Aaron copland wrote which ballet

Copland studied in Paris. There he learned from some very famous musicians like Nadia Boulanger and Igor Stravinsky. Since all good music at that time was thought to come from Europe, he knew that by studying there people would believe he was a really good composer.

When he came home, Copland experimented with jazz music. He didn't write jazz very long, but he did like some of the sounds so continued using jazz elements in his more classical style of music. Because of this he is considered one of the pioneers of American music, along with George Gershwin who also incorporated jazz into his classical music. Billy the Kid is a story of the American West, setting a grim tale of murder and vengeance against the open prairie.

This is the sound that came to identify with Copland. The work was commissioned by Lincoln Kerstein and appeared as part of his Ballet Caravan. The music uses six cowboy songs as part of the work and yet ventured into very modernists compositional techniques such as polyrhythm using multiple conflicting rhythms at once and polyharmony use of two different keys at the same time.

Rodeo , on the other hand, is the ballet equivalent of a rom-com. The choreography was by Agnes de Mille. Agnes de Mille as the Cowgirl in Rodeo. Copland: Rodeo — 4 Dance Episodes: I. In the Corral Nocturne, the evening scene is set not only on the stage but also in the music. One writer describes the ballet as a whole as having the exuberance of Broadway musical with the disciples of classical ballet.

In addition to his ballets and orchestral works, he produced music in many other genres including chamber music, vocal works, opera and film scores. After some initial studies with composer Rubin Goldmark, Copland traveled to Paris, where he studied at first with Isidor Philipp and Paul Vidal, then with noted pedagogue Nadia Boulanger.

He studied three years with Boulanger, whose eclectic approach to music inspired his own broad taste in that area. Determined upon his return to the U. During the late s Copland felt a need to compose works of greater emotional substance than his utilitarian scores of the late s and early s. In his personal style, Copland began to make use of twelve-tone rows in several compositions.

He incorporated serial techniques in some of his later works, including his Piano Quartet , Piano Fantasy , Connotations for orchestra and Inscape for orchestra He became a frequent guest conductor of orchestras in the U. For Copland, the biggest impact came, not from the music of the people dancing, but from the spirit of the environment.

Copland said that he could literally feel the essence of the Mexican people in the dance hall. This prompted him to write a piece celebrating the spirit of Mexico using Mexican Themes. Copland derived freely from two collections of Mexican folk tunes, changing pitches and varying rhythms.

The use of a folk tune with variations set in a symphonic context started a pattern he repeated in many of his most successful works right on through the s.