The United States has produced countless composers during the Twentieth Century, many of them achieving international renown, but the most popular of all American classical composers remains Aaron Copland. He has a characteristic sound, making almost all of his music instantly recognizable. As in his most famous work, the ballet Appalachian Spring, Copland uses open sonorities and a somewhat free style of diatonic counterpoint to evoke an atmosphere that captures the popular spirit of "America the Beautiful": great plains and mountains, comfort among the elements of Nature, and the satisfaction of simple family life.
Given his sensitivity to these issues, it was natural for Copland to be drawn to the poetry of Emily Dickinson (1830-1886). Dickinson has been a favorite author for numerous American composers: her purposeful yet simple texts lend themselves well to the voice, and the universal themes in her poetry speak clearly to audiences from all backgrounds. In 1949 and 1950, Copland wrote a cycle of twelve songs, all settings of Dickinson's poems, for soprano and piano. Later, during the period from 1958 to 1970, Copland selected eight of the original twelve songs and adapted the piano part for chamber orchestra, leaving the vocal part virtually unchanged. The orchestral version of the songs received its premiere in 1970, marking the composer's seventieth birthday.
Although none of the songs is more than four minutes long, each does a remarkable job of capturing and developing a mood. And, even using an orchestra of only eight wind instruments, harp, and strings, Copland achieves great variety in the sound of the ensemble. The first song, "Nature, the gentlest mother," begins with a representation of dawn: birds awakening in the high woodwinds, and a beautifully peaceful entrance from string harmonics and harp when the sun first peaks over the horizon. "There came a wind like a bugle" has the expected bugle calls in the trumpet, horn, and high woodwinds, but is agitated throughout, reflecting the poem's description of a wind which is disturbingly violent. "The world feels dusty" uses the orchestra more sparingly than any of the other songs, suggesting the author alone with her thoughts, contemplating the end of her life. "Heart, we will forget him" is, from a structural standpoint, the simplest of all the songs, corresponding to the author's simple wish to put her lost love behind her, and not dwell on the past.
The fifth song is "Dear March, come in!" The composer indicated that the orchestra should play "with exuberance," and the music is alive with manic celebration. With March comes Spring and the usual sense of rebirth; the author has been waiting for a reason to look toward the future. But by demanding that April be locked outside, the author makes known her desire to sustain this moment of transition. Next comes "Sleep is supposed to be," the emotional turning point of the cycle. Copland saved his most dissonant, uncomfortable writing for this song, which ends in hypnotized stillness. In "Going to Heaven," the mood is joyous yet ironic -- the author suggests that she is not quite ready to leave this world. The final song is "The Chariot," the only poem identified by a title other than its first line. The author leaves no ambiguity about the topic here: "Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me." The music represents a steady, inevitable journey, never hurrying but never losing its momentum. The piece ends with a quintessential Dickinson dichotomy: the singer evaporating away into Heaven, the orchestra pulling the opposite direction, with a low, thick, terrestrial closing chord.