An Introduction to America’s Music

370 PART 3 | FROM WORLD WAR I THROUGH WORLD WAR II

melody suggests the atmosphere of simple country living.” The music draws

from the beginning of the movie’s soundtrack, which extends through the

opening credits to scenes of wildlife stirring at dawn and the morning activities

on a California ranch around the turn of the twentieth century. Copland cast

this opening music for The Red Pony in the antique form of a French overture (ca.

1650–1750): a slow, stately opening, followed by a much livelier section. Copland’s

slow section comprises the fanfare-like title music and a softer continuation

evoking the natural world at dawn. The fast section, depicting morning chores

on the farm, repeats folklike melodic phrases with ever-changing orchestra-

tion. In the movie this music thins out and fades under dialogue at the breakfast

table; for the concert piece Copland jumps to a variation of the folklike melody

originally used in the fi lm’s closing moments, showing the birth of a foal. A brief

coda uses music that in the fi lm represents the galloping foal, now grown, and

concludes with a return of the title music.

Rather than borrow actual folk songs, Copland creates original melodies in

the style of folk song, using simple rhythms, short phrases, and diatonic scales—

not only major and minor but also the modal scales of Anglo-American ballads.

The melodies’ narrow ranges and highly repetitive structure, however, relate

less to traditional American songs and more to the Russian folk tunes used by

Igor Stravinsky—a modernist admired highly by Copland and his teacher Nadia

timing section screen action comments

3:38 Final, and loudest, statement of a, in trombones and open

trumpets.

3:50 coda Galloping pony Closing theme in the style of a fi ddle tune, with boisterous

“oom-pah” accompaniment.

4:06 Closing credits Return of opening fanfare.

Listen & Refl ect

1. If you knew nothing about the Steinbeck story or fi lm and heard this music with no expla-
   nation of its original purpose, would it make sense on purely musical terms? Why or
   why not?


2. If possible, view the opening and closing scenes of The Red Pony online or on DVD
   or videocassette. How did Copland restructure the fi lm music for the concert suite,
   and why? Why would the music as written for the fi lm not work as well in the concert hall?
   Although Copland avoids “mickey-mousing,” how does he shape the music to suit the
   visual image onscreen?

Listening Guide 15.2

“Morning on the Ranch,” from The Red Pony Suite

CD 3.3 AARON COPLAND

172028_15_361-385_r3_ko.indd 370 23/01/13 8:36 PM