A short life of the author
Aaron Copland (14 November 1900 – 2 December 1990) was an American composer, conductor, and writer on music who is widely regarded as the defining figure of American classical music in the twentieth century — the composer who created what the world hears when it hears “American” orchestral music: the open intervals, the wide spacing, the folk-derived melodies, the evocation of prairies and small towns and the American pastoral. His ballet scores Appalachian Spring (1944), Billy the Kid (1938), and Rodeo (1942), his Fanfare for the Common Man (1942), and his Third Symphony (1946) are the most performed and most beloved works of American orchestral music. But Copland was also a brilliant writer — his books on music are among the clearest and most intelligent works of musical exposition ever written by a practicing composer.
Life
Copland was born in Brooklyn, New York, the youngest of five children of Lithuanian Jewish immigrants. He studied piano and composition from childhood and, at twenty, went to Paris to study with Nadia Boulanger — the legendary French pedagogue who trained a generation of American composers, including Virgil Thomson, Elliott Carter, and Philip Glass. Boulanger’s rigorous training in counterpoint, harmony, and analysis gave Copland the technical foundation for everything that followed.
He returned to New York in 1924 and quickly established himself as the most prominent young American composer. His early works — the Piano Concerto (1926), the Piano Variations (1930), the Short Symphony (1933) — were modernist in idiom: angular, dissonant, rhythmically complex, influenced by Stravinsky and jazz. These works won the admiration of other composers but not of audiences.
In the mid-1930s, Copland made a deliberate turn toward accessibility — what he called his “imposed simplicity.” He wanted to reach a broader audience without sacrificing artistic integrity, and he found the means to do so in American folk music, open harmonies, and the evocation of American landscape and character. The result was the series of masterworks that made him famous.
The Books
Copland’s literary output is as important as his more obscure compositions and is the primary reason for his inclusion in a literary reference.
What to Listen For in Music (1939, revised 1957) is perhaps the most successful introduction to classical music ever written. Copland explains the experience of listening — rhythm, melody, harmony, tone colour, musical structure — with a clarity and directness that assume intelligence in the reader without assuming technical knowledge. The book has been continuously in print for over eighty years and has introduced millions of readers to the concert hall.
Our New Music (1941, revised as The New Music, 1900–1960 in 1968) is a history of twentieth-century music written from the perspective of a practicing composer — a survey of the major developments from Debussy and Stravinsky through serialism, neoclassicism, and the American school. It is opinionated, personal, and enormously informative.
Music and Imagination (1952) is based on Copland’s Charles Eliot Norton lectures at Harvard — the most prestigious lecture series in the American humanities. The six lectures explore the nature of musical creativity, the relationship between the composer and society, and the particular challenges facing American composers. The book is Copland at his most reflective and intellectually ambitious.
Copland on Music (1960) collects his essays, reviews, and occasional pieces — writings on other composers (Stravinsky, Fauré, Chávez), on the state of American music, and on the experience of composing. The essays are models of musical criticism: informed, generous, and direct.
Critical Standing
Copland occupies a unique position in American culture: he is simultaneously the most popular American classical composer (the one whose music is played at civic occasions, in film scores, and at Fourth of July celebrations) and a serious, technically accomplished artist who was respected by the most demanding musical intellects of his time. His books reinforce this dual position — they are both genuinely popular and genuinely excellent.
His reputation as a writer rests on his ability to make complex musical ideas accessible without condescension. He writes with the authority of a composer who understands the materials of music from the inside and the generosity of a teacher who genuinely wants his readers to hear more.
Collecting Copland
What to Listen For in Music (1939, McGraw-Hill) in first edition brings $50–$150. Music and Imagination (1952, Harvard University Press) brings $30–$80. Signed copies of any Copland book are uncommon and bring premiums. Musical manuscripts and autograph scores by Copland are held primarily by the Library of Congress but occasionally appear at auction, where they command significant prices.