. Yet he

continued to be active as a conductor and speaker. In nineteen eighty-two,

Queens College of the City University of New York established the Aaron

Copland School of Music.

VOICE TWO:

Copland was a strong supporter of liberal ideas. In the early nineteen-

fifties, he and other famous writers, actors and intellectuals were accused

of supporting communism. Public opinion changed, though. In nineteen sixty-

four, President Lyndon Johnson presented him with the Presidential Medal of

Freedom. It is America's highest award to civilians⁹. Aaron Copland died in

nineteen ninety at the age of ninety. But his music lives on.

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VOICE ONE:

This Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. It was produced

by Lawan Davis. I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. Join us again next week for another People in America

program in VOA Special English.