Michael Hollin
April 20th, 2015
Survey of Wind Literature
Dr. Prescott Copland’s American Nationalism in Wind Ensemble Music During the 20th century, the wind band repertoire experienced unparalleled growth. This was especially the case in the United States, a nation with several professional wind bands and a notable amount of amateur wind bands. As wind band became an increasingly popular fixture on American life, its presence began to flourish throughout America’s universities and secondary schools. When Frederick Fennell founded the Eastman Wind Ensemble in 1952, it introduced the whole country to a new gamut of music for wind ensemble. The concept of having one soloist on each instrumental part became an integral idea that spread to …show more content…
As it is scored for only brass and percussion, this fanfare is usually selected as the opener for concerts as the piece is short in length (under four minutes) and requires the least musicians in the wind ensemble. Although this fanfare is fairly brief, Copland was able to effectively incorporate the powerful and triumphant motives of an American sound from an orchestral brass and percussion section. After its premiere, the piece received tremendous success, captivating the audience emotionally for its strong patriotic themes in a strong musical work representing American …show more content…
During the 1942-43 concert season, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra performed 18 fanfares total, however Copland’s fanfare received the greatest success by far and is the only fanfare currently in the repertoire. Copland’s inspiration for the fanfare came from a speech entitled, “The Century of the Common Man,” delivered by Vice President of the United States, Henry Wallace in 1942.
This is a fight between a slave world and a free world. Just as the United States in 1862 could not remain half slave and half free, so in 1942 the world must make a decision for a complete victory one way or the other. As we begin the final stages of this fight to the death between the free world and the slave world, it is worth while to refresh our minds about the march of freedom for the common man. - Henry
April 20th, 2015
Survey of Wind Literature
Dr. Prescott Copland’s American Nationalism in Wind Ensemble Music During the 20th century, the wind band repertoire experienced unparalleled growth. This was especially the case in the United States, a nation with several professional wind bands and a notable amount of amateur wind bands. As wind band became an increasingly popular fixture on American life, its presence began to flourish throughout America’s universities and secondary schools. When Frederick Fennell founded the Eastman Wind Ensemble in 1952, it introduced the whole country to a new gamut of music for wind ensemble. The concept of having one soloist on each instrumental part became an integral idea that spread to …show more content…
As it is scored for only brass and percussion, this fanfare is usually selected as the opener for concerts as the piece is short in length (under four minutes) and requires the least musicians in the wind ensemble. Although this fanfare is fairly brief, Copland was able to effectively incorporate the powerful and triumphant motives of an American sound from an orchestral brass and percussion section. After its premiere, the piece received tremendous success, captivating the audience emotionally for its strong patriotic themes in a strong musical work representing American …show more content…
During the 1942-43 concert season, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra performed 18 fanfares total, however Copland’s fanfare received the greatest success by far and is the only fanfare currently in the repertoire. Copland’s inspiration for the fanfare came from a speech entitled, “The Century of the Common Man,” delivered by Vice President of the United States, Henry Wallace in 1942.
This is a fight between a slave world and a free world. Just as the United States in 1862 could not remain half slave and half free, so in 1942 the world must make a decision for a complete victory one way or the other. As we begin the final stages of this fight to the death between the free world and the slave world, it is worth while to refresh our minds about the march of freedom for the common man. - Henry