Aaron Copland was born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 14, 1900, and died in North Tarrytown, New York, on December 2, 1990. The first performance of the Set I of Old American Songs took place at the Aldeburgh Festival in England on June 17, 1950, with Peter Pears, tenor, and Benjamin Britten, piano. The first performance of Set II took place at the Castle Hill Concerts in Ipswich, Massachusetts on July 24, 1953, with William Warfield, baritone, and Aaron Copland, piano.
The orchestral version of Old American Songs is scored for medium voice or chorus, flute (doubling piccolo), oboe, two clarinets, bassoon, two horns, trumpet, trombone, harp, and strings. Approximate performance time of selections is twenty minutes.
During the early part of 1950, Aaron Copland was in the midst of composing his settings for voice and piano of Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson. By Copland’s own admission, he began to feel “bogged down.” And so, “I took a break from the Dickinson Songs with the hope of recharging my inspiration. I set a group of American folk songs, calling them Old American Songs. The five songs in the set are drawn from completely different sources.”
Copland soon received a visit from the composer Benjamin Britten and tenor Peter Pears. As Copland recalled: “I sang the songs for Peter Pears and Ben Britten when they came to visit, promising to send them on to England when I finished them. Peter told me, ‘I like them very much indeed…They will, as singers say, prove a most useful addition to my repertoire!’”
On June 17, 1950, at the Aldeburgh Festival in England, Pears, accompanied by Britten at the piano, gave the world premiere of the first Set of Old American Songs. The American premiere took place at New York’s Town Hall on January 28, 1951. On that occasion, Copland served as accompanist for American baritone William Warfield.
As Copland recalled: "Everyone seemed to enjoy singing and hearing Old American Songs I so much I decided to arrange a second set in 1952. Old American Songs II also includes five songs from diverse sources…William Warfield and I premiered Old American Songs II at Castle Hill Concerts in Ipswich, Massachusetts (24 July 1953).
I arranged both sets of songs for medium voice and small orchestra. Warfield sang the first performance of the orchestral arrangement of Old American Songs I with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Alfred Wallenstein (7 January 1955) and Grace Bumbry premiered Old American Songs II with the Ojai Festival Orchestra, myself conducting (25 May 1955). Various choral arrangements have been published. It pleases me to know from my publishers that Old American Songs I and II are in demand by college choral groups around the country."
Works cited: Aaron Copland and Vivian Perlis. Copland Since 1943. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1989, pp. 166-8
These concerts feature selections from both sets of the Old American Songs.