Aaron Copland

Copland (born in Brooklyn, N.Y., nov. 14, 1900) began serious musical study in his early teens.

Copland learned to play piano from an older sister. By the time he was fifteen he had decided to become a composer. His first tentative steps included a correspondence course in writing harmony. In 1921 Copland traveled to Paris to attend the newly founded music school for Americans at Fontainebleau. He was the first American student of the brilliant teacher, Nadia Boulanger. After three years in Paris he returned to New York with his first major commission, writing an organ concerto for the American appearances of Madame Boulanger. His "Symphony for Organ and Orchestra" premiered in at Carnagie Hall in 1925.

He was the first of many American musicians to study with Nadia Boulanger in Paris (1921-24). After 1970 Copland stopped composing, though he continued to lecture and conduct through the mid-1980s. He died on December 2, 1990 at the Phelps Memorial Hospital in Tarrytown (Westchester County), New York.

Some of his most famous works are:

Appalachian Spring

Concerto for clarinet and String Orchestra

Two Threnodies for flute and string trio

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