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C. Country Band March
1. arranged for large wind ensemble
2. realism of amateur bands: out of tune, bad
entrances, wrong notes
3. nostalgic American tunes quoted
a. London Bridge, Yankee Doodle, Arkansas
Traveler
b. Foster: Massa’s in de Cold, Cold Ground, My
Old Kentucky Home
c. Sousa: Semper Fidelis, Washington Post
4. main march theme by Ives
D. LG 52: Ives: Country Band March (c. 1903)
1. Sectional form (A- B- A- B′- A′), short introduction
2. main march theme: forceful duple meter
3. complex mesh of tunes: tunes collide and
overlap
4. harshly dissonant, polytonality, polyrhythms
III. Copland and the American Orchestral Soundscape
A. Aaron Copland (1900–1990)
1. Brooklyn- born composer, Jewish immigrant
parents
2. studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger
3. victim of McCarthyism in 1950s
4. music embraced as truly American orchestral
sound; played to emphasize national pride
5. American orchestral sound: drew on Euro-
American vernacular traditions
6. works: symphonies, piano concerto, ballets,
operas, film scores (Acad emy Award), piano
music, chamber music, choral music, songs
B. “American modernist” style
1. designed for wide appeal
2. well- crafted, classically proportioned
3. influences:
OUTLINE
I. Musical Nationalism in the Amer i cas
A. Finding a national identity
1. immigrants, diverse cultural heritages
2. shifting nature of American identity
3. U.S. composers, “American” sound
a. integration of vernacular ele ments
b. modernists inspired by commercial and urban
music
c. interest in rural or folk music
II. Ives and New England Modernism
A. Charles Ives (1874–1954)
1. Connecticut- born composer, business executive
2. son of a Civil War band leader
3. studied composition at Yale
4. entered insurance business, composed in spare
time
5. music not well received; rarely heard his works
performed
6. visionary, progressive: embraced vernacular music
7. privately printed and distributed selected works
8. delayed recognition, Pulitzer Prize in 1947
9. works: orchestral, choral music, over 100 songs,
chamber and piano music
B. Modernist tendencies
1. innovative, misunderstood
2. sources: music from his New England childhood
a. hymns, patriotic songs, parlor ballads,
marches, country fiddling
b. ideas derived from clashing marching bands
c. dissonances: norm of American musical life
3. observations led to polytonality, polyharmony,
polyrhythm
Sounds American: Ives, Copland,
and Musical Nationalism
CHAPTERfi59
240 | Chapterfi59
2. To recognize Aaron Copland’s signature “American”
sound, heard in his 1945 ballet Appalachian Spring
3. To understand the song Yankee Doodle as a lasting
emblem of American folk traditions
LECTURE SUGGESTIONS
1. Before introducing the lecture material for this chapter,
play Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever and Yankee Doo-
dle for the class. Ask students what kinds of associa-
tions the music suggests to them. (Students will invariably
respond with the theme of American patriotism.) Ask
students to identify the characteristics of the music that
invite this sort of reading, and additionally, whether or
not these musical cues or gestures resonate with the
national sound of other countries.
2. Introduce all of the quoted themes in Ives’s Country
Band March before playing the piece for your students
(London Bridge, Arkansas Traveler, Semper Fidelis,
Battle Cry of Freedom, Marching through Georgia, My
Old Kentucky Home, Yankee Doodle, and British Gren-
adiers). Work through Listening Guide 52 section by sec-
tion, stopping to reacquaint students with the quoted
melodies, using a piano or recorded snippets of the
source material.
3. After reviewing the American sound of Copland in his
music for Appalachian Spring (the “vast horizon” of the
opening motive, the Shaker hymn, etc.), show a clip of
ballet excerpts with Martha Graham’s choreography.
Begin a discussion with your students about the extent
to which the movement of the dancers expresses the
American tropes in Copland’s music. How do these two
art forms work together to communicate a sense of
American identity?
ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTIONS
1. Consider the genres that are the source material for Ives’s
Country Band March and Copland’s Appalachian
Spring: military marches, Anglo- American ballads and
hymns, a British nursery tune. Consider the strong con-
notations of patriotism and American nationalism tied
to these two pieces. Does something about these specific
genres evoke feelings of nationalism and patriotism?
Why these genres? Can you think of other genres that
are incompatible with the expression of American
nationalism or patriotism? What are they? Why would
they not be (as) effective at communicating these kinds
of sentiments?
a. jazz (early works)
b. Appalachian and Anglo- American folk
melodies
c. Mexican folk melodies
d. Stravinsky’s approach to rhythm, orchestration
4. ballet suites: portrayal of American rural life and
Far West
C. Appalachian Spring
1. Copland’s best- known ballet
2. Martha Graham (1894–1991): choreographer,
lead dancer
3. takes place in early nineteenth century, rural
Pennsylvania
a. pioneer cele bration in spring
b. bride- to-be and farmer- husband enact emo-
tions of their partnership
4. quotes Shaker melody Simple Gifts
5. ballet premiere in 1944; orchestral suite 1945
D. LG 53: Copland: Appalachian Spring, excerpts
(1945)
1. Section1: very slow, tranquil
a. introduces characters, evokes landscape at
daybreak
b. solo clarinet, then flute ascending motive
c. solos in vari ous woodwinds and trumpet
d. clarinet with closing triad over sustained
harmony
2. Section7: theme ( Simple Gifts) and 5 variations
a. theme presented by solo clarinet, folklike
American tune
b. calm and flowing duple meter
c. variations: individual instruments featured,
colorful orchestration
d. variation 5: full orchestra, builds to dissonant
fortissimo, dies out
OVERVIEW
The subject of Chapter59 is music that resonated strongly
with notions of American national identity during the first
half of the twentieth century. The chapter focuses on the
music of Charles Ives and Aaron Copland and its ability to
embody musically the spirit of Amer i ca.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. To understand Charles Ives’s quotation of American folk,
popu lar, and religious music against a modernist back-
drop of polytonal and polyrhythmic compositional
techniques
the text but also in the music. What ele ments of each work
proj ect its American identity? What kind of Amer i ca does
each work suggest— what kinds of individuals or back-
grounds does it include, and what kinds does it leave out?
What parallels and contradictions can you find between the
two dif fer ent versions of musical Americanness?
MODEL RESPONSES
1. Ray Charles: Amer i ca, the Beautiful
Amer i ca, the Beautiful is widely recognized as one of
the most patriotic songs about Amer i ca, sung here by the
great Ray Charles. While the lyr ics are clearly penned
further symbolize this idea, Charles sings a song origi-
nally composed by a white Episcopal choirmaster
(SamuelA. Ward) in a soulful, gospel- style manner,
2. Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man
The title of this song seems to indicate that the song
will pres ent listeners with a musical announcement
(“fanfare”) that celebrates and gives voice to the com-
mon American, a person whose rights are equally shared
by all those who identify as citizens of the United States.
thunderous rhythmic patterns, the responses always
seem to answer in the affirmative, providing a sense
among listeners that any obstacles we face as individu-
2. As the textbook mentions, Copland’s success in project-
ing a musical idea of Amer i ca was based partly on his
music for films that depicted the American experience
during the 1930s and 1940s (e.g., Of Mice and Men, Our
Town, The Red Pony). Can you think of any recent mov-
ies that similarly take the American experience as a sub-
ject? What kinds of music are featured in the soundtracks
of these films? If these movies have composed scores,
how does the music connect with the idea of Amer i ca?
TEACHING CHALLENGES
Teaching American nationalism in the American classroom
is a challenge. Although Copland and Ives are discussed as
SUPPLEMENTAL REPERTORY
SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
Crist, Elizabeth Bergman. Music for the Common Man: Aaron
Copland during the Depression and War. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2005. Crist places Copland’s music of the 1930s
YOUR TURN TO EXPLORE
