The Dickinson songs of Aaron Copland
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The Dickinson songs of Aaron Copland
（CMS sourcebooks in American music, no. 1）
Pendragon Press, 2002
Available at 1 libraries
Note
Includes discography (p. 129-133), bibliographical references (p. 135-136), and index
Contents of Works
- Aaron Copland's Twelve poems of Emily Dickinson : an essential and representative work
- Aaron Copland and Emily Dickinson
- A "very American" voice : subject matter, tone, rhythm, and space
- Poetic texts and song lyrics : the issue of "authenticity"
- Copland's style in Twelve poems of Emily Dickinson
- The Dickinson songs as a song cycle
- Nature, death, life, eternity : the individual songs, nos. 1-7
- Nature, death, life, eternity : the individual songs, nos. 8-12
- Some observations on Eight poems of Emily Dickinson, for voice and chamber orchestra
- On performing and performances
- Closing thoughts
Description and Table of Contents
Description
There could be no more fitting subject for the opening volume of the new series, CMS SOURCEBOOKS IN AMERICAN MUSIC, than Copland?s Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson. Long a favorite of performers and audiences alike, this inimitable cycle of art songs created at mid-century by a highly distinctive voice in American music pays tribute to one of America's revered poets, herself a pioneer of the modern on her own terms. Starr convincingly identifies theshared aesthetic affinities of the poet and the composer in spite of the social, artistic, and chronological gaps that separated them and explains the pivotal nature of the work in Copland?s output. He then sensitively describes the singular musical solutions devised for each poem, all the while emphasizing the composer?s respect for the idiosyncrasies of Dickinson's verse. Commentary on the original version for soprano and piano is supplemented by information on Copland"s later orchestrations of selected songs, a discussion of performance and interpretation, plus an annotated discography.
The accompanying CD contains two versions of the work discussed by Larry Starr in the book.
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