The Aaron Copland Collection ca. 1900-1990

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Alone
Form: Song for voice and piano
Date: 1922
Text: E. Powys Mathers, from the Arabic
First performance: 4 December, 1985. New York. Jan DeGaetani, voice; Gilbert Kalish, piano
Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes
Date of publication: 1989
Notes: fourth of the songs published in 1989 as Four Early Songs; listed here alone since it is the only one of these songs written after his embarkation for France in 1921. Copland arranged this song for voice and orchestra in 1923
An Evening Air
Form: Piano
Date: 1966
Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes
Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes
Date of publication: 1972
Timing: 3'
Notes: An excerpt from The Cummington Story arranged for piano. The title is from Theodore Roethke: “I see, in evening air / How slowly dark comes down on what we do.” The sketches show that this was originally to be the second movement of a suite. It was to be titled “The Deserted Churchyard.” There is no sign of what the first movement was to be
An Immorality
Form: Women's chorus, solo soprano, and piano
Date: 1925
Text: Ezra Pound; from Lustra
First performance: 24 April 1925. New York. Women’s University Glee Club, cond. Gerald Reynolds
Publisher: E.C. Schirmer
Date of publication: 1926
Timing: 4'
Dedication: “to Gerald Reynolds”
Notes: often grouped with (but seldom performed with) The House on the Hill as “Two Choruses.”
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An Outdoor Overture
Form: Orchestra
Date: 1938
First performance: 16 December 1938. New York High School of Music and Art Orchestra, cond. A. Richter
Publisher: Hawkes & son
Date of publication: 1940
Timing: 10'
Dedication: “Written for and dedicated to the High School for Music and Art, New York”
Notes: arranged for band, 1941. Opening material is from Signature for the High-Low Concerts
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Appalachian Spring
Form: Ballet
Date: 1944
Scenario: Martha Graham
First performance: 30 October, 1944. Washington, D.C.; Martha Graham Dance Company
Publisher: not published as a ballet
Timing: 33'
Dedication: Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge
Notes: the ballet itself is scored for 13 instruments. In 1945 Copland arranges a suite from the ballet for full orchestra. The ballet includes the Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts,” which is also one of the Old American Songs, Set 1. The section of the ballet based on “Simple Gifts” was arranged for band in 1956 as Shaker Variations. Correspondence concerning the suite may be accessed from the listing for the suite
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Appalachian Spring
Form: Orchestra
Date: 1945
First performance: May, 1945. Boston Symphony Orchestra, cond. Serge Koussevitzky
Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes
Date of publication: 1945
Timing: 25'
Dedication: Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge
Notes: the ballet itself is scored for 13 instruments. The suite, which includes most of the music from the ballet, is for full orchestra. The suite includes the Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts,” which is also one of the Old American Songs, Set 1. The section of Appalachian Spring based on “Simple Gifts” was arranged for band in 1956 as Shaker Variations. The Suite was published in the ballet’s scoring for 13 instruments by Boosey & Hawkes in 1972
As It Fell upon a Day
Form: Voice, flute, and clarinet
Date: 1923
Text: Richard Barnefield
First performance: 6 February 1924. Paris. Ada MacLeish, soprano
Publisher: New Music, volume 2 no. 4
Date of publication: July 1929
Timing: 5'
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