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Chapter 21: Alternatives to Modernism

Chapter 21: Alternatives to Modernism. Aaron Copland. Neoclassicism Nationalism Ballet Square dance Hymn Theme and variations. Key Terms. Aaron Copland. The leading U.S. composer 1925-1950 “Roaring 20s” encouraged modernism Favorable climate for new European ideas

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Chapter 21: Alternatives to Modernism

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  1. Chapter 21:Alternatives to Modernism Aaron Copland

  2. Neoclassicism Nationalism Ballet Square dance Hymn Theme and variations Key Terms

  3. Aaron Copland • The leading U.S. composer 1925-1950 • “Roaring 20s” encouraged modernism • Favorable climate for new European ideas • Many Americans lived abroad – Gertrude Stein, T. S. Eliot, Ernest Hemingway, etc. • Stravinsky’s Neoclassical style influenced several generations of U.S. composers • Copland began a full-fledged modernist • His Piano Variations (1930) uses dissonant harmonies & Stravinsky-like rhythms • But his music soon grew more traditional

  4. Music for Americans • Copland adopted a nationalist agenda • Used American music of all kinds, regions, & ages • Jazz – Music for the Theater, Clarinet Concerto • Cowboy songs – Rodeo, Billy the Kid • A Shaker hymn – Appalachian Spring • Square dancing – The Tender Land, Rodeo • Old hymns – 12 Poems of Emily Dickinson • Wrote music that is recognizably American

  5. Aaron Copland(1900-1990) • Son of immigrants in Brooklyn • Began musical studies in New York • In 1920s studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris • Once home he promoted American music • Copland-Sessions concerts, books, articles • Attracted by idea that art “serve the people” • Turned to folk materials in the 1930s • Works celebrate traditional American values • Lincoln Portrait, Fanfare for the Common Man • Late works a bit more modernist again

  6. Copland, Appalachian Spring • One of Copland’s most famous works • Ballet score choreographed & danced by Martha Graham • “a pioneer celebration in spring around a newly built farmhouse in the Pennsylvania hills in the first part of the last century” • Distinctive, wide-open American sound • Evokes a square dance, quotes a Shaker hymn • Copland arranged a concert suite for full orchestra in six continuous sections

  7. Appalachian Spring, Section 1 • Opens with still, clear, static passage • Evokes stillness of dawn & spaciousness of a vast landscape • Simple, meditative motives in counterpoint juxtapose A & E triads • Motives alternate with slow, lyric melody • An occasional solemn pulse in the harp

  8. Appalachian Spring, Section 2 (1) “The bride-to-be and the young farmer husband enact the emotions, joyful and apprehensive, their new domestic partnership invited” • Starts with lively hoedown theme • Mixed with Section 1 arpeggio motives • Slower, arching, hymnlike melody looms • Used in counterpoint with dance figures

  9. Appalachian Spring, Section 2 (2) • Stravinsky-like rhythms take over dance • Ends with slow, prayerful version of hymn • And a few last dance fragments

  10. Appalachian Spring, Section 5 (1) • A set of four variations on “Simple Gifts” • A Shaker hymn – “’Tis the gift to be simple”

  11. Appalachian Spring, Section 5 (2) • Copland doesn’t vary the tune itself • Variations present the tune using different instruments, keys, tempos, & accompaniments • Imitation & busy background tapestry in Variation 2 • Lively contrapuntal texture in Variation 3 • Climactic Variation 4 is one of Copland’s most famous “sound bites”

  12. Appalachian Spring, Section 6 • Starts slowly with simple lyric theme • “like a prayer” according to the program • Copland said it should sound like a church organ • Repeats several times in varied versions • Arching hymn from Section 2 returns • Ends with simple motives from Section 1 • Concludes very softly • Music evokes the many still dawns this pioneer couple will face in the years to come

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