Music for the Common Man: Aaron Copland during the Depression and War

Elizabeth B. Crist (Assistant Professor of Musicology, Assistant Professor of Musicology, University of Texas at Austin)

ISBN 10: 0195383591 / ISBN 13: 9780195383591

Published by Oxford University Press Inc, United States, New York, 2009

About this Item

Music for the Common Man: Aaron Copland during the Depression and War is the first sustained attempt to understand some of Copland's best known music in the context of leftwing social, political, and cultural currents of the Great Depression and Second World War. In the 1930s Aaron Copland began to write in an accessible style he called "imposed simplicity." Works like El Salon Mexico, Billy the Kid, Lincoln Portrait, and Appalachian Spring not only brought the composer unprecedented popular success but also came to define an American sound. Yet the political alignment behind this musical idiom--the social agenda that might be heard within these familiar pieces--has been largely overlooked, even though it has long been acknowledged that Copland subscribed to leftwing ideals. His politics never merely accorded with mainstream New Deal liberalism or wartime patriotism, however, but advanced a progressive vision of American society and culture. His music from the thirties and forties relates to the politics of radical progressivism, which affirmed a fundamental sensitivity toward those less fortunate, support of multiethnic pluralism, belief in social democracy, and faith that America's past could be put in service of a better future. Investing symbols of America--whether the West, folk song, patriotism, or the people--with progressive social ideals, Copland's music wrestles with the political complexities and cultural contradictions of the era. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Seller Inventory # GOR011630656

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Music for the Common Man: Aaron Copland during the Depression and War
• Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc, United States, New York
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195383591
• ISBN 13: 9780195383591
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

Music for the Common Man: Aaron Copland during the Depression and War is the first sustained attempt to understand some of Copland's best known music in the context of leftwing social, political, and cultural currents of the Great Depression and Second World War. In the 1930s Aaron Copland began to write in an accessible style he called "imposed simplicity." Works like El Sal�n M�xico, Billy the Kid, Lincoln Portrait, and Appalachian Spring not only brought the composer unprecedented popular success but also came to define an American sound. Yet the political alignment behind this musical idiom-the social agenda that might be heard within these familiar pieces-has been largely overlooked, even though it has long been acknowledged that Copland subscribed to leftwing ideals. His politics never merely accorded with mainstream New Deal liberalism or wartime patriotism, however, but advanced a progressive vision of American society and culture. His music from the thirties and forties relates to the politics of radical progressivism, which affirmed a fundamental sensitivity toward those less fortunate, support of multiethnic pluralism, belief in social democracy, and faith that America's past could be put in service of a better future. Investing symbols of America-whether the West, folk song, patriotism, or the people-with progressive social ideals, Copland's music wrestles with the political complexities and cultural contradictions of the era.

About the Author

Elizabeth Bergman Crist is Assistant Professor of Music, Princeton University, and co-editor (with Wayne Shirley) of The Selected Correspondence of Aaron Copland (Yale, 2006).