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Aaron Copland
Life
•Born in Brooklyn in 1900.
•Studies in Paris with Nadia Boulanger 1921-25.
•Back in the US in 1924.
•1930s: involvement with the Communist Party,
although he didn’t become a member.
•First trip to Mexico 1932. Additional trips sponsored by
the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs in
1941, 47, 54 and 66.
•1939 first book: What to listen for in Music. Three more
until 1960
•1940 First season at Tanglewood (will keep going until
1964).
•Pulitzer Prize for Appalachian Spring 1945. Oscar for
The Heiress.
Copland at his house in Ossining
•Died in Westchester in 1990, after suffering from
Alzheimer’s for 10 years.
Prepared by Americas Society with generous support from Citi
Foundation.
[email protected]
Aaron Copland
Music
Piano Variations 1930, premiered 1931
Salon Mexico – finished 1936, premiered in Mexico 1937
Appalachian Spring – Ballet for Martha Graham, Pulitzer
for music in 1945
Closest correspondent in Latin America was Mexican
composer and conductor Carlos Chávez (1899-1978)
Prepared by Americas Society with generous support from Citi
Foundation.
[email protected]
Aaron Copland
Trip to Venezuela in 1954
• Primer Festival Latinoamericano de Música Contemporánea
• 40 symphonic pieces from 7 countries, including:
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Obertura para el Fausto criollo (1948, Alberto Ginastera)
Sinfonía para cuerdas, (1950, Héctor Tosar)
Choros #9 (1929, Heitor Villa-Lobos)
Sinfonía de Antígona (1933, Carlos Chávez)
• Official account:
– Good orchestra, […] lively cultural organization.
– …no surprise that Villa-Lobos and Chavez confirmed their reputation
as the two leaders in Latin-American composition.
– Chávez balanced vibrant indianism of his popular Sinfonía India with
with the austerities of the Sinfonía de Antígona.
• In private:
– Very unhappy with V-L, thought Ginastera’s piece uncharacteristic and
Tosar’s music stiff.
– Really liked Chávez’s concert and his pieces.
Prepared by Americas Society with generous support from Citi
Foundation.
[email protected]
Instituto DiTella
• The ITdT was founded in 1958. its music branch, the Centro
Latinoamericano de Altos Estudios Musicales (CLAEM) opened in 1962.
• Major funding from the Ford Foundation (in the order of $250,000
annually until 1970). Adjusted for inflation, this figure is about
$3,000,000.
• Alberto Ginastera, dean of Argentinean composers directed, assisted by
Gerardo Gandini, now himself a leading composer in his 70s.
• Some of the most distinguished figures of the musical world lectured at
the CLAEM, including Copland, Xenakis, Messiaen and others.
• As the funding dried out in 1970, the CLAEM was transferred to the
city of Buenos Aires. The ITdT and its university continue to this day,
dedicated to the social sciences.
Prepared by Americas Society with generous support from Citi
Foundation.
[email protected]
Instituto DiTella
• Some composers and works:
• Cesar Bolaños (Peru): Intensidad y altura, first piece written in the
CLAEM
• Ariel Martínez (Argentina): El glotón de Pepperland, last piece written
in 1970 before it closed.
• Pedro Caryveschi (Argentina): Integraciones paraboloides, first using
the graphics conversion machine.
• Oscar Bazán (Argentina): Parcas, not done at the CLAEM but my
favorite pieces.
Prepared by Americas Society with generous support from Citi
Foundation.
[email protected]
Electronic Music
• Started in the 1950s
• Two basic ways of making it initially:
– Tape recorders (musique concrète)
– Synthesizers
• Sound
We can understand and study sound following four basic parameters:
1. Duration is measured in minutes and seconds and, in music, with figures and
tempo indications.
2. Timbre lets us tell what instrument is playing. Many factors play in its
definition; one of them is harmonic content. When a musical instrument moves,
its different parts will move at different speeds and in different directions. What
we hear is, in fact, the combination of these many vibrations. This creates a
unique waveform that tells us what instrument is playing or who is speaking.
3. Pitch lets us differentiate a low sound from a high one. It is measured in Hz or,
in musical terms, with note names or Cents, a pitch unit that divides the
semitone in 100 parts.
4. Intensity makes us perceive sounds as loud or soft. It is measured in Db
(decibels), in music, it is indicated by the dynamic symbols (p, f, etc.).
Prepared by Americas Society with generous support from Citi
Foundation.
[email protected]
Electronic Instruments
O
K
F
LFO
A
EG
O: Oscillator
F: Filter
A: Amplifier/Speakers
K: Keyboard
LFO: Low Frequency (Slow) Oscillator
EG: Envelope Generator
Audio
Control
Prepared by Americas Society with generous support from Citi
Foundation.
[email protected]