The Selected Correspondence of Aaron Copland by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780300133479
Publisher: YaleUP
Published: 2006-09-15T05:00:00+00:00

To Leonard Bernstein

LB/LC. tls.

[Hotel Empire stationery]

March 23, 1938

Dear Leonard,

What a letter! What an ‘outburst’! Hwat a boy! It completely spoiled my breakfast. But it couldn’t spoil the weather, so thank Marx for that. The sun has been shining in a way to defy all wars and all dictators, and theres nothing to be done about it.

That “female” you tell of.1 I’ve never seen her, but I had reports of her at a time when she played the Variations here, which I studiously avoided attending. I see that did no good, since she continues to ‘play’ them. But what can a poor composer do? I know of no way of stopping her once the piece is published, do you? Think what people do to the three B’s etc. and nothing can be done about that. As for your general ‘disappointment’ in Art, Man and Life I can only advise perspective, perspective and yet more perspective. This is only 1938. Man has a long time to go. Art is quite young. Life has its own dialectic. Aren’t you always curious to see what tomorrow will bring?

Of course, I understand exactly how you feel. At 21, in Paris, with Dada thumbing its nose at art, I had a spell of extreme disgust with all things human. Whats the use—it can’t last, and it didn’t last. The next day comes, there are jobs to do, problems to solve, and one gets gradually inured to things. At my advanced age (37) I can’t even take a letter like yours completely seriously. But I’m glad you wrote it, if only to let off steam. Write some more!

Now its definite that I’m not due to be up in Boston. I’ve been bought off with promises of a performance at the coming Berkshire Festival.2 (Don’t mention this around, will you[.]) I’m vaguely thinking of a trip to England in May. Sir Adrian Boult is to conduct my Salon Mexico at the I.S.C.M. Festival in June, and previously on the BBC on April 20th; also here when he conducts the NBC orchestra in May. I hope you’re coming to New York soon. I always enjoy seeing you.

Always,

[signed] Aaron

1. Cara Verson, who had performed the Piano Variations in Boston’s Jordan Hall.

2. The Berkshire Music Festival was inaugurated in 1934 in Interlaken, Massachusetts, by Henry Hadley and members of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1936, the Boston Symphony Orchestra replaced the Philharmonic and performed three concerts. The following year the festival was moved to the Tanglewood estate in Lenox, Massachusetts, and by 1938 the festival had increased to six concerts. Copland’s Music for the Theatre was performed on August 7, 1938. The Berkshire Music Center (now known as the Tanglewood Music Center) was inaugurated in 1940 as a summer music academy for young instrumentalists, singers, conductors, and composers. Copland was a member of the composition faculty nearly every summer between 1940 and 1965.

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