Sound
Aaron Copland
Born 1900-11-14 · Brooklyn, New York
Aaron Copland (November 14, 1900 – December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Composers". The open, slowly changing harmonies in much of his music are typical of what many people consider to be the sound of American music, evoking the vast American landscape and pioneer spirit. He is best known for the works he wrote in the 1930s and 1940s in a deliberately accessible style often referred to as "populist" and which the composer labeled his "vernacular" style. Works in this vein include the ballets Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid and Rodeo, his Fanfare for the Common Man and Third Symphony. In addition to his ballets and orchestral works, he produced music in many other genres, including chamber music, vocal works, opera and film scores. Description above from the Wikipedia page Aaron Copland, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Acting credits
NRGerman-Brazilian production on the life of Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos.
Bachianas Brasileiras: Meu Nome é Villa-Lobos
1979
NRThis concert film made in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles in 1976 captures a memorable performance conducted by the doyen of American composers, Aaron Copland. It includes some of his greatest and most attractive music, from the patriotic flourish of Fanfare for the Common Man and the spirited orchestral fantasy El Salón México, to the colloquial warmth of his suite from the opera The Tender Land. Of particular importance is the collaboration with the great Benny Goodman in the masterwork he commissioned and premiered, the Clarinet Concerto.
Copland Conducts Copland
1976
Copland himself is the key explicator of his own extraordinary musical career, from piano lessons in Brooklyn and study with Nadia Boulanger, a fling as a wild-eyed modernist, and finally to his preeminence in the American musical world. The program features a wealth of Copland music, including ballet sequences with Agnes de Mille dancing in Rodeo and Martha Graham in Appalachian Spring, scenes of Copland conducting, and interviews with Leonard Bernstein and Ned Rorem, who said of Copland, "He invented out of whole cloth what it means to be American." Written by Vivian Perlis and produced by Ruth Leon.
Aaron Copland: A Self Portrait
1985
5.0A storm of Modernism swept through the art worlds of the West in the early decades of the twentieth century, uprooting centuries of tradition. The epicenter of this storm was Paris, France. For an incandescent moment from 1905 to 1930, Paris was the magnetic center for radical innovation and experiment, and the Mecca for creative talents who would change the course of art throughout the Western world.
Paris: The Luminous Years
2010
Dramatizations and actual archival film footage and photographs combine to relate the life of American composer Charles Ives and to document the musical background which influenced his work. Composers Aaron Copland and Elliott Carter reminisce about Ives and discuss his music.
Are My Ears on Wrong?: A Profile of Charles Ives
1979
A look at the activities of the Tanglewood Music Center, America's renowned summer Academy for talented musicians, singers, composers and conductors.
Tanglewood: A Place for Music
1985
NRA romantic pair leaves their flat for a desultory burlesque show and two workmen take advantage of the empty house to pilfer a wallet.
145 W. 21
1936
This video depicts Tanglewood in its very early years. It contains very rare footage of Serge Koussevitzky and Aaron Copland.
Tanglewood Music School and Music Festival
1949