Aaron Copland: An American

Hero
“An artist can take his personal sadness or his fear or his anger or his joy and crystallize it,
giving it a life of its own. …” – Aaron Copland

By: Adam Sullivan

 Basic History:
• Born: November 14th 1900 in Brooklyn, NY.
• Mother and Father both Jewish immigrants from
Russia.
• Wrote several plays ballets; “Billy the Kid”,
“Appalachian Spring”, “Rodeo”, and several
orchestrated pieces such as “Fanfare for the
Common Man” and “Connotation”.
• Won a Pulitzer Prize for Appalachian Spring
• Died on December 2, 1990.
 Why Aaron Copland is a Hero:
• Mid career, persecuted as Anti-American
during McCarthyism and still wrote American-
styled pieces.
– Defended by fellow musicians, saying that what
what drove him to write his music.
 Another Reason Why Aaron Copland is a
Hero:
• Wrote the first all-American ballets, Billy the Kid:

– It was favored during their time period.

• Wrote several other award-winning ballets:

– Appalachian Spring won a Pulitzer Prize in

compositional masterpieces.
• http://www.classicaltv.com/v846/classical-
music/aaron-copland-fanfare-for-america