Suite from Billy the Kid
Aaron Copland (1900-1990)

THE STORY

In 1938, Copland was a few years into a stylistic shift away from the jazz-inspired idiom of his early compositions and the stringent modernism of the early 1930s. With works such as El Salón México (1936) and Prairie Journal (1937), he began to explore a more accessible style. In El Salón México, he utilized pre-existing folk themes in a stylized manner to create an approachable modern sound.

When ballet impresario Lincoln Kirstein handed him two volumes of cowboy songs from which to adapt themes for a “cowboy ballet,” Copland undoubtedly recognized an opportunity to continue his foray into the use of folk materials for the creation of a modern music for the common man.

Set in the American Southwest during the late 19th century, the ballet centers around the exploits of the outlaw “Billy the Kid” and features Copland’s adaptation of six cowboy tunes from the original score, including “Git Along, Little Dogies” and “The Old Chisholm Trail.” A suite from the ballet was created in 1939 by the composer and remains one of his most popular works.

LISTEN FOR

• The musical interval of a fifth which defines the opening movement, The Open Prairie—Copland intentionally used these open fifths to give the “impression of space and isolation” that pioneers undoubtedly felt as they moved West
• Copland’s characteristic fragmentation of melody—one melodic idea will be played by a group of instruments and then repeated around the orchestra
• The plodding “oom-pah” rhythms of The Open Prairie and Street in a Frontier Town—one can almost see the covered wagons bobbing up and down as they traverse the uneven terrain
• The evocative percussion in Gun Battle, suggesting the flying bullets of a Western shootout

INSTRUMENTATION

Piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, piano, harp, strings