Fanfare for the Common Man
Aaron Copland (1910-1990)

THE STORY

      During World War II, Eugene Goossens, conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO), commissioned American composers to write short fanfares for brass and percussion; these fanfares opened each CSO subscription concert in the 1942-1943 season. In a time when everyone was doing their part in the war effort, Goossens expained, “It is my idea to make these fanfares stirring and significant contributions to the war effort.”
      Although a number of prominent composers answered the call (including William Grant Still, who also has a work featured on this evening’s program), Copland’s is the only that remains in the standard repertoire. The title was inspired by a speech by Vice President Henry Wallace, in which Wallace declared the dawning of the “Century of the Common Man.” Copland said that it was the common man that was “doing all the dirty work” in the war (in fact, nine CSO musicians were on leave at the time the work was premiered, serving in the armed forces).
      When Goossens suggested premiering it “at income tax time,” Copland replied, “I am all for honoring the common man at income tax time.” Taxes were a big issue for the common man that year, as Congress had just required employers to withhold employees’ estimated taxes (the previous year, only one in seven taxpayers had saved enough to pay their income taxes).
      Copland succeeded in achieving musical complexity within a direct and simple style in this three-minute work. Fanfare for the Common Man has been used everywhere from film scores, to sports and television programs, to rock concerts (The Rolling Stones used it to open their shows for a time and the band Emerson, Lake & Palmer created a cover). Copland even re-used it as a main theme in his Symphony No. 3. 

LISTEN FOR

• The slow and majestic unfolding of the music, setting it apart from other boisterous fanfares

• At the opening, the drums, gong, and timpani rumbling like a distant battle

• The clear call of three trumpets in unison, declaring the main theme

• The horns and then finally the tuba and trombone joining in to build to the climax—seeming to represent citizens joining in a call to service and sacrifice

INSTRUMENTATION

Four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, strings