Aaron Copland

Copland, Aaron 

Born Nov. 14, 1900, in Brooklyn, N.Y. American composer.

Copland studied with R. Goldmark in New York from 1917 to 1921 and with N. Boulanger in Paris from 1921 to 1924. Extremely active in the musical life of the country, he organized the Copland-Sessions Concerts, a series of concerts presented from 1928 to 1931, and headed the League of Composers and the American Composers’ Alliance. Copland gave lectures at many American universities. He has performed as a pianist and conductor in European and Latin American countries.

In his major works, Copland strives to reproduce the national features of American life; he also uses Latin American themes. His early works were close to the neoclassical school of I. F. Stravinsky. Copland subsequently turned to jazz rhythms and then to the 12-note system. His compositions include the opera The Tender Land (1954), the ballets Rodeo (1942) and Appalachian Spring (1944), three symphonies (1928, 1933, 1946), concerti, instrumental ensembles, choruses, and music for theater, film, and radio. Copland is the author of literary works on music, including contemporary music (excerpts from the book Music and Imagination were published in Russian in Sovetskaia muzyka, 1968, nos. 3–4).

D. G. ROMADINOVA