5.2.6: The American Style — Read

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Creating an American Sound

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As we will see in a later chapter, jazz is a uniquely American style. American orchestral composers were becoming aware of jazz in the early twentieth century, and George Gershwin (1898–1937) was no exception. Gershwin was a brilliant talent who dropped out of school at the age of fifteen to begin a professional career playing piano in New York’s “Tin Pan Alley.” After several years of success as a performer and composer, he was asked by the famous band leader Paul Whiteman to compose a work that would help raise people’s perceptions of jazz as an art form. The resulting work, Rhapsody in Blue, combines the American blues style with the European symphonic tradition into a brilliant composition for piano and orchestra.

George Gershwin and Jazz

George Gershwin — Rhapsody in Blue [1924]

Porgy and Bess

In addition to Rhapsody in Blue, George Gershwin is also known for his opera Porgy and Bess. Although not a true opera in the strict sense of the term—Gershwin dubbed it a “folk opera”—the piece is considered one of the great American operatic works of the century. The story is set in a tenement in Charleston, South Carolina. Based on DuBose Heyward’s novel Porgy, the opera incorporated classically trained Black singers to depict the tragic love story between the two main title characters. Gershwin based the music for the opera on elements of folk music, referring to Southern Black musical styles such as the blues and spirituals. Drawing on the nineteenth-century opera tradition, Gershwin made use of leitmotifs to represent people or places. Near the beginning of the opera, we hear the famous aria “Summertime,” which depicts the hot, hazy atmosphere in which the story is set.

George Gershwin — “Summertime”

Aaron Copland and the American Landscape

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Like Gershwin, American-born Aaron Copland (1900–1990) was instrumental in helping to define a distinct American sound by combining his European musical training with jazz and folk elements. As an early twentieth-century composer, Copland was active during the Great Depression, writing music for the new genres of radio, the phonograph, and motion pictures. El Salón México (1935), Fanfare for the Common Man (1942), and Appalachian Spring (1944) are three of Copland’s most famous works. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his music for the ballet Appalachian Spring and was also an Oscar-winning film composer.

Appalachian Spring

Appalachian Spring is a ballet depicting a pioneer wedding celebration in a newly built farmhouse in Pennsylvania. It includes the now well-known Shaker song Simple Gifts.

Aaron Copland — Appalachian Spring [1944]

Rodeo

Copland’s unique style evokes images of the landscape of the West, as we can hear in his score for the ballet Rodeo (1942).

Aaron Copland — Rodeo [1942]

The Open Sound

One of the ways in which Copland was able to capture the sense of vastness of the American landscape was through his use of certain harmonic intervals—that is, two notes played together—which sound “hollow” or “open.” These intervals, called perfect fourths and perfect fifths, have been used since medieval times and were named so due to their simple harmonic ratios. The result is music that sounds vast and expansive. Perhaps the best example of this technique is found in Copland’s famous Fanfare for the Common Man.

While fanfares are typically associated with heralding the arrival of royalty, Copland wanted to create a fanfare that celebrated the lives of everyday people during a trying time in American history. The piece was premiered by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra on March 12, 1943, at the height of World War II. The piece came to define Copland’s uniquely American compositional style and remains one of the most popular patriotic pieces in the American repertoire.

Focus Composition: Aaron Copland, Fanfare for the Common Man [1942]

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Listening Guide

Composer: Aaron Copland

Composition: Fanfare for the Common Man

Date: 1942

Genre: Fanfare

Performing Forces: brass and percussion sections of symphony orchestra

Aaron Copland, *Fanfare for the Common Man*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLMVB0B1_Ts
Timing	Text and Form	Performing Forces, Melody, and Texture
0:00	Introduction	Opening crash heralds introduction by bass drum and timpani that slowly dies down. Slow and deliberate.
0:31	Fanfare Theme	Slow fanfare theme enters. The melody itself is comprised of many perfect fourths and perfect fifth intervals which convey a sense of openness. Unison trumpets. Slow tempo. No harmonic accompaniment creates a sense of starkness.
1:05	Theme Expands	After brief notes from the percussion section, French horns enter, moving a perfect fifth below the trumpets. Trumpets and French horns, with periodic hits from the percussion. Built primarily on perfect fourths and fifths.
1:46	Introduction Returns	Repeat of material from the introduction. Percussion.
1:48	Contrasting Melody	Clarinet states a contrasting melody. Melody over murmuring strings.
1:59	Main Theme	Low brass enters with the main theme and is imitated by the horns and trumpets. Full brass and percussion.
3:01	Augmentation and Climax	Melody is restated at half speed (augmentation) and ends on a climactic chord. Full brass and percussion.

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