The American Stravinsky : The Style and Aesthetics of Copland's New American Music, the Early Works, 1921-1938

One of the country's most enduringly successful composers, Aaron Copland created a distinctively American style and aesthetic in works for a diversity of genres and mediums, including ballet, opera, and film. Also active as a critic, mentor, advocate, and concert organizer, he played a decisive role in the growth of serious music in the Americas in the twentieth century. In The American Stravinsky, Gayle Murchison closely analyzes selected works to discern the specific compositional techniques Copland used, and to understand the degree to which they derived from European models, particularly the influence of Igor Stravinsky. Murchison examines how Copland both Americanized these models and made them his own, thereby finding his own compositional voice. Murchison also discusses Copland's aesthetics of music and his ideas about its purpose and social function. Cover 1 Title Page, Copyright, Dedication 2 Acknowledgments 8 Contents 12 Tables 14 Musical Examples 16 Introduction 20 Chapter One: Scherzo humoristique (Cat and Mouse): Copland’s American Petrushka and His Debt to Stravinsky 28 Chapter Two: Boulanger and Compositional Maturity 54 Chapter Three: Popular Music and Jazz: Authentic or Ersatz? 74 Chapter Four: Paris and Jazz: French Neoclassicism and the New Modern American Music 91 Chapter Five: Back in the United States: Popular Music, Jazz, and the New American Music 114 Chapter Six: European Influence beyond Stravinsky and Les Six: Hába and Schoenberg 143 Chapter Seven: Toward a New National Music during the 1930s: Copland’s Populism, Accessible Style, and Folk and Popular Music 167 Chapter Eight: Copland’s Journey Left 179 Chapter Nine: “Folk” Music and the Popular Front: El Salón México 209 Chapter Ten: Billy the Kid 227 Conclusion: A Vision for American Music . . . 249 Notes 254 Bibliography 278 Index 296 The First Study To Show Copland's Style Development From His Early Works Through His First Widely Accessible Ballet.