THE CAST OF BILLY THE KID

The Cast of Billy the Kid
Photograph. featuring Erick Hawkins, Eugene Loring, and Lew Christensen, center, 1938.
George Platt Lynes.
Jerome Robbins Dance Division,
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts,
Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.
© Estate of George Platt Lynes. (87)
The Cast of Billy the Kid
Aaron Copland was sympathetic with the efforts of dance impresario Lincoln Kirstein to break away from ballet’s long-standing Russian traditions and create a truly American classic ballet. In 1938, he agreed to write the music for a new ballet based on an American theme—the true story of William Bonney, the notorious cowboy known as Billy the Kid. It was Copland’s most successful work to date, prompting his mother finally to admit that the money spent on his piano lessons had not gone to waste.