Wednesday, March 23, 2011

My Accomplishments

1918
NIGHT
A SUMMER VACATION
MY HEART IS IN THE EAST
vocal
vocal
vocal
1920
OLD POEM
THE CAT AND THE MOUSE
vocal
piano
1921
PASTORALE
THREE MOODS
FOUR MOTETS
PETIT PORTRAIT
vocal
piano
choral
piano
1921-24
MOVEMENT FOR STRING QUARTET
chamber
1922
ALONE
PASSACAGLIA FOR PIANO
vocal
piano
1922-25
GROHG (revised 1932)
ballet
1923
CORTEGE MACABRE
AS IT FELL UPON A DAY for soprano, flute, and clarinet
orchestra
vocal
1923-28
TWO PIECES FOR STRING QUARETT
chamber
1924
SYMPHONY FOR ORGAN AND ORCHESTRA
orchestra
1925
DANCE SYMPHONY
MUSIC FOR THE THEATRE
TWO CHORUSES ("The House on the Hill," "An Immortality")
orchestra
orchestra
chorus
1926
PIANO CONCERTO
TWO PIECES FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO
SENTIMENTAL MELODY
orchestra
chamber
piano
1926/48
FOUR PIANO BLUES
piano
1927
POET’S SONG
vocal
1927-30
SYMPHONIC ODE (revised 1955)
orchestra
1928
VOCALISE
FIRST SYMPHONY (arrangement of Organ Symphony)
vocal
orchestra
1929
VITEBSK for piano, violin, and cello
chamber
1930
PIANO VARIATIONS
piano
1931
MIRACLE AT VERDUN
incidental
1933
SHORT SYMPHONY
orchestra
1934
HEAR YE! HEAR YE!
STATEMENTS FOR ORCHESTRA
INTO THE STREETS MAY FIRST
ballet
orchestra
chorus
1935
WHAT DO WE PLANT?
SUNDAY AFTERNOON MUSIC
THE YOUNG PIONEERS
chorus
piano
piano
1935-36
EL SALON MEXICO
orchestra
1936-37
THE SECOND HURRICANE
PRAIRIE JOURNAL (originally called MUSIC FOR RADIO)
opera
orchestra
1937
SEXTET (arrangement of Short Symphony) for string quartet, clarinet, and piano
chamber
1938
BILLY THE KID
AN OUTDOOR OVERTURE
LARK
ballet
orchestra
chorus
1939
THE CITY
OF MICE AND MEN
film
film
1939-41
PIANO SONATA
piano
1940
OUR TOWN
QUIET CITY
film
orchestra
1940
JOHN HENRY (rev. 1952)
orchestra
1941
EPISODE
organ
1942
DANZON CUBANO for 2-pianos
LAS AGACHADAS
FANFARE FOR THE COMMON MAN
LINCOLN PORTRAIT
MUSIC FOR MOVIES
RODEO
piano
chorus
orchestra
orchestra
orchestra
ballet
1943
SONG OF THE GUERILLAS
NORTH STAR
SONATA FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO
orchestra
film
chamber
1944
APPALACHIAN SPRING
LETTER FROM HOME (revised 1962)
ballet
orchestra
1944-46
SYMPHONY NO. 3
orchestra
1944/82
MIDDAY THOUGHTS
piano
1945
JUBILEE VARIATIONS
THE CUMMINGTON STORY
orchestra
film
1947
IN THE BEGINNING
chorus
1947/77
MIDSUMMER NOCTURNE
piano
1947-48
CLARINET CONCERTO
orchestra
1948
THE RED PONY
THE HEIRESS
film
film
1949
PREAMBLE FOR A SOLEMN OCCASION
orchestra
1949-50
TWELVE POEMS OF EMILY DICKINSON
vocal
1950
OLD AMERICAN SONGS, SET I
QUARTET FOR PIANO AND STRINGS
vocal
chamber
1952
OLD AMERICAN SONGS, SET II
vocal
1952-54
THE TENDER LAND (revised 1955)
opera
1954
DIRGE IN WOODS
vocal
1955
CANTICLE OF FREEDOM (revised 1967)
orchestra
1955-57
PIANO FANTASY
piano
1957
THE WORLD OF NICK ADAMS
ORCHESTRAL VARIATIONS (transcription of Piano Variations)
television
orchestra
1958-70
EIGHT POEMS OF EMILY DICKINSON (orchestral version)
vocal
1959
DANCE PANELS (revised 1962)
ballet
1959-72
THREE LATIN AMERICAN SKETCHES
orchestra
1960
NONET FOR STRINGS
chamber
1961
SOMETHING WILD
film
1962
DOWN A COUNTRY LANE
CONNOTATIONS
piano
orchestra
1963
DANZA DE JALISCO (in Latin American Sketches) for 2-pianos
piano
1964
EMBLEMS FOR WIND ENSEMBLE
MUSIC FOR A GREAT CITY
chamber
orchestra
1966
IN EVENING AIR
piano
1967
INSCAPE
orchestra
1969
INAUGURAL (CEREMONIAL) FANFARE
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

orchestra
orchestra
1971
DUO FOR FLUTE AND PIANO
THRENODY I: IN MEMORIAM IGOR STRAVINSKY for flute, violin, viola, and cello

chamber
chamber
1972
NIGHT THOUGHTS: HOMAGE TO IVES
3 LATIN AMERICAN SKETCHES

piano
orchestra
1973
THRENODY II: IN MEMORIAM BEATRICE CUNNINGHAM for flute, violin, viola, and cello chamber

chamber
1973-82
PROCLAMATION
piano

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

January 1925

My first concert as a composer. I can not believe it! What a great honor it is to have my music, Symphony for Organ and Orchestra, performed by the New York Symphony Orchestra and conducted by the self-esteemed Mr. Walter Damrosch. While on the podium, Mr. Damrosch said to the audience, "if a gifted young man can write a symphony like this, then within five years he will be ready to commit murder!" I guess that's a good thing? I murder people with my music? I don't think it's in the cards for me.

August 1921

Bonjour from Paris! Today school starts in Fontainbleau, Paris. I had my first lesson with Madame Nadia Boulanger. Words can not even describe how over joyed I am with the outcome. I played her one of my Jazz pieces I scribbled down two years ago for fun. She loved it! I'm starting to notice that Europeans regard jazz with the highest respect. I think this is the beginning of something great!

Friday, March 11, 2011

Concert Suite "Billy The Kid"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdfPbHmEY4w

Appalachian Spring part 2 Allegro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edy81pUHWxo

A Man of Many Compositions

Copeland's first composition ever sold was to Durand and Sons in France.
   - Symphony for Organ and Orchestra (1925).
        * Conducted by Serge Koussevitsky and performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra
  - El Salon Mexico (1935)
        * Mexican Folk Music
Copland also wrote for Films in the late 30's and early 40's.
   - Of Mice and Men (1939), Our Town (1940), The Heiress (1949)
        *Won Academy Awards for
As well as Ballets
   - Agnes DeMille's Rodeo (1942), Appalachian Song (1944), and Concert Suite

Aaron Copeland's Past

Aaron Copeland 
Born in Brooklyn, New York on November 14, 1900. Born into a Jewish family and the youngest of five children. The family lived above a department store that they owned. Aaron's sister taught him how to play the piano at eleven years old, and it's where his love of music began. He attended the Boys High School in Brooklyn and began theory classes in 1917. After high school he left New York to attend the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France. There he studied piano from Nadia Boulanger. After leaving Paris he wanted to start writing music and started writing for Jazz.