Aaron Copland (1900-1990) was a well-beloved contemporary American composer as well as a teacher and a writer. He conducted others and his own American music in his later career (From the 1960s onward, turned more from composing to conducting). He composed ballets and orchestral works, chamber music, vocal works, opera and film scores, was often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers" in his later year. He composed his signature works during the Depression years, traveled a lot during that period.

He studied with Isidor Philipp, Paul Vidal and Nadia Boulanger. Boulanger influenced him most. Igor Stravinsky was his “hero”, his favorite 20^th century composer. And of course he has his own unique style - he blend jazz and American folk tunes. “The impression of jazz one receives in a foreign country is totally unlike the impression of such music heard in one's own country ... when I heard jazz played in Vienna, it was like hearing it for the first time.”

In his works, the open, slowly changing harmonies are what people recognized as American music, which means he is a pioneer of American music in some way.

Fanfare for the Common Man, the ballets Billy the Kid, Rodeo, Appalachian Spring are all his most renowned works.

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (1830 - 1886) was an American prolific poet, she has been regarded, alongside Emerson. She published nearly 1800 poems. We cannot define her style due to the reason that she wrote a variety of theme. Usually they are something about life, nature, death and immortality.

^{TWELVE POEMS OF EMILY DICKINSON}

Copland’s song cycle, composed for voice and piano.

"I had no intention of composing a song cycle," wrote Copland. This is his first and the longest work for solo voice and piano. They were composed at Sneden’s Landing, New York from 1949 to 1950.

He was first attracted by the poem The Chariot, then started to compose others. Each of the poems has their own theme and even style, but he prefers to let them stay together as a cycle, he thought that would have some miracle effect in some way.

Each poem is dedicated one of his friends: David Diamond, Elliott Carter, Ingolf Dahl, Alexei Haieff, Marcelle de Manziarly, Juan Orrrego-Salas, Irving Fine, Harold Shapero, Camargo Guernieri, Alberto Ginastera, Lukas Foss, and Arthur Berger.

1.      Nature, the gentlest mother  (to David Diamond)

From a soft, slow rhythm spread to faster, joyful rhythm. With an interesting bird-like sound’s introduction.

2.      There came a wind like a bugle  (to Elliott Curter)

Mimic the sound of bugle, fast, with strength.

3.      Why do they shut me out of Heaven?  (to Ingolf Dahl)

Has a “recitative”, soft and expressive melody, the vocal part has a wide range, require singers a better technique.

4.      The world feels dusty  (to Alexei Haieff)

A calm, gentle easy piece.

5.      Heart, we will forget him  (to Marcelle de Munziurly)

A pretty love song, legato, intervals in vocal part like seventh and fifth are hard to get.

6.      Dear March, come in!  (to Juan Orrego Salas)

Interesting talk-like lyric, the tempo and style contrast to the previous piece – fast and excited.

7.      Sleep is supposed to be  (to Irving Fine)

Contrast again. Feature dotted rhythm, slow and peaceful.

8.      When they come back  (to Harold Shapero)

Lively, lovely easy song.

9.      I felt a funeral in my brain  (to Camargo Guarnieri)

Featured grand funeral scene. The piano part is very heavy with many dissonant.

10.  I've heard an organ talk  (to Alberto Ginastera)

Sound very controlled and broad. “talk to himself” quietly.

11.  Going to Heaven!  (to Lukas Foss)

Start with a fast tempo, excited, in a hurry. Don't know the when and don't know where to go to heaven. The piano part jumping, bouncing all the time, but the vocal part keeps sing in legato.

12.  The Chariot  (to Arthur Berger)

The dotted rhythm in The Chariot is derived from the seventh piece. But it’s still legato even with the dotted rhythm. The intervals, leaps, dissonant, express the feeling very precisely. Dotted keeps the melody moving forward, while the whole cycle ends “immortally”.

Bibliography

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Copland>

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Dickinson>

<http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/aaron-copland-capturing-language-emily-dickinson>

“cyclical implications in Aaron Copland’s Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson” <http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/40374204?sid=21105328858511&uid=3739256&uid=4&uid=2&uid=70&uid=2129&uid=3739696>

Jan M. Weaver. Aaron Copland’s Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson: A Study of Rhythm, Meter, and Word Painting with Application Through an original composition.  Dec. 2002

Chenchen Yang