{"id":2635,"date":"2017-11-06T23:30:05","date_gmt":"2017-11-07T05:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=2635"},"modified":"2017-11-06T23:32:02","modified_gmt":"2017-11-07T05:32:02","slug":"coplands-el-salon-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2017\/11\/06\/coplands-el-salon-mexico\/","title":{"rendered":"Copland’s El Sal\u00f3n M\u00e9xico"},"content":{"rendered":"

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This letter from Leonard Bernstein was sent to Aaron Copland in October of 1938. The letter was written in response to Copland\u2019s <\/span>El Sal\u00f3n M\u00e9xico. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

It is important to note the effect that Copland\u2019s piece had on Bernstein and how it reflects views of music during the time. One of the first things that Bernstein mentions is how Copland\u2019s music got stuck in his head. He is also able to easily notate the opening theme of <\/span>El Sal\u00f3n M\u00e9xico. <\/span><\/i>This goes to show that Copland accomplished music writing that was simple enough to be remembered, and he incorporated themes that would recognizable.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bernstein acknowledges that he admires Copland\u2019s work and calls him a \u201cmaster in America.\u201d Copland\u2019s simplified style of this time period is well-known as Copland\u2019s own sound as well as an American sound. Copland was working to move contemporary composition from appealing to a select few towards appealing to the masses. It seems that Copland accomplished this with the success of <\/span>El Sal\u00f3n M\u00e9xico <\/span><\/i>and other works. In fact, Elizabeth B. Crist argues that Copland\u2019s El Sal\u00f3n M\u00e9xico<\/em> was able to project political ideologies onto the concert public.<\/span><\/p>\n

Crist acknowledges that, the ideological dimensions of Copland’s works have been generally lost within the music’s enduring success, obscured by the legacy of anticommunist historiography and its formalist reification of art.\u201d Bernstein focuses on Copland\u2019s technique and the \u201csolid sureness of that construction.\u201d This makes me wonder more about Copland\u2019s other non-musical intentions.<\/span><\/p>\n

A recording of Leonard Bernstein conducting Copland’s El Sal\u00f3n M\u00e9xico<\/em>:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n