Aaron Copland

Born: November 14, 1900, Brooklyn, New York
Died: December 2, 1990, Sleepy Hollow, New York

"Zion's Walls" from Old American Songs

• Composed: arranged for voice and piano in 1952, orchestrated in 1957
  
• Premiere: (piano and voice) July 24, 1952, Castle Hill Concerts in Ipswich, Massachusetts, vocalist William Warfield, piano Aaron Copland; (orchestral version) May 25, 1958, Ojai California, vocalist Grace Bumbry, Aaron Copland conducting
• Instrumentation: solo vocalist, flute, 2 clarinets, bassoon, 2 horns, trumpet, trombone, strings
• CSO notable performances: First and Most Recent: July 4, 2015, John Morris Russell leading the Cincinnati Pops, Nmon Ford, baritone
• Duration: approx. 10 minutes

Soon after he completed the imposing song cycle on Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson in March 1950, Copland turned his creative attention to some lighter fare by “newly arranging” a set of five traditional 19th-century American songs for voice and piano on a commission from English composer Benjamin Britten and tenor Peter Pears for performance at the Aldeburgh Festival. A second group of five followed in 1952, and Copland orchestrated Set I in 1954 and Set II three years later. In her study of Copland’s music, Julia Smith suggested that the Old American Songs form “a kind of vocal suite, the accompaniments, practical but exceedingly attractive, offer moods by turns nostalgic, energetic, sentimental, devotional and humorous.” The most familiar melody among these songs is "Simple Gifts," the evergreen Shaker tune (also known with an original text by British poet and folk singer Sydney Carter as "The Lord of the Dance") that Copland had earlier used with such excellent effect in Appalachian Spring. Like the other Old American Songs, "Zion's Walls" taps a deep, quintessentially American sentiment in its sturdy simplicity and its plain words, qualities that Copland captured perfectly in his colorful, atmospheric settings.

Copland wrote, “'Zion’s Walls' is a revivalist song whose original melody and words are credited to John G. McCurry, compiler of The Social Harp,” a collection of folk songs and spirituals published in 1855 that was widely used in Appalachian camp meetings and revivals. 

Come fathers and mothers
Come sisters and brothers
Come join us in singing the praises of Zion.
O fathers don’t you feel determined
To meet within the walls of Zion.
We’ll shout and go round
The walls of Zion. 

—©Dr. Richard E. Rodda