{"id":2556,"date":"2017-11-03T16:19:49","date_gmt":"2017-11-03T21:19:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=2556"},"modified":"2017-11-04T15:51:32","modified_gmt":"2017-11-04T20:51:32","slug":"copland-and-bernstein-two-friends-with-diverging-viewpoints-on-american-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2017\/11\/03\/copland-and-bernstein-two-friends-with-diverging-viewpoints-on-american-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Copland and Bernstein: two friends with diverging viewpoints on \u2018American music\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Copland and Bernstein working together<\/p><\/div>\n

It is no secret that Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland were great friends. Even though I had heard this going into my research, I had no idea to what extent the level of mutual investment and encouragement was! I was astounded and quite honestly touched to find the amount of loving correspondence that I did between the two composers. While there are extensive works devoted to both of their respective correspondences, I was particularly interested in a letter written by Copland to Bernstein that addresses their different viewpoints on American music.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this letter, written December 7, 1938, Copland writes Bernstein with advice on Bernstein\u2019s senior thesis at Harvard, which explores nationalism in American composition. His thesis, completed in 1939, is entitled \u201cThe Absorption of Race Elements into American Music,\u201d in which he proposes a new American nationalism — one that is defined by the way in which the composer blends their own heritage with \u201cNegro\u201d and \u201cNew England\u201d musical traditions, as these form the \u201csociological backbone of the country.\u201d<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

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1938 correspondence from Copland to Bernstein<\/p><\/div>\n

In all of the correspondence I\u2019ve read between the two, Copland shows his affection for Bernstein while also giving \u201cgrandfatherly advice,\u201d as he calls it in this particular letter. His advice regarding Bernstein\u2019s thesis in the letter at hand is as follows: <\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t make the mistake of thinking that <\/i><\/b>just<\/i><\/b> because a Gilbert used Negro material, there was therefore nothing American about it. There\u2019s always a chance it might have an \u2018American\u2019 quality despite its material.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

This comment made me curious — what was Bernstein\u2019s assertion about Gilbert, and who was this Gilbert anyway? <\/span><\/p>\n

It turns out Henry F. Gilbert (1868-1928) was a composition student of Mcdowell’s, and was particularly interested in African-American music. Bernstein cites Gilbert\u2019s <\/span>Comedy Overture on Negro Themes <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>The Dance in the Place Congo <\/span><\/i>in his thesis<\/span> to make claims about American music. He asserts that these pieces contribute to the nationalistic process beginning in 1900, a process inspired by Dvorak’s<\/span>\u00a0New World Symphony, <\/span><\/i>by\u00a0<\/span>engaging in artificial representation where \u201cnew indigenous materials were merely imposed upon an otherwise neutral kind of musical scheme.\u201d Bernstein writes that despite Gilbert being a \u201csensitive and sound musician,\u201d the way in which he incorporates \u2018Negro\u2019 material in his works is not American. 1<\/sup><\/a>
\nHere is a recording of\u00a0Gilbert\u2019s Comedy Overture on Negro Themes:<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n