Composer of the Month
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Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland is one of the most famous American composers of all time. Copland was born in Brooklyn, New York, and was the youngest of five children. The family lived above the department store that they owned. One of Copland's sisters showed him how to play piano when he was eleven years old, and soon afterward he began taking lessons from a teacher in the neighborhood. Copland continued his music lessons after graduating from high school, and in 1921 he went to France to study at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau. After Copland completed his studies in 1924, he returned to America and composed the Symphony for Organ and Orchestra, his first major work was Music for the Theater (1925) and a Piano Concerto (1926) explored the possibilities of combining jazz and symphony music. In the late 1920s Copland turned to an increasingly experimental style, featuring irregular rhythms and often jarring sounds. Copland wrote music with a very “American" sound. Some of his most famous pieces are his ballets -- Billy the Kid, Rodeo, and Appalachian Spring. Billy the Kid and Rodeo are about the Wild West. Copland also wrote music for movies -- Of Mice and Men and Our Town, among others. One of Copland's best known compostions is Fanfare for the Common Man. Copland wrote it after the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra asked several composers to write fanfares during World War II. Copland’s music has become a great part of American history. |