- Classical Music Dictionary

Copland (born in Brooklyn, N.Y., nov. 14, 1900) began serious musical study in his early teens.

He was the first of many American musicians to study with Nadia Boulanger in Paris (1921-24).

On his return to the United States in 1925 and after the performance of his Symphony for Organ and Orchestra, he became identified with brash modernism.

While maintaining his penchant for the jazzy and experimental, Copland also developed a folksy American style that won him a wide audience.

From 1925 to 1927, Copland held a Guggenheim grant, the first of many awards, commissions, and prizes he received.

A prolific composer, Copland also taught and lectured extensively and wrote several books.

He appeared frequently as a conductor of his own and other composers' music.
In 1964 he was awarded the Medal of Freedom by the U.S. government.

Copland is perhaps most famous for his superb ballet scores, such as Billy the Kid (1938), Rodeo (1942), and Appalachian Spring (1944), which are all based on American folklore.

MIDI FILE - Appalachian Spring (23'55'')

He also composed two operas, The Second Hurricane (1937) and The Tender Land (1954), as well as choral works and songs.

He was a leading composer of film scores, and composed music for films such as Of Mice and Men (1939), Our Town (1940), The Red Pony (1948), and The Heiress (1949).

Copland's Piano Variations (1930) is the most influential of his many solo and chamber works.

Outstanding among his orchestral scores are the jazzy Piano Concerto (1927) and Music for the Theatre (1925), the Clarinet Concerto (1948) written for Benny Goodman, El Salon Mexico (1936), the Symphony n. 3 (1946), and A Lincoln Portrait (1942) with spoken portions from Abraham Lincoln's speeches.

Composers Biography