286
I
n August 1944, the dancer and
choreographer Martha Graham
first heard the music that
Aaron Copland had created for her
ballet Appalachian Spring, about a
young couple ready to embark on
married life in a Pennsylvanian
farmhouse in the early 1800s. She
was pleased with what she heard
and praised its power to lead the
listener into a singular world.
Graham commissioned the work
determined that it would be “a
legend of American living” and
“the inner frame that holds together
a people.” She had also stipulated
that the music should be about90 minutes long and scored for only
10 to 12 instruments, but Copland
used 13. Graham had also chosen
the title Appalachian Spring, which
came from a verse of “The Dance”
by the American poet Hart Crane.Clarity and simplicity
Copland’s music had been heavily
influenced by his time as a student
in France in the early 1920s, when
he had been surrounded by people
who represented all that was new
in the arts. In Paris, several young
composers were newly reworking
Classical styles and exploring
genres such as Modernism and
Impressionism, eschewing the old
German Romanticism of Brahms
and Wagner. Copland himself was
particularly influenced by Igor
Stravinsky, who was just entering
his neoclassical phase. Stravinsky’s
Octet (1923) impressed Copland
with its clean lines, crystal-clear
textures, and concise structure.
From this time, Copland’s music
became more open and its form
and instrumentation more tightly
controlled. The hardships of
World War I compeled him, like
Stravinsky, to write for smaller
orchestras. With Appalachian
Spring, he said, he was forcedIN CONTEXT
FOCUS
Contemporary American
nationalismBEFORE
1911–1915 Inspired by local
transcendentalism, Ives
composes his Concord Sonata.1928 Virgil Thomson’s Four
Saints in Three Acts celebrates
American diversity.1939 Roy Harris conveys the
immensity of the American
rural landscape in his
Symphony No. 3.AFTER
1947 Samuel Barber sets his
Knoxville: Summer of 1915 to
James Agee’s memoir of his
childhood in rural Tennessee.1989 Elliott Carter’s Three
Occasions for Orchestra
celebrates the vigor and
energy of America.1999 John Harbison composes
The Great Gatsby based on
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel.THE MUSIC IS SO KNIT ...
THAT IT TAKES YOU
IN VERY STRONG HANDS
AND LEADS YOU INTO
ITS OWN WORLD
APPALACHIAN SPRING (1944), AARON COPLAND
So long as the human spirit
thrives on this planet, music
in some living form will
accompany and sustain it and
give it expressive meaning.
Aaron CoplandUS_286-287_Copland.indd 286 26/03/18 1:01 PM