1. Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein
Composers, Collaborators, Friends

2. Who Was Aaron Copland? Born 14 November 1900 in Brooklyn, NY
Interested in music from a young age
Influenced by Igor Stravinsky and Nadia Boulanger
Died 2 December 1990, two months after his friend, Leonard Bernstein

3. Copland’s Early Days
Attended the school for Americans at Fontainebleau
Taught by composer and renowned teacher Nadia Boulanger
Challenged Copland to pen the “American Sound”
Symphony for Organ and Orchestra
Created very modern, abstract pieces

4. Symphony for Organ and Orchestra

5. A Change of Heart
“During these years I began to feel an increasing dissatisfaction with the relations of the music-loving public and the living composer. It seemed to me that we composers were in danger of working in a vacuum…It made no sense to ignore them and to continue writing as if they did not exist. I felt that it was worth the effort tot see if I couldn’t say what I had to say in the simplest possible terms.”

6. Copland in the 30’s and 40’s Composed his most well known works
Three Ballets: Billy the Kid (1938), Rodeo (1942), Appalachian Spring (1944)
El salón México (1936), The Second Hurricane (1937), An Outdoor Overture (1938)
Film Scores: Of Mice and Men (1939), Our Town (1940), The Red Pony (1948), The Heiress (1942)
Created the “Americana” style

7. Rodeo (1942)

8. Who was Leonard Bernstein?
Born 25 August 1918 in Lawrence, MA
Began playing piano from a young age
Revered pianist, conductor, and composer
Conductor of the New York Philharmonic
Hosted popular television shows on music such as Omnibus and Young People’s Concerts
Died on 14 October 1990

9. Bernstein’s Early Days
Attended Harvard University and the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood
Studied counterpoint, conducting, and orchestration
Met Aaron Copland in 1937 while attending Harvard University

10. Leonard Bernstein: Conductor Overture from Candide

11. The Meeting of Two Friends
Bernstein on their first meeting:
On his right sat “an odd-looking man in his thirties, [with] a pair of glasses resting on his great hooked nose and a mouth filled with teeth flashing a wide grin.” He then realized who he was sitting next to. “I almost fell out of the balcony.” He had met renowned composer Aaron Copland.

12. Best of Friends
Copland supported Bernstein’s application to the Curtis School of Music
Copland recommended Bernstein for the conducting Program at Tanglewood

13. Bernstein at the Berkshires
First attended as a conducting student
Assistant to Serge Koussevitzky at Tanglewood
Eventually becomes a teacher and conductor there
Gave the last performance of his career there in 1990

14. Copland in the 50’s and 60’s
Won the Academy Award for Best Original Musical Score for The Heiress
Wrote his opera The Tender Land
Wrote Connotations for the Lincoln Center Inaugural Concert by the New York Philharmonic
Won the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Wrote Inscape and The New Music

15. The Communist Struggle
Bernstein
Copland
Outspoken about political ideas
Involved with groups such as the Civil Rights Congress, the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, and the American Committee for Yugoslav Relief
Blacklisted by McCarthy for having Socialist tendencies
Did not hurt his career like it did other artists
Never blacklisted, but put on watch for being friendly with Bernstein and other leftist people and groups.

16. Legacy Influence on 20th century music Mentors and teachers
Copland’s film style influenced later film composers
Bernstein’s West Side Story is still regarded as one of the best works of musical theatre
Mentors and teachers
Copland mentored Bernstein, who in turn taught a host of music students
Bernstein’s television series on music is still used to educate students today