Arguably, his greatest success came in 1942 when he wrote the highly famous ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’ and ‘Lincoln Portrait’, the latter of which was a patriotic wartime effort. He also wrote thematic pieces based on World War II. He caught a big financial break when he wrote scores for two Hollywood movies, ‘Of Mice and Men’ and ‘Our Town’. He then went on to compose scores for several radio broadcasts and theatre performances. The commando unit’s music was later on based on the German Idea of ‘music for use’, which was exemplified by theatre music which sought to describe the American way of life. An inspired Copland then went on to form the famous ‘Commando Unit’ with Roger Sessions, Roy Harris, Virgil Thomson and Walter Piston, with whom he composed various pieces during the Great Depression, of these, the Young Pioneers, the Second Hurricane and the Short Symphony were most notable. Soon, Copland met with Modern Art Promoter Alfred Stieglitz, who influenced Copland along with many other artists of his time to try and demonstrate the idea of American Democracy in their art. Copland also formed the Young Composer’s Group in hopes to repel the idea that music was only accessible to the elites of their time. Upon his return, he was involved in writing, teaching, and lecture recitals. Having completed his education, Copland returned to the United States in 1925. He was then admitted to the famous Fountainebleau School of Music in Paris, where he further studied the highly coveted Germanic-European style of music. By this time, Copland had decided that he wanted to be a composer. Copland then took courses in music theory from Rubin Goldmark. He then took piano lessons with his neighborhood piano teacher Leopold Wolfsohn. The result of this was that at age eleven, Copland wrote his own musical piece of seven bars. She also brought home opera music writings (libretti) for him. Copland, being the youngest of his siblings, also received guidance from his sister, who taught him how to play the piano. Copland’s mother was an esteemed vocalist and pianist, who arranged for music lessons for all of her children. Aaron Copland was born in Brooklyn, New York on November 14th 1900.
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