Composer
Aaron Copland
The composer who gave American concert music its own distinct sound.
Aaron Copland set out deliberately to create a concert-music sound that felt distinctly American rather than an import of European tradition, drawing on open, spacious harmony, folk melody, and rhythms borrowed from jazz. That sound proved so influential that it's now closely associated with "American" orchestral music generally, showing up constantly in film and television underscoring the American West, rural life, or national pride.
His ballet Appalachian Spring, scored originally for a small ensemble, incorporates the Shaker tune "Simple Gifts" into one of the most recognizable passages in American concert music. Fanfare for the Common Man, written for brass and percussion alone, has become a kind of unofficial anthem for ceremonial occasions, its stark, wide-open intervals instantly recognizable.
Copland was also an influential teacher and writer, doing as much as any American composer of his generation to build a serious concert-music culture in the United States rather than simply importing European models wholesale.
Where to start listening: Fanfare for the Common Man is under four minutes and immediately striking; Appalachian Spring rewards a longer, fuller listen.