Investor's Business Daily, October 3rd, 2007
Composing can be a lonely job. Hour after hour, the composer sits at a piano, trying to bring out the music in his head.
But for Aaron Copland, composition was about the people -- working with people, learning from them, befriending them, organizing and mentoring them.
His enthusiasm for combining music with humanity assured his place in music history almost as much as his compositions. "As organizer, teacher, propagandist, critic, lecturer and expositor, he has been by far the most voluble, articulate and respected American musician of his time," wrote Harold Schonberg in the New York Times in 1970.
Copland's ballets include "Billy the Kid" and "Rodeo," and his film scores include "Our Town," "The Red Pony" and "The Heiress," for which he won an Oscar. Probably his most-played work, "Fanfare for the Common Man," is used by the TV show "Omnibus," NBC's Olympic coverage and some rock bands.
Copland (1900-90) relied on his people skills as soon as he got interested in music. Enthralled by music at age 11, he persuaded his 18-year-old sister, Laurine -- who'd learned to play piano on her own -- to give him lessons. He quickly learned everything she knew. To continue learning, he had to persuade his parents to find him another teacher.
That wasn't easy. Copland's parents had escaped the pogroms of Russia to create a life as shopkeepers in Brooklyn. Like many immigrant parents, they wanted their children to learn practical trades that ensured financial security. Music wasn't one of them.
Copland persisted, hounding his parents daily. Finally his parents said they'd pay for lessons if he'd find a teacher. He asked around and found Leopold Wolfsohn.
Not long after that, Copland went to a concert by Ignace Paderewski, a famous Polish pianist and composer. Seeing and hearing Paderewski's compositions inspired Copland to think about composing. He went to more concerts and started studying sheet music. Years later in his book "Music and Imagination," he described the thrill: "My discovery of music was rather like coming upon an unsuspected city -- like discovering Paris or Rome if you never before heard of their existence."
Copland switched to composition lessons under the reputable and conservative Rubin Goldmark. He was restless under Goldmark's tutelage -- he wanted to try new musical ideas, but Goldmark disapproved. Copland realized he had much to learn and so stayed with him, but looked for variety.
After high school, Copland saw his opportunity. A new School of Music for Americans had been established in Fontainebleau, France. Copland applied for a scholarship and got in.
While an American music school in France might sound strange, it was a sign of the times. Americans still looked to Europe as the heartland of classical music and imitated their European cousins. No American had yet made composing a full-time occupation. Copland decided it was time to change that.
Once he landed in France, Copland studied with Nadia Boulanger, a legendary teacher of composition. Although worried that a woman might not be the best teacher, her Boulangerie -- a group of musicians she had trained that included Igor Stravinsky and Maurice Ravel -- persuaded him.
Boulanger led Copland to more connections, and he eagerly befriended them.
Her most important introduction for Copland was Serge Koussevitzky, a Russian who soon became conductor of the Boston Symphony. For some years afterward, he ensured that Copland's work was played.
Success wasn't instant. Copland's experimentalism was encouraged in France, but U.S. audiences and critics waited. When he first performed his now-classic "Piano Variations," the spare dissonance of the piece garnered negative reviews.
Yet Copland was confident his work was good. He kept writing, and eked out a living through the 1920s with grants, royalties and occasional lecturing.
He was far from the stereotype of a tempestuous composer. Friends say he was courteous, gentle and unruffled. Late in life he said he probably wrote pastoral music so well because the peaceful sounds reflected his inner tranquility.
Copland realized that to conquer the U.S. concert scene, he'd have to do it directly. So in 1928 he and composer Roger Sessions joined forces to create the Copland-Sessions Concerts to showcase young American talent. The series became a hit.
His friends were also a source of inspiration for Copland. Probably his most celebrated work, the ballet "Appalachian Spring" (1942), grew from his friendship with the choreographer Martha Graham. She asked him to write a ballet relating to her family background in rural Pennsylvania, and he did.
Copland kept himself open to outside influences. When visiting Mexico with composer Carlos Chavez in 1933, he came across a party where a mariachi band played. As guests danced and flirted, Copland listened. Soon after, he wove it all into his composition "El Salon Mexico."
The lively piece was quite a change from "Piano Variations," and highly popular. Some critics wondered if Copland wrote difficult music for his peers' respect, and catchy music for the masses. Copland denied it -- he just didn't like to repeat himself.
This story originally ran Feb. 11, 2005, on Leaders & Success.
