Abstract
Aaron Copland's music is synonymous with America. An active and prolific composer throughout the 1930's, 40's and early 50's, Copland achieved fame and popularity with such works as Billy the Kid (1938), Fanfare for the Common Man (1942), Lincoln Portrait (1942), and Appalachian Spring (1944), as well as various scores for movies and television shows. Despite his great success, popularity and the constant theme of Americanism in his works, Copland's musical productivity was halted one fateful day in May of 1953 when he was called to testify in front of The House on Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and Joseph McCarthy. Due to this event, Copland's career began to wane; his compositional output never fully recovered. This thesis attacks questions that remain to be answered with regard to the political interpretations of Copland's works, in particular works from the 1950's and the period of the McCarthy hearings, including his opera The Tender Land and his lesser known works, The Canticle of Freedom and Old American Songs II. How does the opera The Tender Land express Copland's political affiliations? What does the text of The Canticle of Freedom say about the time period in which Copland composed this work, and what images of freedom does it present? What political connotations are present in Copland's arrangements of Old American Songs II? Are these songs merely ideal representations of American culture at this time or something more? By considering the genesis, text, music and reception of each of these works, I will consider how they bear traces of Copland's complex political and emotional position between 1952 and 1957.