The Art of Music
Welcome to my presentation on The Art of Music where we will study two great composers Aaron Copland and Igor Stravinsky. Biographies, musical elements and the comparison of two of their classic works are explored in this presentation. My name is Nicole McDowell, and I will show you through this musical journey. First, we will briefly describe their lives and careers, next move into their musical styles and peculiarities and, finally, discuss a comparison of a specific work of one composer with the work of a different one. Considering these two composers, we learn about what they contributed to classical music and what their music sounded like of its times and these people.
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In today’s presentation, we will cover several key aspects of these two composers. To begin with, we will give brief backgrounds regarding both Aaron Copland and Igor Stravinsky, focusing on their early life, work lives and notable achievements. We will then examine the musical elements of and qualities about their works. Their individual ways to work within rhythm, harmony, orchestration or melody. Secondly we will compare with two principal works, Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” and Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring”. Examining these works in tandem will indicate some of the divergent ways that these works approach musical story telling, structure, and emotional impact. Finally, I will conclude this presentation with a brief summary of what the two composers meant in establishing the music of the 20th century.
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Born on November 14, 1900, in Brooklyn, New York, Aaron Copland was born to Russian Jewish immigrants. Born in New York, Copland studied early education in New York. He later studied composition in French education, which came at the hands of the famed Parisian teacher Nadia Boulanger, who became one of his most important teachers in forming his approach to modern music. The most interesting thing about Copland was that for almost the entire time of his career, he was working out different types of genres: symphonic, ballet, film scores, opera, and more. His best claim to fame for blending classical and folk music traditions. Appalachian Spring, Rodeo, and Fanfare for the Common Man are some of his works that convey a feeling of Americana in his works and are iconic symbols of the American spirit. Copland’s music was warm, melodic, and filled with American things, and the harmonic structures were simple, the intervals spanning were wide, and he used folk melodies.
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Both Copland’s classical training and his pushing into music for the American public helped shape his musical style. Later in the 1930s and 1940s, Copland’s music began to include more folk-influenced melodies and rhythms which were easily recognizable. The timing was also influenced by the surrounding social and political climate of the time: the Great Depression and World War II; Copland’s music was a device of patriotism. Copland was an equally passionate advocate for American composers and the arts, as well as for his own compositions. He was a cultural ambassador and an advocate of contemporary American music. Throughout his career he was honored with the Pulitzer Prize for Music, Presidential Medal of Freedom and a plethora of other awards. In addition to his music, Copland’s legacy is in the fact that he was a major influence in the development of American classical music.
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Born on June 17, 1882, in Oranienbaum, Russia Igor Stravinsky came from a musical background and developed as one of the key composers of the twentieth century. Through his collaboration with Sergei Diaghilev he gained early recognition for composing classics such as The first Rite of Spring ballet by Stravinsky causing scandal at its 1913 premiere was yet another result of the clash of the composer’s unusual sound structure, untimely and wild energetic elements with the conventional musical traditions. An important way Stravinsky shifted his musical style throughout his life is through the Russian nationalist, neoclassical, and finally serialist style. His musical works are praised by modern music for its resourcefully composed, progressively complex rhythms, creatively orchestrated technique, and creative harmonic experimentation with effects that inspire musicians generationally until today.
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Stravinsky’s life and music were of a very wide ranging variety of styles and movements. After fleeing the Russian Revolution, Stravinsky fled to Paris and then to the United States, where he continued to indulge in new forms and techniques. Unlike before, in his neoclassical period, Stravinsky drew on classical forms and orchestration but filled them with modern dissonances and rhythms as, for example, in Symphony of Psalms and Pulcinella. Soon afterwards Stravinsky adopted twelve tone serialism, an compositional technique devised by Arnold Schoenberg. Stravinsky was always reinventing himself, always re-inventing himself in various ways. Popular and classical both were greatly influenced by 20th century music, through the music of one man — this man: Arnold Schoenberg. Although Stravinsky lived through historical major changes like two World Wars, his works tend to reflect the turbulent times in which they have been created.
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Several elements are characteristic of Aaron Copland’s music. The use of wide intervals and open harmonies is one of the most important (which makes his music spacious and expansive). The intervallic feel of this element is very apparent in works such as Appalachian Spring, where the large intervals in the melodies indicate a sense of openness and freedom. Copland also frequently used folk tunes or folk-like melodies and put them into classical forms. He used simple harmonic structures that clarify how the melodies are by themselves The second notable characteristic of Copland’s music is his use of jazz and folk rhythms, particularly syncopated and alive, as in Rodeo. There is no doubt that as with much of Copland’s music, the orchestration is very transparent, which means that it’s not bothering with disguising the sounds from individual instruments. He made his works transparent in a way that caused more clarity and directness for the audience, which widened the audience’s environment audience.
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Another characteristic of Copland’s music was the openness in harmony in addition to orchestration, particularly in the use of brass and percussion for creating bold, striking moments in the music. His Fanfare for the Common Man perfectly expresses this technique, with brass instruments depicting an air of grandeur and might. The style of Copland’s rhythmic phrase was not too complex, with the repeated time signatures and simple rhythms giving his music a steady, grounded quality. In addition to its musicality, he was also known to be able to create musical stories of American life that correspond with images of the American landscape and spirit through his melody and harmonies. Among the ways Copland expresses a uniquely American sound is by using the pentatonic scale and modes incorporating ion of folk and jazz idioms. Overall, he was a clear and accessible composer who could evoke strong imagery for emotions and culture through his music as much as any language.
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Known for highly rhythmic, irregular, or polyrhythmic meters and complex syncopations, Igor Stravinsky’s music is its rhythmical innovation. Famous for its rhythmic drive and its jarring, unconventional use of accents, his early work, The Rite of Spring, gives us a sense of how his music was difficult to sit through. Stravinsky also frequently changed the rhythmic patterns so they didn’t follow the expected meter in his music, adding to the unpredictability and tension. And his harmonic language even added to his certain sonic elements. In his early works, Stravinsky used dissonance and was unafraid of avoiding traditional tonal centers. Three examples of alien departures from tonality, especially The Rite of Spring and The Firebird, induced a sense of instability and emotional intensity. Stravinsky’s orchestration was very innovative — it used new instruments in new ways, at times burying the percussion section or ruthlessly cutting one instrument out of its ensemble in favor of another unrelated one, and was adorned with very bold changes of the color of the sound. Sometimes, his music dramatically changes textures, from dense, significant sections to super spare, delicate sections.
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Stravinsky’s music also makes use of a unique orchestration. He was noted for writing powerful and dramatic contrasts in his scores, drawing on the whole tone of the orchestra in novel ways. For instance, in The Rite of Spring, the bassoon gets squeaky high, and he uses it to produce eerie, otherworldly sounds. Brass and woodwinds in Firebird invoke the magic and traditionalism of the Russian folk tale in Firebird in Stravinsky. His use of rhythmic complexity extends beyond his work’s structural order or parts as t, as the order of his instruments is rhythmic. Stravinsky would often create textures that were either very sparse, with a meager handful of instruments that are played quietly, or full, rich orchestral textures that have bottomless power to them. Through his mastery of orchestration, Stravinsky has perfect control over the emotional impact of his music.
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Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland and The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky are two very different approaches to rhythm and orchestration. In his Appalachian Spring Copland uses clear and regular rhythms, while in The Rite of Spring Stravinsky makes use of highly complex and irrational rhythmic patterns. Stravinsky’s work is primal energy of pagan rituals while Copland’s music suggests a sense of peace and alludes to the American frontier. Both works employ orchestration as a means to create their vivid imagery, in that Copland’s use of transparent textures enables single instruments to standout; Stravinsky’s dense orchestration, on the other hand, produces a more dramatic and sometimes chaotic result. On the contrary, the harmonic language of both composers is also very different. Generally, Steady Copland’s music generally stays within simple, simple harmonies however Stravinsky generally utilizes dissonance and shifting tonalities to generate frenzy and passionate intensity.
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Both works also have very different emotional impact. Appalachian Spring by Copland is filled with open airy melodies ripe with calm and reflection using open harmonies. The song is an uplifting collage that displays the beauty of rural America. Whereas Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring is unsettling, with its harsh dissonances and fiery rhythm, which make the spirit uneasy and gives one the impression of an energizing primordial energy. The emotional difference between works also flows from them contrasting rhythmic approaches: Copland’s steady flowing rhythms are stabilizing, and Stravinsky’s erratic ones build up tension and release. Although they are distinct in many ways, both composers are able to evoke a sense of grandeur and emotional power in their orchestration and harmonic choices, and the power that both works have had on classical music remains.
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We begin to understand how the works of Aaron Copland and Igor Stravinsky depict their music culture and the historical context in which the music was created. Like Appalachian Spring, Copland’s compositions helped capture the American landscape; those hopes, struggles, and ideals were contained within his compositions. Listening to him is emotion in good motion…it’s his ability to transfer American folk themes into classical structures that allow listeners to get there emotionally in a very visceral way. Furthermore, Stravinsky’s music, most notably The Rite of Spring, disrupts the prevailing forms and invites visitors to hear a more primitive, dissonant sound world. His innovation in these areas shattered rhythm, orchestration, and harmony, a change that still impacts modern music. Both composers took advantage of the social changes in their time to reflect the same. Unlike Stravinsky, Copland thought it was a matter of forging an American identity in music, while for Stravinsky, it was about breaking the bonds of the past to pursue more avant-garde approaches. Through their experience at SFMOMA and knowledge of the history of music, we can understand how music is both a timepiece and a revolutionary force that broke through the border of musical tradition.
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Another comparison between Copland and Stravinsky demonstrates how even two composers from different cultural and geographical backgrounds could deal with universal themes in various ways in their music. American composer Copland was significantly influenced by the country’s wide open spaces and the struggles of everyday people. Appalachian Spring and his other works contain optimism and national pride in alliance with the American Dream. While born Russian, Stravinsky conveyed universal human emotions and conflict with survival in The Rite of Spring. The raw energy, dissonant harmonies, and disruptive rhythms liberate a deeper, more primal aspect of humans. By comparing them, we learn that composers can achieve similar emotional and intellectual effects in wildly divergent musical tongues. Whereas Stravinsky’s deconstructed approach to form and structure might have been beyond the reach of most audience members, Copland’s accessible, folk-influenced melodies were easily accessible to the majority. Despite stylistic differences, both composers communicate strong cultural narratives and human experiences through their music. It is an example of how music is an expressive art and a powerful means of storytelling, developing your identity, and even social change. Music lets us think about who we are and what we came from and shows the world the same way we see it.
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In summary, Copland and Stravinsky’s works represent the diversity and sophistication of the classical music of the 20th century. Whereas Stravinski constructed his technically daring rhythmic innovations based on complex polyrhythms, Copland’s accessible, American folk-inspired compositions were in contrast. However, both composers went on to make musical greatness and leave their mark on classical music indelibly. Stravinsky’s works are usually jarring and intense, exploring the frontiers of classical music and a desire to go beyond the boundaries; Copland’s works, on the other hand, are more filled with hope and optimism. They evoke the landscape and spirit of America. Through their studies, we can learn how music can represent cultural identity and societal changes. But the brilliance of Copland was his ability to produce American music that reflects the American experience without alienating the rest of the world, and Strinsky’s ability to challenge existing norms in rhythm, orchestration, and harmony, plus his power of innovation, changed the perception of how music should sound. Music was proven to entertain and change opinions, take action, and reflect the crossroads of humanity. It proved in the legacies of both composers. Copland and Stravinsky’s contributions have firmly enshrined the 20th-century classical music landscape in a profound, lasting way.
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