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Expert Opinion
from Minnesota
Monthly, November 2000
For Copland's centenary, Minnesota Monthly turned to Minnesota's
musical experts for their take on Copland's American sound.
Libby
Larsen, Composer
Copland valued our nation's folk music and studied it carefully, incorporating
it into his work and translating it through his traditional classical
training. The results are some of his most beloved works, including "Hoedown"
from Rodeo, originally Bonaparte's Retreat, a fiddle tune
transcribed by composer Ruth Crawford Seeger. Copland combined the best
of his traditional training with his great respect for the music of America,
to create music that is generally considered the epitome of classical
American music of the 1900s.
John
Birge, MPR Classical Music Host
Several of Copland's works have direct American inspiration. He quotes
American folk songs, and his harmonies suggest folk music, but always
in an original context. The simplicity of his music belies its sophistication.
And what does it mean to sound "American"? Clearly, those dancing
buckaroos in Rodeo aren't from Uzbekistan! But be careful of the indoctrinating
clichés of the Beef Council commercial. Consider what Copland himself
said: "The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, 'Is
there a meaning to music?' My answer to that would be, 'Yes.' And, 'Can
you state in so many words what the meaning is?' My answer to that would
be, 'No.'
Julie Amacher, MPR Classical Music Host
Copland truly believed that composers had to turn to their own heritage
for inspiration and source materials. He turned to American folk idioms.
He pulled out a few cowboy songs and sprinkled them into the ballet music
for Billy the Kid. He researched traditional folk songs and incorporated
them into his works. He developed his own voice through his use of spiky
orchestration and wide intervals, which created the image of wide open
prairies. Before long, Billy the Kid, Rodeo, and Appalachian
Spring were considered as American as apple pie.
Eiji
Oue, Music Director, the Minnesota Orchestra
Copland's music is best described as spacious. He creates a sense of space
that reflects a description of America. His music has a large spacious
spirit with a deep horizon.
Bill
McGlaughlin, Host, Saint Paul Sunday
I can think of several elements that contribute to the "American-ness"
of Aaron Copland's music: his use of wide, open harmonic intervals which
suggest space and horizon, his brilliant adaptation of American folk materials
from cowboy songs to jazz rhythms. But I really feel the greatest component
of Aaron's sound comes simply from his heart. His vision of himself and
of us is built on the model of Emerson and Whitman; he sees us as a large-spirited,
energetic, unpretentious, honest and sentimental people, and his music
sounds like us.
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