{"id":1006,"date":"2015-04-07T01:36:40","date_gmt":"2015-04-07T06:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=1006"},"modified":"2015-04-07T10:07:51","modified_gmt":"2015-04-07T15:07:51","slug":"el-salon-mexico-a-production-of-political-ideology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2015\/04\/07\/el-salon-mexico-a-production-of-political-ideology\/","title":{"rendered":"El Sal\u00f3n M\u00e9xico: a Production of Political Ideology?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few scholars had pointed out that Copland\u2019s music in 1930s-40s was somehow associated with the idea of Pan Americanism. During the promotion of \u201cGood Neighbor Policy\u201d time, not only did Copland serve the government in an official capacity, but he published on Latin American music and composed Latin-American\u2013style works such as El Salon Mexico.<\/em><\/p>\n

Audiences are pretty sure that Copland\u2019s deep interest in Latin America music absolutely went beyond the \u201cGood Neighbor policy\u201d, but I personally think that Pan Americanist aesthetic ideology actually influenced Copland\u2019s way of composing. Some Argentine critics also pointed out that Copland\u2019s interest in Latin America was largely motivated by his leftist politics, and that this ideology, moreover, permeates the very scores of his Latin- American\u2013themed compositions (Crist 2003). They insisted that various forces had aligned to promote U.S folklore as an emblem of progressive politics.<\/p>\n

However, Copland did care about his audience and the music public. It is said that in his memoirs, Copland claimed El Salon Mexico had “started the ball rolling toward the popular success and wide audience I had only just begun to think about.”<\/p>\n

\"20150407001315\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Crist, Elizabeth B. “Aaron Copland and the popular front.” (2003): 409-465.<\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To attract the public attention (or promote the belief of Pan Americanism), Copland tried new approaches in his composition. El Salon Mexico uses an abstract ideal of musical logic in favor of a rhapsodic form that emphasizes rhetorical coherence more than structural design. In addition, this one-movement orchestral fantasy features a new accentuation of melody. As the first of Copland’s works to make extensive use of folk song, this composition captures the spirit of the eponymous dance hall by quoting traditional Mexican tunes and evoking such popular musical. For example, it shows how Mexico rhythmic developments are free and always in transition.<\/p>\n

\"20150407012606\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Copland, Aaron. “The Story behind My El Sal\u00f3n M\u00e9xico.” Tempo<\/em>, No. 4 (1939):2-4<\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I would think that during Copland\u2019s time, he promoted folklore to Latin American composers while cultivating accessible folkloric elements in his own music- and all these qualities also valued by the government committees on which he served.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Works Cited:<\/p>\n

Crist, Elizabeth B. “Aaron Copland and the popular front.” (2003): 409-465.<\/p>\n

Copland, Aaron. “The Story behind My El Sal\u00f3n M\u00e9xico.” Tempo<\/em>, No. 4 (1939):2-4<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few scholars had pointed out that Copland\u2019s music in 1930s-40s was somehow associated with the idea of Pan Americanism. During the promotion of \u201cGood Neighbor Policy\u201d time, not only did Copland serve the government in an official capacity, but … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1296,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[308,439,440,441],"class_list":["post-1006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-aaron-copland","tag-el-salon-mexico","tag-good-neighbor-policy","tag-pan-americanism"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jEhR-ge","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1296"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1006"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1011,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1006\/revisions\/1011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}