Of all the musicians in the United States, no one has touched the heartstrings of Americans like Copland.
The famous American composer Aaron Copland wrote at the beginning of his autobiography "Copland: 1900-1942": "For a composer, music is a language. .Behind the score, and even behind the various sounds played, there is emotion that speaks. "Copland gave America a unique musical language with his music." It is the language of the American land and people, the language of American history and mythology, and it contains feelings and understandings of ordinary Americans.
On November 14, 1900, Copeland was born in Brooklyn, New York City, to a Russian Jewish immigrant family. His father was the owner of a department store. Copeland showed musical talent early on. He wrote his first song when he was 8 years old, but did not start formal music training until he was 13 years old. Although Copland started late, his musical savvy and diligence allowed him to catch up from behind.
At the age of 15, he was determined to compose music, so he began to study harmony, melody coordination and composition under Rubin Geldmark before graduating from high school. Four years later, Geldmark's traditional and conservative style could no longer satisfy the young Copland's pursuit of music. In 1921, Copland went to the American Conservatory of Music in Fontainebleau, France, and became the famous composer Nadia Boulanger. students.
At this time, Paris, the capital of art, is brewing a new trend. The writers Eliot and Pound who immigrated to Europe, the surrealist painters Braque and Ernst, and the French "Group of Six" composers Poulenc and Millaud all abandoned tradition and boldly made new innovations in their respective artistic fields. In this atmosphere of pure modernism, Copland wrote his first orchestral work, Graf.
In 1924, Copeland returned to China after completing his studies. Before leaving Paris, Copland was invited by Boulanger to compose an orchestral and organ ensemble for her, in which Boulanger served as the organ solo. After its New York premiere, this modern work received mixed reviews from critics and audiences who were both novel and shocked. Copland clearly recognized the traces of European style in his works and was determined to create with a unique American musical language.
Years later, he recalled in an interview with the New York Times: "I was fully aware of the differences between French composers and German composers. Igor Stravinsky It sounded so Russian. I was very eager to write serious music with a unique American style. In 1925 and 1926, Copland composed "Drama Music" and "Piano Concerto" and incorporated them into it. Jazz. But critics thought his efforts were too artificial, with the jazz elements sounding more like symbols of American identity than expressions of personal emotion.
In addition to composing, Copland also vigorously introduced and promoted the works of other young American composers to the public. In 1928, he co-organized the Copland-Saison concert series with composer Roger Saison, which provided New York audiences with the opportunity to appreciate and understand contemporary American music for several consecutive years. Beginning in 1932, he organized and hosted the American Contemporary Music Festival in New York. At the same time, Copland's musical style changed again.
The works of this period, such as "Ode to a Symphony", "Piano Variations" and "Short Symphony", give people an abstract, thin and empty feeling. Not only are they quite difficult to perform, but their abrupt rhythms and dissonant tones often make the listeners feel confused and repulsed.
During the exploration, Pulan gradually realized that music should be oriented to a wider audience rather than just peers in the music industry, and that creating simple and popular works was precisely the most challenging thing for him. In 1936, a trip to Mexico opened up new creative avenues for Copland. He wrote "Mexican Dance Hall" based on Mexican folk music, which aroused enthusiastic responses from the audience. Over the next decade, Copland continued to draw inspiration from regional music.
He incorporated 19th-century American folk music, such as New England hymns and western cowboy music, into his creations, conveying a simple and natural feeling with a simple and expressive musical language. Americanism and "the essence of people? Their humanity, their shyness, their dignity, their unique charm" ("Copland: 1900-1942"). Copland's new work won him unprecedented honors and a wider audience, but it also attracted criticism and ridicule from some of his fellow musicians, who accused him of betraying the art of music.
In this regard, Copeland defended himself: "Winning an audience was only part of the reason why I wrote these works. Like my early hasty jazz works, these works gave me an opportunity to try to be more local. The opportunity of the musical tradition. I feel that I have touched the natural essence of music that we desperately need. The late 1930s and the entire 1940s were Copland's creative heyday. His works included symphonies, A wide range of forms including ballet, opera, film, song, drama, etc. Copeland has scored five feature films including "Of Mice and Men," "Small Town," "Northstar," "Red Horse" and "The Succession."
His music added color to the film without overshadowing the performance itself, and became a model for subsequent film scores.
The Times Literary Supplement called the music in "Of Mice and Men" and "Small Town" the best film scores ever, and "The Heir" won the Academy Award for Best Film Score. Copland's achievements in ballet music are even greater than those in film. His biographer Julia Smith wrote: "Through ballet, Alan Copland expressed the strength, power, and faith of the American tradition in a contemporary musical language that no American composer had ever achieved.
He laid the foundation for America's national arts and established a recognized American musical tradition. "Copland's best-known ballet scores include "Billy the Boy," "The Showman," and "Appalachian Spring." "Appalachian Spring" won the Pulitzer Prize for Music and the New York Music Critics Circle Award.
Despite his brilliant achievements in the field of popular music, Copland never gave up the exploration of serious music, and always hoped to win the appreciation and respect of highly musical audiences with his exquisite and elegant music. In the early 1940s, he composed the "Piano Sonata", "Violin Sonata" and "Third Symphony" composed for concerts. The latter was named the best orchestral work from 1946 to 1947 by the New York Music Critics Association.
In addition, the symphonic poem "Portrait of Lincoln" and the orchestral music "Cheering for Ordinary People" in memory of US President Lincoln were also well received. From the 1950s to the 1960s, Copland returned to the abstract avant-garde style he had experimented with in his early years. "Piano Quartet", "Piano Fantasy" and "Connotation" are representative works. It is worth mentioning that Copland's "Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson" and the opera "Hot Earth" created in the 1950s combine serious and popular styles and are listed as his best works.
An important part of Copland's musical career was the education and popularization of music. From the mid-1920s to the late 1930s, Copland lectured on modern music at the New Society Institute. For 25 years from 1940 to 1965, he served as the director of the composition department of the Berkshire Music Center hosted by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and mentored several generations of American composers. In the early 1950s, the music lectures he gave at Harvard University were collected and published in 1952 under the title "Music and Imagination". In addition, he also introduced and promoted American modern music to audiences across the country and published works such as "How to Listen to Music" and "Our New Music".
In 1970, Copland suddenly stopped composing and became an orchestra conductor. Ten years later, he said in an interview: "I'm surprised that I don't feel any sense of loss. I must have expressed myself fully. I don't feel uncomfortable or resentful at all. I just feel that I have had such a loss." It's a blessing to be creating for a long time, and to be able to accept it when it's all over."
"The Washington Post" explained this as follows: "Copland's status is equivalent to a national monument. It is enough for him to exist and be seen." In 1964, Copland became the first American composer to be awarded the Medal of Honor. In 1979, he was awarded a Kennedy Center Honor for his contributions to American culture. In 1986, President Reagan awarded him the National Medal of Arts.
On December 2, 1990, Copeland, who had suffered several strokes, died of pneumonia at the age of 90. His musical career spanned almost the entire 20th century. The New York Times noted in its tribute: "Of all the classical musicians in America, no one has touched the heartstrings of Americans like Copland.
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