Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland (1900–1990)
Copland wrote relatively little choral music — barely a dozen works — which makes it easy to overlook just how good that music is. His In the Beginning (1947), setting the opening chapters of Genesis for mezzo-soprano and a cappella chorus, is widely regarded as a masterpiece of the choral repertoire. Often called "the Dean of American Composers," Copland studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris — making him her first American composition student — before returning to forge a distinctly American musical language rooted in folk melody, open harmonies, and wide-open spaces. Choral excerpts from his opera The Tender Land, including The Promise of Living, have also become beloved staples. Small output, outsized impact.
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