How Did Aaron Copland Influence The World

St. Louis in 1880’s. The first time he was known for his music was 1891. In 1893, while

Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, or Wolfgang Mozart for short, was born on January 27, 1756. He was an Austrian composer that today is known as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music. Mozart wrote in multiple musical genres, excelling in each one. Because of his range of expression, it made him seem the most universal of all composers.

In 1923 one of Americas most prolific composers Clifton Williams was born in Traskwood, Arkansas. Later in the 1930’s Williams moved to Little Rock Arkansas and even though his family was having a hard time during the depression. Even through this Williams fared well in high school. during this time Williams learned to play the French horn, the piano and the mellophone . After high school Williams went to Louisiana Tech University where Williams studied composition for a year under

I do agree that Aaron Copland’s works are examples of music with an American quality. The reason for this is because “Hoe-Down” was very energetic and was square dance music. Square dancing and square dance music is something that is of American tradition and people all over America enjoy to hear. I also agree with this statement because “Hoe-Down” has been used in movies and I am sure that so have his other best-known works. Movies make up a great deal of the American life and without good music those movies cannot reach their potential therefore the wonderful music helps give quality to both the ear and the eye because of the visuals and emotions that come with listening to the music.

Stephen Foster is considered “the father of American music”. Foster lived during the romantic musical era during 1815-1910. Foster was born on July 4, 1826 in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania. Foster’s parents were William Barclay Foster and Eliza Clayland Tomlinson. His father worked as merchant in Pittsburgh. Foster was the second youngest out of ten children, but the last child died as an infant leaving Foster being the youngest out of the bunch. Foster’s family came from Scottish and Irish emigrants from both his mother and father. His grandfather, James Foster, served in the Revolutionary war, while his father was a quartermaster and commissioner for the United States during the War of 1812.

When looking at the characteristics of his work, Copland could most likely be described as an experimentalist. He often enjoyed mixing various stylistic ideas of Jazz and Mexican dance rhythms into his music and did not shy away from including these styles into his film scores and

Aaron Copland has been viewed as a leading pioneer in American music. His music incorporated popular forms of American music such as jazz and folk. Aaron is one of the most highly respected and an admired twentieth century composer. Aaron Copland showed great influence in helping American composers break free from the ‘European’ style of music. In this paper I will briefly examine Aaron Copland’s life and influences reflected in his music and several musical styles.

The beginning of popular American music dated around the 1850s. The most influential person around this time was Stephen Foster, who was the first important popular songwriter. At this time, most music reflected racism in which people like George Christie (who first introduced Foster’s music) performed music in minstrel shows. These

     Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91) is regarded as the greatest composer who ever lived. He began writing minuets at the age of 5,and by the time he died in 1791 at the age of 35, he had produced 626 cataloged works. “ Mozart has enriched the concerto form with a larger number of masterpieces than any other composer.”1

Charles Ives is known in our day as the “Father of American Music,” but in his day, he was known just like everyone else- an ordinary man living his life. He was born in Danbury, Connecticut on October 20, 1894 (Stanley 1) to his mother, Sarah Hotchkiss Wilcox Ives and father, George White Ives (A Life With Music, Swafford 4). His father was renowned for being the Union’s youngest bandmaster and having the best band in the Army (The Man His Life, Swafford 1). Little Charles was influenced early in his life by his father who had libertarian ideas about music (Stanley 1). Although Danbury prided itself as “the most musical town in Connecticut”, the people did not give the musical profession respect or understanding

Looking back in time at the great composers of the world, only one foreign composer stands out for his many contributions to classical music and in helping America to find its own music. Antonin Leopold Dvorak was born on September 8th, 1841, in a small village of Nelahozeves in Bohemia that lies on the bank of the Mauldau River. The village Dvorak was born into was in good company and surroundings however also retained much of its native luster even through the worst times of political oppression (1).

He remained a clerk for three years. He hated his job but he worked feverishly at it for he worked hard at every task he was given. He continued to be drawn into the music world and he took piano and theory lessons. Finally, in 1862, he quit his job and devoted the rest of his life to music which he began by entering the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He graduated with a silver medal in 1865. After graduation he was unsure of what to do until 1866 when Nicholas Rubenstein offered him the job of professor of harmony at the newly formed Moscow Conservatory. It was here that he wrote his first serious works which included AA Festival Overture on the Danish National Hymn,@ his First Symphony in G AWinter Daydreams,@ and his first opera AThe Voyevode.@ Showing his desire for perfection he tore up the opera because he was dissatisfied with it and it wasn=t until 1949 that it was revived.5

Who is the composer (full name and dates)? List three points about his life and environment.

In 1832 he published his first composition which was a piano sonata and symphony that were influenced heavily by Beethoven (Bonds 464). However; in attempting to write these kinds of music he realized he loved theatre music (Bonds 463). Wagner spent a lot of time with the theatre he was able to see Geyer preform and see all the inner workings of the theatre (Jacobs 3). Through his experiences with the theatre he began to develop his own ideas of music. He only valued music for the operatic images that struck him (Jacobs 6). His image of music from the beginning seemed to be very narrow

Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg in 1809. His father Abraham Mendelssohn was a banker, while his mum Lea Mendelssohn was a highly educated artist and musician. Mendelssohn first had his piano lesson from his mum, but soon he was sent to study with the best teachers at that time such as Marie Bigot and Ludwig Burger. He also took composition lessons with Karl