Aaron Copland

This book presents a selection of the best writings, of the American composer and music legend Aaron Copland, on a wide variety of topics. It features excerpts from his correspondence and recommendations he wrote for other composers.

Richard Kostelanetz has edited over 40 collections of essays on American culture, ranging in subject matter from avant-garde fiction to collections of critical writings on John Cage and Frank Zappa. He is also a published critic, writer, and artist.

Preface -- Composer from Brooklyn -- An Autobiographical Sketch (1939,1968) -- Editor s Introduction xxxiii -- I MUSICAL EXPERIENCE -- How We Listen (1939) -- Musical Structure (1939) -- Tone Color (1939) -- Music and the Hum an Spirit (1954) -- II THE LIFE OF MUSIC -- The American Composer Gets a Break (1935) -- Music Between the Wars (1918-1939) (1941,1968) -- Musical Imagination in the Americas (1952) -- Jazz Structure and Influence (1927) -- Workers Sing! (1934) -- Letter on Varese and the League of Composers (1972) -- Opera and Music Drama (1939) -- Tip to Moviegoers: Take Off Those Ear-Muffs (1949) -- Second Thoughts on Hollywood (1940) -- Composer's Report on Music in South America (1947) -- Festival in Caracas (1954) -- III THE MUSICIAN'S LIFE -- A Note on Young Composers (1935) -- Effect of the Cold War on the Artist in the U. S. (1949) -- Introducing Shostakovitch at Dinner (1949) -- W hen Private and Public Worlds Meet (1968) -- Is the University Too Much W ith Us? (1970) -- Tanglewood'sFuture (1952) -- From the '20s to the '40s and Beyond (1945) -- IV PRECURSORS -- Defends the Music of Mahler (1925) -- The Ives Case (1933,1941,1967) -- Schoenbergs Expressionism (1941,1967) -- Stravinsky's Dynamism (1941,1967) -- Bela Bartok (1941,1967) -- V CONTEMPORARIES -- The Younger Generation of American Composers: 1926-59(1960) -- America's Young Men of Music (1960) -- George Antheil (1925) -- Darius M ilhaud (1929) -- Virgil Thom son and Marc Blitzstein (1940,1968) -- Carlos Chavez (1928,1968) -- Stefan Wolpe (1948) -- Benjamin Britten (1963) -- Elliott Carter (1971) -- William Kapell (1954) -- Ralph Hawkes (1950) -- VI HIS OWN WORKS -- Symphony for Organ and Orchestra (1924) -- Music for the Theatre I & II (1925) -- Dance Symphony (1925) -- Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1926) -- Two Pieces for String Orchestra (1928) -- Statements (1934) -- El Salón México (1936) -- Sextet(1937) -- Billy the Kid [Notes on a Cowboy Ballet] (1938) -- An Outdoor Overture (1938) -- Lincoln Portrait (1942) -- Music for Movies (1942) -- Fanfare for the Com m on Man (1942) -- Danzón Cubano I & II (1942) -- Appalachian Spring [Letters Regarding] (1944) -- Third Symphony (1946) -- The Red Pony (1948) -- Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra with Harp and Piano (1948) -- 12 Poems of Emily Dickinson (1950) -- Variations on a Shaker Melody (1956) -- Piano Fantasy I & II (1957) -- Orchestral Variations (1957) -- Dance Panels (1959, rev. 1962) -- Something Wild (1961) -- Connotations (1962) -- Emblems (1964) -- Music for a Great City (1964) -- Inscape (1967) -- Three Latin American Sketches (1959-1972) -- Midday Thoughts (1944, finished 1982) -- Proclamation (1973-1982, arranged 1985) -- VII PERSONAL -- From a Composer's Notebook (1929) -- From a Composer's Journal (1960) -- The Teacher and the Pupil (1960) -- Journal from Venezuela Visit ( 1954) -- Latin American Tour Journal (1963) -- Letters (1923-1944) -- Conversation with Edward T. Cone (1967) -- Bibliography -- Index.